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Out Companion Planting
Other good combinations in the garden include broccoli
with cucumbers, since broccoli reduces the attraction
of striped cucumber beetles, leeks near carrots
because they ward off carrot flies, and onions by potato
plants since they chase away the potato-munching Colorado
beetle. Never plant carrot and dill close by; being
of the same family, they tend to influence one another
to become more like the other, making the carrots woodier
and stronger-flavored, and the dill milder and with weaker
stems.
Some specific flowers and herbs reap big benefits for
certain vegetables, too. Marigolds deter Mexican
bean beetles, cabbage pests, and spur growth in roses.
They reduce the number of nematodes in the soil and conversely
attract hoverflies, which eat up destructive aphids. White
marigolds in particular work well around cabbage family
plants, their white flowers attracting the cabbage-loving
white moth away from the heading plants.
Mint works to encourage plant growth, for some
unknown reason, with all kinds of squash and brassicas.
I haven't tried it yet, but wonder-herb tansy supposedly
repels ants, aphids, cabbage worms, Colorado beetles,
Japanese beetles and squash bugs.
Some plants are so highly antagonistic to one another,
they stand in a separate category. Never plant:
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carrots,
cauliflower or potatoes with tomatoes
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asparagus
with onion and potato
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beans
with chives, fennel
or garlic
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potato
with pumpkin and
summer squash OR
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peas
with onion, garlic
and shallots.
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for petunias in the onion patch, I know of no specific
benefit to the lovely petunia for growing amidst the
onions. But if I were to plant them close to the onion
row, their pink, white and purple nodding heads among
the stalwart green tops of the onions would make me
smile. And a smiling gardener, I'm pretty sure, can
work longer and harder every time, ensuring a better
garden! |
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