Companion Planting CheatSheet
Tomatoes
:
- Borage improves tomato plant health and can improve the taste, also repels the tomato hornworm.
- grow with carrots
- grow with petunias
- grow with basil which repels spider mites, aphids, and whiteflies; attracts bees and other pollinators
- Beans, celery, cucumbers, lettuces, mint, garlic, chives, parsley, bee balm, oregano, sage all get along with tomatoes
- Avoid planting near cole crops or corn ( use beans and pumpkins with corn instead)
- black walnut trees inhibit growth
- Do Not grow with fennel (which generally suppresses growth of companions) or dill
- Nasturtiums are a catch crop… they shout ” Choose me, choose me!” to the aphids which want to suck the juices from your tomato plants; and are pretty
- Marigolds are the classic companion. They repel bad insects and interfere with bad nematodes. French marigolds (varieties include ‘Nemagold,’ ‘Petite Blanc,’ ‘Queen Sophia,’ and ‘Tangerine’) are most effective*
Other Veggies
:
- use collards to draw the diamond back moth away from cabbage
- Legumes, AKA peas, beans, and clover, have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen for their own use and for the benefit of neighboring plants
- Cabbage good with celery, dill, onions and potatoes; not good with strawberries, tomatoes and pole beans
Ornamentals
:
- White geraniums reputed to ward off Japanese beetles from roses
- Four-o-clocks magnetically draw Japanese beetles, then they eat the foliage and die. This plant also poisonous to humans- don’t eat it
- Marigolds for ridding damaging nematodes from the soil
- Nasturtiums as aphid catch crop (also called “trap cropping”)
- Basil can be helpful in repelling thrips, said to repel flies and mosquitoes, also. Don’t plant near rue.
- Clover good around apple trees, under grapevines
- Hyssopus officinalis stimulates growth of grapes
Remember to make use of “The Good Bugs“.
*footnotes:nematode guidelines
companion plant wiki
