Companion Gardening

[citylife]

I have only gardened for a couple years now and have had some good luck. I thought it would be neat to have a thread designated to companion gardening. Which plants go best together and what should not be planted together. I do a lot of raised beds and 5 gallon self watering bucket gardening.
I look forward to hearing the feedback.

 

[Dreaming of Chickens]

I'd like to hear what more experienced gardeners have to say on this as well. This is especially important when you have very limited garden space and need things to be planted close together.

 

[moolie]

I rely on Louise Riotte's book, I have the older version but the newer version is called Carrots Love Tomatoes.

 

[Beekissed]

I've tried it and it really works! I bought the book Tomatoes Love Carrots(I think that's the title, haven't pulled it out in awhile) and applied some of the pairings in it with great success. I will be doing it again this spring.

If you've ever wondered why this veggie or that one didn't grow as well as it usually does when you moved things around in your garden, it could be because they are next to something that is incompatible. One year we thought it would be great to try running our beans up sunflowers so we wouldn't have to trellis them....so we did, they grew and climbed to about 3 ft, were sparse and didn't produce even a fraction of the amount they normally do. Sure did look cute, though....

After reading the book, I found that beans don't do well next to sunflowers.

We've done the nasturtiums next to our cukes and squash with good success and marigolds interspersed with the tomatoes with good success. Also grew the best onions I've ever tasted next to my tomatoes...sweet, juicy and big.

It's kind of fun experimenting with the combinations she describes in her books.

 

[citylife]

Beekissed, that is what I am looking for. What a neat guide. Does it also tell what to add to soils for different plants. Meaning, some plants may require you to add sand or calcium?
I look forward to hearing more on this.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't remember anything in the book about soil additives or supplements, just how different plants use nutrients and what chemicals they may emit that can stunt growth on a nearby plant.

 

[Denim Deb]

I have that same book. I think it was in that book (don't recall now) where it mentions about not growing onions in large blocks because it will attract a certain type of insect. So, what I do instead is plant my onions in a long row on either side of my tomatoes. You also don't need as much space as you're typically told for plants. I plant my tomatoes in 2 rows, 18" apart on all sides. Then, I put another double row about 2.5 to 3' away. This gives me room to get in between the plants. And, by planting my onions around the tomatoes, I've saved a ton of space.

Another thing I do is plant my beans and corn together. I plant my corn 8" apart in 7 rows. Once it's been up for about 2 weeks or more, I plant my beans in between the rows of corn. You can use either bush type or pole beans. They grow well together, and if you don't have the garden fenced in, it can help keep raccoons out of your corn.

 

[Beekissed]

And, of course, as the oldsters and the Indians knew, planting squash in the corn is beneficial to both the beans and the corn....we've always planted beans and squash or melons in the corn but we didn't know just how many ways they benefited from one another, we just did it because grandma did it and her mother did it, etc.

 

[Dawn419]

Here's a good link from MEN on companion planting:

Carrots love tomatoes: companion planting for a healthy garden

Now that we finally have our own place, I'm getting more serious about companion planting in the garden. I've been taking down notes for years and need to find the notebook.

There's a sequel to Carrots love Tomatoes, called Roses love Garlic and my mom just got a card in the mail to buy a revised book in which the two books are in one book. She asked me if I thought it would be a good book to have and I told her that I'd split the cost with her.

 

[moolie]

Yup, those are all Louise Riotte books--she really knows her stuff. My old version which she updated and changed to Carrots Love Tomatoes is called Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. My book does have notes on pests, weeds, mulch, soil amendments, and natural methods--I got it as a used copy many years ago.

I always interplant carrots with onions to keep the bugs that make black tunnels in the carrots away, apparently the carrots keep the onion-loving bugs away. I plant the carrot/onion rows next to my tomatoes and everyone is happy.

From my notes on last year's garden plan:

Beans don't like onions or sunflowers but do like radishes, celery, cukes and corn.

Beets don't like pole beans, but do like onions, lettuce and cabbage.

Cabbages/brassicas don't like strawberries, tomatoes or pole beans but do well with many-flowered or aromatic herbs.

Cukes inhibit weeds and don't like potatoes but do like beans, peas, radishes and sunflowers.

Potatoes don't like any squash/pumpkin, tomatoes, sunflowers or cukes but do like beans, corn, cabbage, and marigolds.

Pumpkins/squash like corn, radishes and nasturtiums.