Perfect Partners
Are you dabbling with the idea of starting a garden and want to make the most of a small space? Or are you interested in a natural way to repel insects in your garden? Then this info is for you! You have probably heard about planting plants together for their mutual benefits. Companions can provide many benefits, for example, increasing soil nutrients and chasing away pests. I’ll tell you about beneficial combinations for some commonly grown garden plants.
Tomatoes and basil together make a great Italian sauce in the kitchen, but did you know that they also complement each other in the garden? Basil helps increase the yield of tomatoes and as a bonus repels tomato pests. Marigolds are friends in this area too.
Peppers love basil for their friendly properties. They help repel aphids, spider mites, mosquitoes and flies. They have been known to improve the flavor of the peppers.
One of my favorites are pole beans, a staple in every garden and very productive. Who knew that corn and beans grow well together? The beans grow up the corn stalk, so no need to build a trellis. The beans provide much needed nitrogen to the soil, beneficial for the corn. Adding marigolds or rosemary in the mix will help both plants in repelling pest.
Cucumbers are probably one of the easiest vegetables to grow. A friendly companion for them are marigolds, because they can repel aphids and beetles.
To keep lettuce healthy, plant mint among the crop to keep slugs from eating the leaves and plant chives and garlic to repel aphids.
Marigolds and dill are great companions to repel pests.
Try beets with garlic. Garlic improves beet’s growth and flavor. Garlic produces sulfur as it grows and acts as an anti-fungal that prevents disease in beets.
As you can see, certain plants grow well together. Good companions help plants thrive. Large groupings of one type of vegetables is a pest problem waiting to happen. The mix of herbs and flowers with vegetables make it difficult for pests to find the vegetables. The scent of the flowers and herbs and the color scheme confuses pests and even attract beneficial insects to the garden. Remember that the layout in your garden is crucial to reap all the benefits of a bountiful garden.
