Companion Planting: Do Your Plants Get Along?
By Sherril Steele-Carlin
Did you know that many plants contain oils or other elements that can attract or repel insects in your garden? If you place these plants among the rows of your vegetables or flowers, you're garden will be happier and healthier with very little effort! Some of these "companion" plants can even encourage the growth, flowering, and even the final flavor of other plants. This is called "companion planting," and your garden can benefit from knowing what plants enhance others, and what plants do not. Here are some of the most common and easy to grow companion plants.
- Basil - Fresh basil is a joy for the cook, and it also helps to repel flies, mosquitoes, and thrips. It also enhances the flavor of tomatoes when planted near them, so instead of banishing basil to the herb garden, plant a few plants each year interspersed with your tomato plants. Make sure you don't plant your basil near rue.
- Borage - A fairly common herb that goes well with tomatoes, squash, and strawberries. This hardy annual will seed itself each year after you first plant it and it helps repel tomato hornworms and cabbage worms. This is also a great plant for attracting bees and wasps, which are also beneficial to your garden. This plant also adds some scant amounts of minerals to the soil, and it seems to benefit plants around it by increasing their resistance to some pests and disease. Altogether a handy plant to have in most any garden!
- Catnip - If you grow catnip for your kitties, then you might want to plant a few extra plants to help deter flea beetles, aphids, Japanese beetles, squash bugs, ants, and weevils. This versatile plant also keeps mice away from the house; they don't seem to enjoy the smell.
- Chervil - Plant this herb near your radishes for improved growth and flavor. It will also help keep aphids off your lettuce.
- Rosemary - Rosemary can't be beat in the kitchen, and it's quite helpful in the garden too. It goes well near cabbage, beans, carrots, and sage. It is also known to deter cabbage moths, bean beetles, and carrot flies. If you don't plant it near your carrots, place a few cuttings near them to keep carrot flies away.
- Tarragon - This is an easy herb to grow, and most pest insects seem to avoid it, so it's a good plant to use throughout the garden wherever you would like to keep insects at bay. It also helps enhance the growth and flavor of most any vegetable.
These are just a few of the many plants you will find beneficial to your garden while keeping away many types of pesky insects. More information can be found in the links below. Always check a companion planting chart before planting new plants near each other in your garden, and you'll get the best results.