2025-01-19 - Companion Planting With Fruits + Vegetables

 

Companion planting is a technique for designing a balanced and abundant garden where plants support each other. This principle is widely used in permaculture as it helps improve biodiversity and limits the use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides.

Here are a few reasons why it’s beneficial to pair companion plants in a vegetable garden: 

Pollination

 Attracting pollinators to the garden boosts fruit and vegetable growth.

Layout

Combining tall and low varieties maximizes your growing space.

Improved Soil Quality

Certain plants improve the soil:

·         Legumes, for example, enrich the soil with nitrogen, which is crucial for growing vegetation.

·         Deep-root plants help loosen compacted soil while drawing their nutrients deep in the ground. 

Soil Moisture Maintenance and Weed Management

Some plants with dense and low foliage (like squash and potatoes) create a natural plant mulch that will maintain soil moisture, limiting weed growth and the need to water.

Pest Control

A lot of vegetation, especially fragrant plants like flowers and herbs, acts as natural repellents by deterring insect pests and small animals from coming into the garden.

Limit Disease Spread

Adding companion plants between plants from the same family can limit the spread of diseases by creating a kind of barrier.

Shade and Wind Protection

Tall and wide plants (like tomatoes) provide shade for smaller, more fragile plants (like lettuce and basil) or protect them from the wind.

Similar Needs 

It may be beneficial to group plants that need sunlight into the sunniest part of the garden or put water-hungry plants together to make watering easier. 

Natural Stakes

Plants with tall and sturdy stems (like corn and sunflowers) could be stakes for climbing plants (like beans and cucumbers).

Fruit or Vegetable	Good Companion Plants	Bad Companion Plants
Asparagus	Basil, parsley, tomato	Onion
Beans	Basil, beet, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, squash, strawberry, corn, turnip, potato, radish, rosemary, sage, tomato	Garlic, chives, onion, leek
Beet	Celery, cabbage, cauliflower, cilantro, zucchini, beans, lettuce, onion	Leek
Bell pepper	Basil, carrot, marjoram, onion, oregano
Broccoli	Dill, celery, cucumber, mint, onion, oregano, potato, rosemary, sage, thyme	Strawberry, lettuce, leek, tomato
Brussels sprouts	Dill, celery, mint, potato, rosemary, sage, thyme	Strawberry
Cabbage	Dill, beet, celery, cilantro, beans, lettuce, mint, onion, oregano, potato, radish, rosemary, sage, thyme	Garlic, strawberry, leek, tomato
Carrot	Garlic, chives, cilantro, beans, onion, hot pepper, leek, bell pepper, radish, rosemary, sage, tomato	Dill
Cauliflower	Dill, beet, celery, beans, mint, onion, oregano, potato, radish, rosemary, sage, thyme	Garlic, tomato
Celery	Beet, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cucumber, onion, leek, spinach, tomato	Lettuce, parsley
Corn	Pumpkin, squash, zucchini, beans, potato
Cucumber	Broccoli, celery, cilantro, lettuce, radish	Zucchini, sage, tomato
Eggplant	Spinach, tarragon, thyme
Garlic	Carrot, zucchini, spinach, strawberry, lettuce, potato, tomato	Cabbage, beans, turnip
Hot pepper	Basil, carrot, marjoram, onion, oregano
Lettuce	Cabbage, dill, beet, cucumber, garlic, onion, potato, radish, strawberry	Broccoli, celery, parsley
Leek	Carrot, celery, tomato	Beet, broccoli, cabbage, beans, parsley
Onion	Dill, beet, broccoli, carrot, celery, cabbage, cauliflower, bell pepper, potato, spinach, strawberry, tomato	Asparagus, beans, turnip, parsley
Potato	Garlic, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cilantro, beans, lettuce, onion, radish, thyme	Pumpkin, squash, zucchini, tomato
Pumpkin	Corn, mint, radish	Potato
Radish	Carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, squash, beans, lettuce, potato, pumpkin, tomato	Turnip
Spinach	Garlic, eggplant, celery, cabbage, strawberry, turnip, onion
Strawberry	Garlic, chives, spinach, beans, lettuce, turnip, onion, thyme	Broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower
Squash	Chives, beans, corn, mint, radish	Potato
Tomato	Garlic, asparagus, basil, carrot, celery, chives, beans, mint, turnip, onion, parsley, leek, radish, sage, thyme	Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, zucchini, potato
Turnip	Dill, spinach, beans, lettuce, mint, rosemary, tomato	Garlic, onion, radish
Zucchini	Garlic, beet, chives, beans, corn, marjoram, mint, onion, oregano, radish	Cucumber, potato, tomato