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What is Companion Planting
Sometimes a plant will exude a chemical that will repel pests, such as marigolds secreting a substance that repels nematodes. Planting tall corn over shade tolerant vines like squash can help confuse the squash vine borer and the tangled vines may help keep deer and raccoons off the corn. Planting squash on the south side of the row makes it easier to harvest the corn. Mixing plants together will create a biologically diverse area known as a "refugia" that allows beneficial insects to thrive. Lastly, diversity in the garden guarantees that if one type of plants succumbs to heat, cold, or disease, others can simply take its place. Here is a short list of some popular vegetables and their companions: Pole Beans - Most vegetables and herbs. Avoid onion, garlic, and gladiolus. Bush Beans - Corn, potatoes, cucumbers, and corn. Avoid onions. Cabbage - Mint, potatoes, onion, dill, and rosemary. Avoid tomatoes and pole beans. Carrots - Onions, peas, lettuce, and tomatoes. Avoid dill. Corn - Potatoes, beans, peas, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash. Avoid Tomatoes. Cucumbers - Sunflowers, radishes, Corn, beans. Avoid potatoes or herbs. Tomatoes - Onions, carrots, parsley, chives. Avoid cabbage and potatoes. Onions and Garlic - Tomatoes, beets, lettuce. Avoid Peas and Beans. Potatoes - Beans, corn, cabbage. Avoid pumpkin, squash and cucumbers. Plants that are great for pest control at any time are marigolds, onions, chives, dill, thyme, oregano, mint and petunias. In fact, most herbs that have a heavy scent will repel pests. For controlling moles, some folks say to plant lots of daffodils around the garden because their bulbs will stay underground all summer and moles and gophers will never eat one. The bulbs are cheap, too! Always get the smaller flowering ones if you want to see them naturalize. Another one to try for mole control is Fritellaria, although the bulbs are quite expensive. A great book for more information on companion planting is: Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte. |
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The idea of companion planting goes back many years and rests on the theory that some plants benefit from being planted next to something different. Using plants for trap crops to keep a certain bug off a cash crop is an example of companion planting. I use vegetable amaranth to attract the cabbage looper and Colorado potato beetle. They will not go to anything else if I have vegetable amaranth around the garden. Another example is the use of legumes to fix nitrogen in the soil for neighboring plants such as planting beans with corn. If you are weeding and come across a weed that is devoured by bugs or has leaves riddled with holes, don’t pull it up. You’ve got a trap crop. You can watch it to see what bugs or eating it and then douse them with insecticidal soap when they’re all gathered for breakfast.
