As a beginner in gardening, you may not know exactly where to start.
Some of the questions you may be asking yourself would be what should you plant, or when should you plant or the method of planting to use.
To get a feel of gardening you can try planting these scraps from your kitchen.
In most cases, you only need a bowl or plate with water. But, if you’re really serious in starting a garden then container gardening is perfect for you.
The best way to get started with gardening is to just get started.
In this post, I’ll discuss which plants to grow together to get the most out of your garden. This method of planting is called companion planting.
What Is Companion Planting?
Companion planting is growing certain plants together that benefit each other such as pest control, enhance plant growth, and keeping the soil healthy.
Every plant needs a best friend!
These plants can either attract beneficial insects, deters soil pests, and even enhance the flavor for their companions.
COMPANION PLANTING FOR VEGETABLES
Eggplant
If you always want to plant this vegetable then it’s best to plant its companions as well. Eggplant goes well with green beans, peppers, tomatoes, lemongrass, and potatoes.
Eggplant is a heavy nitrogen feeder and green beans are known to fix or add nitrogen in the soil.
In addition, green beans deter Colorado potato beetles.
Cucumber
This vegetable can be eaten raw, make pickles, or use in your salad.
Whichever your preference is, it tastes lovely and refreshing.
For best result plant near radishes, beans, celery, corn, lettuce, dill, and peas.
To repel cucumber beetles plant radishes among your cucumber. In addition, dill helps to attract beneficial predators.
Keep sage away from your cucumbers as it can stunt the growth of the cucumbers.
Lettuce
Lettuce grows best when planted near strawberries, carrots, cucumbers, radish, and beets.
Ensure to plant chives and garlic near your lettuce to repel aphids.
Beans
Beans grow well with most vegetables, commonly with tomatoes or corn.
Also, interplanting marigold and herbs such as rosemary help to deter bean beetles.
Beans are good companions for corn (as it relies heavily on nitrogen).
Ensure to keep beans away from the members of the onion family including garlic, shallots, and chives as they will be detrimental to the growth of your beans.
Carrots
Carrots go well with most garden vegetables. But it is best to plant with radishes, peas, or sage as it improve the flavor of carrots.
Because of the strong scent that onions and leeks have; it helps to repel carrot flies.
Keep carrots away from fennel or anise as it cause poor growth in the plant.
Chives
To improve the growth and flavor of a plant such as carrots, grapes, roses, berries, and tomatoes plant chives nearby.
It also deters aphids and Japanese beetles.
Corn
You can plant corn near beans, cucumbers, Irish potato, pumpkin, squash, and peas.
The benefits of planting corn with beans as been proven by scientific research to increase the harvest.
Cornstalks can be a great support system or trellis for beans and other plants.
The only thing is to keep corn away from tomatoes.
Dill
Dill is an effective and useful plant when interplanted with other vegetables.
You can plant it with broccoli, brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, lettuce, and onions.
It also improves the flavor and growth of the cabbage. In addition, the aroma is said to repel aphids and spider mites.
Keep dill away from tomatoes or carrots. The reason for this is that these plants are susceptible to similar diseases.
Onions
For best result, inter-plant onions with cabbage, beets, strawberries, carrots, and lettuce.
Onions help to deter most pests and when planted with carrots, it’s said to help with carrot rust flies that lead to root maggots.
You can use onions around the border of your raised bed to protect your plants.
Keep onions away from beans, peas, and sage as they do not go well together.
Peas
Peas work well with various plants. This plant is a nitrogen-fixing legume that helps stimulates the growth of corn, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, radishes, carrots, turnips, and cucumber.
Vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and eggplants can benefit from the shade of the trellised pea plant.
Keep onion and garlic away from peas as it is known to have a negative effect on the growth of your plant.
Pepper
Pepper is known to repel many pests that can be found in your garden.
Basil, tomatoes, parsley, carrots, and onion are excellent companions to pepper.
It’s best to keep peppers and beans away from each other.
Rosemary
Rosemary grows well with cabbage, carrots, and beans.
Because of the fragrance of the rosemary, it is able to repel insects; such as cabbage flies, root maggot flies, bean beetles, and carrot flies.
Squash
Plant squash nearby nasturtiums, radishes, corn, mint, marigold, and other aromatic herbs such as dill to help repel insect pests.
Cornstalks give squash vines a place to grow.
Marigolds deter beetle, nasturtium deters squash bugs and beetles. While dill helps to repel squash bug that will kill your squash vines.
Keep squash away from your potatoes.
Tomatoes
You can interplant tomatoes with many plants such as asparagus, cabbages, carrots, basil, cucumber, marigold, parsley, garlic, borage, nasturtium, rosemary, etc.
Both basil and parsley repel flies, mosquitoes to improving growth and flavor.
Keep corn and tomatoes apart as they are attacked by the same worm (corn earworm).
Lastly, keep potatoes and tomatoes apart as they both can get blight; contaminating each other.
Do not plant tomatoes under walnut trees as they will get walnut wilt; a disease that attacks tomatoes growing underneath these trees.