Companion Planting
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Vegetable garden companion planting has been a popular concept for decades before the “chemical revolution”. It has been used by native cultures worldwide. Truth being, you just don’t need chemicals. It is simple and makes perfect sense once understanding how the concept works. When companion planting is done properly, these vegetables and herbs produce higher yields of crops and by doing so, are able to defend themselves against diseases and insects.
It’s important to understand that the opposite is also true. Vegetable garden companion planting suggests that when planting certain types of incompatible vegetables and herbs together, can actually cause them to impede each others growth. By planting these incompatible plants and herbs together in your garden, it will actually produce fewer vegetables and herbs and be more troubled with diseases and insects.
It’s interesting to learn that by a bit of planning, you can help your vegetables and herbs by:
1. Attracting the good bugs and keeping away the bad ones.
2. Keeping away diseases out of your soil and adding nutrients.
3. Allowing a bit of shade also helps your sun sensitive plants.
Flowers are an important feature for your vegetable garden companion planting. By planting brightly colored flowers near your garden will attract a very wide variety of insects to the area. The more bees stopping by will result in a lot of pollination for your vegetables which will lead to larger yields in your garden. Ladybugs are a great addition to your vegetable garden because they will help reduce damage from aphids that suck the sap from the stems and leaves of various plants, Ladybugs will lay their eggs in your garden and these will hatch into larvae, each eating up to 150 aphids a day.
The following is just some examples of vegetable garden companion planting.
Beans with celery, corn, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower or melons.
Beets with kohlrabi, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, onions, cabbage, broccoli, or cauliflower but do not plant with string beans, dill, or fennel.
Brussels Sprouts with onions.
Cabbage with herbs, onion, garlic, peas, celery, potatoes or beets.
Carrots with onions, annual flowers, lettuce, radishes, tomatoes or peas but do not plant with anise and dill.
Celery with cabbage, broccoli, or cauliflower to deter butterflies and grows well with beans, tomatoes and leeks.
Corn with beans, peas, sunflowers, cucumbers, squash, melons and potatoes.
Cucumbers with corn, sunflowers, peas, beans, beets or carrots.
Lettuce with cucumbers, onions, radishes, carrots or dill and dill protects them from aphids.
Onions with carrots are good and planted with parsley to keep away onion flies.
Peas with beans, root crops, potatoes or corn.
Peppers with basil, okra or tomatoes.
Potatoes planted with corn, cabbage, beans or marigolds.
Radishes with peas or lettuce.
Swiss Chard with cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, lettuce, or herbs but do not plant with string beans.
Spinach with beans, peas, corn and strawberries.
Tomatoes with basil, parsley, and asparagus or French marigolds as French marigolds deter whiteflies.
By no means is this a complete list of vegetable garden companion planting. In order to find out what works best, you will need to experiment. Your vegetable garden will thank you and you’ll be rewarded with a bountiful harvest of vegetables and herbs.
