Companion Planting

September 7, 2015

Companion planting is a gardening strategy that maximises crop growth based on the principle of diversity. If similar plant species are planted in close proximity, they compete for the same nutrients, often leading to identical pest problems. By grouping different plant species together, companion gardening fosters a balanced ecosystem in your garden, allowing nature to do its job. There are many aspects to effective companion cropping, so we’ve created a detailed summary of the best plant pairings and techniques to keep your garden thriving.

Effective companion gardening strategies to repel pests and insects

When sowing your garden at home, there are many companion planting factors to consider to give your herbs and flowers the best shot at survival throughout the seasons:

Grow flowers with different sights and smells
Pests and insects are attracted to your plants’ sight and smell. Consider companion gardening to confuse or slow the pests down, leading them astray, so they seek food elsewhere. Masking plants produce strong, volatile oils and scents that protect the plants that harmful insects may be looking for. Examples of masking plants include marigolds, lavender, garlic, basil, sage and rosemary.
Companion gardening in patches of open soil
By companion planting herbs and small flowers, you can strategically conceal open gaps in your soil or the surrounding borders of your yard to avoid weed growth. Asides from its botanical aesthetic, preventing weeds from creeping up on your garden is essential to your plants’ health since they’ll compete with your plants for nutrients and light.
Fertilise your soil with companion gardening
Certain plants better absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere because of their relationship with bacteria within the soil. Once they die, they release nitrogen into the soil, fertilising it and stimulating other plants' growth. Examples of companion planting vegetables you could use for this purpose are peas, beans and other legumes, also often referred to as green manure crops.

While companion cropping isn’t the be-all and end-all for eradicating unwanted garden pests, it will help. Be sure to manage your expectations, as it’s only natural for your lettuce leaf to have a hole or two!

Other benefits of effective companion planting

Companion gardening can do more than repel pests and weeds; it also increases your vegetable garden output and overall health:

Attract beneficial insects, birds and wildlife
Choosing the right herbs to plant together will invite native birds, bees and butterflies into your garden, assisting in pollination and controlling insects. Chives, coriander and dill will help attract this wildlife when left to flower. Cosmos, calendula, lavender, salvia, and nasturtiums also grow flowers with the same desired effect.
Create suitable microclimates for your plants
Different types of plants require various forms of sunlight. While lettuce and celery don’t do well with hot afternoon Ssummer sun, capsicums and eggplants thrive in bright sunlight. Strategically companion planting your vegetables is the way to go! Grow your lettuce to the southeast of the capsicums and eggplants to ensure they each receive a healthy amount of sunlight and shelter as required.
Choose plants with different root depths
Sowing the same seeds near each other will cause the growing plants to compete for the water and nutrients since they have identical root depth. Instead, employ the companion planting of your vegetables by, for example, sowing a row of lettuce, followed by carrots, then tomatoes to ensure they don’t compete for access to nutrients. Consider the following depths of plant roots to avoid planting similar ones close to each other:
- Shallow-rooted vegetables include lettuce and bok choy.
- Medium-rooted vegetables include carrots, beetroot and potatoes.
- Deep-rooted vegetables include tomatoes, corn, pumpkin and broccoli.

With the abundance of benefits that companion cropping offers, it’s hard to see a reason not to maintain a healthy diversity when sowing your seeds!

Discover our companion planting chart for vegetables and herbs

For more information on popular plants and what they pair well with, browse our companion planting chart below:

Here is a table of popular plants and what they pair well with:

Variety	Goes Well With		Examples
Beans	Carrot Cucumber Peas Corn Spinach Lettuce	Dill Brassicas Beets Radish Strawberry Rosemary	Beans provide nitrogen.
Beets	Lettuce Kohlrabi Onions Brassicas	Catnip Garlic Mint	Onions help deter some insects and weeds.
Broccoli	Dill Alliums Rosemary Sage	Nasturtium Borage Geraniums	Sage repels the Cabbage White Butterfly.
Cabbage	Beans Beetroot Potatoes Celery Mint Thyme	Rosemary Nasturtiums Geraniums Dill Alliums Sage	Rosemary repels cabbage flies.
Carrots	Peas Radish Lettuce Onion Chives	Sage Leek Tomato Beans Mint	Onion will repel carrot fly.
Celery	Nasturtium Onion Cabbage Tomato	Dill Cosmos Daisies Snapdragons
Corn	Sunflowers Legumes Cucumber	Parsley Potato	Use corn as a trellis for your legumes and cucumber.
Cucumber	Beans Celery Lettuce Corn Sunflower Radish Nasturtiums	Marigolds Sunflowers Peas Beets Carrots Dill	Nasturtiums will protect cucumbers from pests.
Eggplant	Marigolds Tarragon Mint		Marigolds will deter insects.
Lettuce	Carrots Onions Strawberry Radish Zinnia	Beetroot Marigold Sunflower Cucumber	Zinnia attracts pollinators and offer shade for lettuce.
Onion	Carrots Beetroot Silverbeet Lettuce	Chamomile	Planting chamomile with onions improves their flavour.
Parsley	Tomato Asparagus Sweet Corn Chives		Said to improve flavour of asparagus and tomato.
Peas	Carrots Radish Turnip Corn	Cucumber Beans	Sweet Corn has traditionally been used as “living stakes” for peas.
Capsicums	Tomatoes Geraniums Petunias Marjoram		Capsicum plants grown with tomatoes, can shelter the fruit from sunlight, and raise the humidity level.
Potato	Beans Cabbage Horseradish Marigolds		Horseradish increases the disease resistance of potatoes.
Pumpkin	Sweet corn Beans	Catnip Radishes	Radish will ward off Flea Beetles.
Spinach	Peas Beans Strawberries		Peas and Beans provide natural shade.
Strawberry	Lettuce Spinach Sage
Tomatoes	Celery Parsley Basil Carrots Chives Marigolds	Asparagus Oregano Marigold Alliums Geraniums Petunias Nasturtium	Basil repels insects and disease, improves growth and flavour.
Turnip	Cucumbers Lettuce Nasturtium	Peas Tomato Mint
Watermelon	Potato Corn Sunflowers
Zucchini	Nasturtiums Marjoram Sweet Corn		Nasturtiums help protect against aphids.

Shop our companion planting seeds so your garden blossoms to its full potential

At Mr. Fothegill’s, we offer home gardeners a wide range of vegetable, flower, and herb seeds. Our products adhere to strict quality testing to ensure they respond well to our Aussie climate, so you can rest assured your flower beds and fresh produce gardens are thriving and kept as pest-free as possible. If for any reason your seeds don’t grow, we will replace them.

FAQs

What vegetables should not be planted next to each other?

Plants that share a similar root system depth should not be grown next to each other, as they will compete for the same nutrient and water intake. For example, carrots, beetroots and potatoes are all medium-rooted veggies that should not be planted side by side. Instead, sowing a row of carrots followed by lettuce and tomatoes is a smarter way to arrange your veggie patch, as they all have different root depths.

What companion planting vegetables and flowers grow well together?

Here are a few examples of veggies and flowers that are well suited to companion planting:

Marigolds are well suited to eggplants to deter insects.
Planting chamomile with onions improves their flavour.
Nasturtiums help protect zucchini from aphids.

How do I start companion planting?

The best way to get started is to refer to our companion gardening chart to learn which vegetables, herbs, and flower seeds are compatible to plant together. With a little groundwork, you’ll soon see the benefits of embracing companion planting techniques to repel insects and pests, help your plants grow and even improve the taste of some vegetables.

How do I lay out my garden?

We highly recommend laying out the borders of your garden patch by companion planting herbs and small flowers to conceal open gaps in your soil and avoid weed growth. This will benefit your plants’ health by preventing weeds from stealing their nutrients and sunlight.

What flowers can be planted together?

Companion gardening flowers with different colours and shapes will distract any pests from your garden beds. If creating a shared flower bed is what you’re after, finding flowers that cooperate should be your priority. Examples of well-suited flowers are listed below:

Geraniums and roses — The smell of your geraniums will keep pests away from your roses.
Hydrangeas and daylilies - Daylilies are a natural repellent for aphids and other beetles. This is beneficial for hydrangeas, which attract pests when stressed.
Marigolds and lavender — Marigolds and lavender are drought-tolerant and thrive in hot, sunny weather. They balance each other out as marigolds’ distinctive aroma repels aphids and other pests, while lavender invites bees and butterflies to pollinate its neighbouring plants.