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Good Garden Companions
On this page, find information on good pairings of beneficial companion plants for the vegetables you grow in your home vegetable garden, including:
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- Companion planting practices for planting vegetables in a home garden.
- Companion plantings as a pest-deterrent strategy in home vegetable gardens.
- Using over-and-under plantings of companion plants in vegetable gardens.
- The role of perennial vegetables as companion plants to annual vegetables in home gardens.
- Specific pairing recommendations for companion plantings in vegetable gardens.
Principles of Companion-Planting Practices
Joint planting of companion plants—symbiotic vegetable and flower varieties—saves space and makes for a more attractive and healthy garden. Using companion plantings to deter pests from eating crops in a vegetable garden stems from the belief that certain plants are more attractive to pests than the garden’s vegetables.
Many follow the practice. They hope that planting pest-resistant flowers near their pest-susceptible vegetables will give them added protection. Be realistic, though. Modern agricultural research and many gardeners’ personal observations shed doubt that planting pest-resistant flowers near pest-susceptible vegetables really works for stopping hungry pests.
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Regardless of how effective companion planting is for discouraging pests, using the practice has other significant benefits for your garden.
Plants’ growth habits vary. Some are tall and narrow, others low and wide. Some spread out, while others command little more space than that allocated when they are planted.
Some are short-lived; others go on growing, flowering, and fruiting until they are killed by frost, lack of water, or pests. Most vegetables are annuals, but some are perennials or biennial plants; both grow again and again with the proper care. Harvest cycles also differ, all to the home gardener’s benefit.
Because vegetable habits are so varied, the unique characteristics of each can be used to develop companion relationships that conserve space. You’ve already seen how rows of lettuce can yield to tomato bushes [see Planting Vegetable Successions].
Over-and-Under Plantings
In the same way, planting short-lived crops that are shade tolerant with tall, narrow, and long-lived species improves yields in home vegetable gardens without the need for larger planting beds.
Two examples of such paired plantings are vegetables such as peas or cauliflower and corn or pumpkin vines. Corn and pumpkin are overcrops, while peas and cauliflower are undercrops.
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The corn soon will sprout and climb toward the sky, providing the slow-starting peas with natural stakes for support after their ears are harvested and leaves are stripped away. The pumpkins will flower, set fruit and ripen as the cauliflower becomes established. You’ll remove the pumpkins and their vines just as the cauliflower begins to form its head and florets.
A similar relationship mates cucumber vines, trained up a lattice, and spinach, which tends to bolt during the hot weather that accompanies the arrival of long-sunlight days. Spinach’s tendency to bolt prematurely will be slowed if it is shaded beneath the broad leaves of the cucumber vines. The cucumbers benefit by being above mildew-nurturing damp soil, which also means the fruits will be straighter.
Other companion-planting opportunities exist for gardeners with the foresight to plant perennials, such as asparagus, in previous seasons.
These hardy plants are purchased as root crowns, which then are buried deep in well-fertilized beds. In three years’ time, the crowns sprout in spring to provide bountiful crops of tasty spears. Throughout the rest of the growing season, the spindly male shoots of the asparagus mature into feathery green fronds about 4 feet (1.2 m) tall.
Asparagus fronds provide excellent protection from birds for the berries of low-growing strawberry plants. Just set out strawberry root divisions as you reap spears of asparagus in the early spring. Remember, asparagus’ spears can push right through the young strawberry plants, making harvest of either crop difficult. To avoid the problem, space strawberry and asparagus rows at least 2 feet (60 cm) apart.
Vegetable Plant Pairings
Pairings of perennial and annual vegetables with other vegetables and flowering plants traditionally are used by home gardeners to improve the quality of the vegetables they grow and deter pests from eating them.
Other reasons for pairing companions in a planting is to double- or triple-crop space in a bed, squeeze in another cycle in a plant succession by planting before harvest is finished from an earlier planting, or growing crops in vertical layers, with tall plants and vines over low vegetables.
Vegetable Companion Plant Guide
The listing that follows provides tested recommendations for choosing companion plants to most commonly planted vegetables. For complete planting, care, and features about these vegetables, including succession and planting rotation information, refer to the Vegetable Plant Guide.
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- Amaranth—Compact, leafy green vegetables, radishes, and strawberries.
- Artichoke—Asparagus, rhubarb.
- Asparagus—Artichokes, basil, parsley, and tomatoes.
- Aubergine or Eggplant—Bush beans, crowder and southern peas.
- Beans, Broad—Cucumbers, potatoes, and summer savory.
- Beans, Drying—Carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, potatoes, and summer savory.
- Beans, Garbanzo or Gram; Chickpeas—Celery, corn, cucumbers, potatoes, strawberries, and summer savory.
- Beans, Lima or Butter—Bush: Celery, corn, cucumbers, potatoes, strawberries, and summer savory. Pole: Scarlet runner beans, corn, summer savory, and sunflowers. Succession planting sequence includes spinach, early radish, lima bean, then beets or potatoes.
