Companion Planting

[GardenBlooms22]

Hey everyone. With the gardening season quickly coming upon us, I was thinking about companion planting. We did a little bit of this last year, but I didn't apply it very thoroughly in our garden layout. We planted our tomatoes and peppers close together, as I heard nightshade plants do fine together. Ours certainly did. We did find that broccoli and onions do surprisingly well together.

I'm curious what your thoughts on the topic are. Are there any plant combos that you've found work particularly well in the garden?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I haven't planted enough gardens to know what plant combos do better, but it sounds familiar to me. Here, you might find more help on BYC's sister site, TheEasyGarden.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I plant pinto and turtle beans near my vegetables that need higher levels of nitrogen since beans put nitrogen back into the soil. I also like to plant basil near my tomatoes. I had tons of flavorful tomatoes! Last year the pinto beans especially grew like weeds. I collected three harvests from them and then gave up. When I went to finish preparing my garden for planting this year I found that most of my pinto beans had grow more beans. I broke open the pods and planted one just out of curiosity. It’s growing and very healthy. I didn’t think it would work considering we have had subzero weather here.

My test bean:

 

[GardenBlooms22]

I haven't planted enough gardens to know what plant combos do better, but it sounds familiar to me. Here, you might find more help on BYC's sister site, TheEasyGarden.

I'm unfamiliar with that site, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

I plant pinto and turtle beans near my vegetables that need higher levels of nitrogen since beans put nitrogen back into the soil. I also like to plant basil near my tomatoes. I had tons of flavorful tomatoes! Last year the pinto beans especially grew like weeds. I collected three harvests from them and then gave up. When I went to finish preparing my garden for planting this year I found that most of my pinto beans had grow more beans. I broke open the pods and planted one just out of curiosity. It’s growing and very healthy. I didn’t think it would work considering we have had subzero weather here.

My test bean:
View attachment 3426636

Thanks for the tips! Your bean plant looks great!

 

[Acre4Me]

I always plant carrots among the tomatoes. I plant in raised beds, and the carrots seems to benefit from the variable shade they get throughout the day. There is a book titled “Carrots love Tomatoes” that is about companion planting.

I find that my carrots do benefit from some shade during the hot summer. So, my raised beds often have beans or beets on the outer edges, with carrots in the middle.

I tend to grow my peppers separately from the tomatoes. Peppers don’t want shade (at least here in Ohio) and the tomatoes seem to give too much shade as they are much larger plants.

I’ve read that planting icicle radish with cucumbers helps with pests. I’ve done this one year, but not sure if it helped.

 

[Sally PB]

There are a lot of positive combinations. There are also negative combos too. The only one I can think of at the moment is not to plant onions and garlic near beans and peas.

Lots of websites, and that book is a classic.

 

[Chris2018]

Look for the book Carrots love tomatoes.
It's a older book (1975) but lots of useful information.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Plant lettuce, herbs in shade of your tomatoes to create micro climate. Also plant more flowers

 

[GardenBlooms22]

Thanks for the advice everyone!
@Acre4Me , yes, as I am also in Ohio I can certainly see the importance of keeping your pepper plants completely exposed to the sunlight, in this region anyway!

OK, so Basil and Tomatoes, Tomatoes and Carrots, Icicle Radish and Cucumbers, Pinto Beans and Turtle Beans near heavy nitrogen feeders, Onions and Garlic away from Beans and Peas.
And, upon our own observation, Onions near Broccoli.