Companion planting can help your garden flourish in ways it never has before. You can have healthier plants and a better harvest (and even control some garden pests!) by choosing with care which plants go together and which plants to keep apart. Companion planting isn’t difficult once you have a few basics down. This is, however, a very broad subject, so we’ll cover the basics here to get you started! Through companion planting you can:
- enhance the flavor of your harvest (plants like herbs can enhance the flavor of nearby plants)
- increase your yield (some plants help others grow better)
- improve nitrogen (some plants can make nitrogen available to other plants)
- repel pests (the biochemicals of certain plants can repel insect and other pests)
- attract good guys (beneficial insects are attracted to or like to inhabit certain plants)
- divert pests (certain plants attract pests, which can keep them away from your garden)
Companion Plants
{The list looks small, just click on it to enlarge!}
Other highly beneficial plants to consider for your garden:
- catmint: deters ants
- chamomile: helps keep nearby plants healthy
- foxglove: lends strength and longer life to nearby plants
- lavender: attracts bees and deters caterpillars, mice, ticks & rabbits
- marigolds: deter pests
- marjoram: repels insect pests, attracts bees
- mint: repels insects pests, attracts beneficial insects
- nettles: a weed, but it excretes nutrients into the soil and protects against aphids, black fly & mildew
- pennyroyal: deters ants & burrowing insects
- soybeans: nourishes and reconditions soil, and deters corn pests
- tansy: repels pests
- tarragon: beneficial to nearby plants
- yarrow: good for veggies & herbs, attracts beneficial bugs
One of our favorite combinations for the garden is one of our favorite combinations for the kitchen…tomatoes and basil! Basil will add subtle flavor to tomatoes, makes it more disease resistant, and repel aphids, fruit flies & house flies, and it will attract bees! If you missed last week’s recipe for
bruschetta, a simple but amazing combination of tomatoes and basil, be sure to pin it so you can make it this summer! We will keep bringing you weekly garden-fresh recipes to give some kitchen inspiration for all those delicious fruits and veggies!
Happy planting!
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