- Beans, Scarlet Runner—Snap or broad pole beans, corn, pole peas and sweet peas, summer savory, sweet potatoes, and sunflowers.
- Beans, Snap; Pinto; Romano; or Wax—Bush: celery, corn, cucumbers, potatoes, rosemary, strawberries, and summer savory. Pole: scarlet runner beans, corn, rosemary, summer savory, and sunflowers.
- Beets—Carrots, garlic, kohlrabi, onions, and radishes.
- Berry, Blackberry—Asparagus and other berry, cane, and vine plants.
- Berry, Blueberry—Acidic soil–tolerant ornamental and vegetable species.
- Berry, Currant or Gooseberry—Acidic soil–tolerant ornamental and vegetable species.
- Berry, Raspberry—Other berry, cane, and vine plants.
- Berry, Strawberry—Beets, carrots, and radishes.
- Bok or Pak Choy; Celery Mustard—Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower.
- Broccoli—Beets, celery, herbs, onions, and potatoes.
- Brussels Sprouts—Beets, celery, herbs, onions, and potatoes.
- Cabbage—Beets, celery, herbs, onions, and potatoes.
- Carrot—Chives, leeks, onions, peas, rosemary, and tomatoes.
- Cauliflower and Broccoflower—Beets, celery, herbs, onions, and potatoes.
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- Celery or Celeriac—Lettuce, English peas, and spinach.
- Chayote; Chuchu; Christophine; or Mirliton—Corn, peppers, pumpkin, and squash.
- Chicory; Belgian Endive; French Endive; or Radicchio—Beets, carrots, lettuce, radishes, and spinach.
- Collard or Collard Greens—Husk tomatoes, southern peas, peppers, and tomatoes.
- Corn, Sweet; Popcorn; or Ornamental Corn—Beans, cucumbers, gourds, peas, potatoes, pumpkins, and squash.
- Cucumber—Beans, corn, peas, pumpkins, and squash.
- Eggplant or Aubergine—Bush beans, crowder and southern peas.
- Endive, Curly or Escarole—Beets, parsnips, radishes, and turnip.
- Garlic—Beets, lettuce, strawberries, summer savory, and tomatoes.
- Gourd—Beans, corn, and peas.
- Husk Tomato; Ground Cherries; or Tomatillos—Beans, corn, and tomatoes.
- Jerusalem Artichoke or Sunchoke—Corn, peanuts, and rhubarb.
- Kale—Beets, celery, herbs, onions, and potatoes.
- Kohlrabi—Beets, celery, herbs, onions, and potatoes.
- Leek—Carrots, celery, garlic, and onions.
- Lettuce; Asparagus Lettuce or Celtuce; Romaine or Cos—Carrots, cucumbers, radishes, and strawberries.
- Melon, Bitter or Cucamelon—Sweet potatoes, corn, pole beans, scarlet-runner beans, and morning glory.
- Melon, Summer—Corn, leafy greens, nasturtium, and radish.
- Melon, Winter—Beans, corn, leafy greens, nasturtium, okra, and radish.
- Okra—Melons, southern peas, and peppers.
- Onion—Beets, lettuce, summer savory, strawberries, and tomatoes.
- Parsnip—Beets, carrots, rutabagas, and other root vegetables.
- Peanut—Beets, bush peas, and potatoes.
- Pea, Garden; English; or Snap—Beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, radishes, and turnips.
- Pea, Southern; Cowpea; Crowder; or Black-Eyed Pea—Beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, radishes, and turnips.
- Pea, Sugar or Snow—Beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, radishes, and turnips.
- Pepper, Hot or Chili—Beets, garlic, onions, and parsnips.
- Pepper, Sweet—Beets, garlic, onions, parsnips, and radishes.
- Potato—Beans, cabbage, corn, eggplant, horseradish, and marigolds.
- Pumpkin—Corn, squash, sunflowers.
- Radish or Daikon—Cucumbers, lettuce, nasturtiums, peas, and peppers.
- Rhubarb—Artichokes, asparagus, and cole vegetables.
- Rutabaga or Swedish Turnip—Beets, carrots, and turnips.
- Salsify—Carrots, potatoes, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, and turnips.
- Shallot—Beets, lettuce, strawberries, summer savory, and tomatoes.
- Spinach, Garden; Malabar; or New Zealand—Garden Spinach: Cole vegetables and lettuce. Malabar and New Zealand Spinach: Husk tomatoes and strawberries.
- Squash, Summer or Winter—Beans, nasturtiums, and bush peas.
- Sunflower—Beans, cucumbers, peas, Malabar spinach; pole and vining plants.
- Sweet Potato or Yam—Beets, parsnips, salsify, Malabar and New Zealand spinach, and turnips.
- Swiss Chard—Chicory, garlic, leeks, mustard, onions.
- Tomato—Asparagus, carrots, chives, marigolds, nasturtiums, onions, and parsley.
- Turnip—Bush beans, peas, and southern peas.
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