This newly revised publication discusses the scientific and traditional basis for companion planting associations including trap cropping, weed suppression, physical-spatial interactions, and other relationships. It provides a companion planting chart for common herbs, vegetables, and flowers, as well as a listing of literature resources. An appendix provides information on the Three Sisters, a traditional Native American companion planting practice.
All listings on this site are posted by farms, non-profit organizations and other organizations offering internships to the public. Squash grows on vines that spread out over the surface of the ground. The squash plants create a ground cover that will suppress weed growth, maintain consistent soil temperature, and help keep moisture in the soil longer.
The thick, sturdy corn stalks are self-supporting, but they eliminate the need to use supports for the bean vines that grow vertically. Beans help the other two crops because they provide critical nitrogen fixation that benefits the other farm crops. And simple practices like this can help a small farm develop better crop management practices. Most diseases, insects, pests, and other things that can wreak havoc on the health of vegetable crops are like people.
They have personal preferences. Your planning and scheduling and overall production management practices are vital to the success of your harvest. Instead of planting all of one crop in one place, spread things around.
A farm management app can help ensure that you spread crops around to minimize the chance that an insect attack will infest your entire crop or disease will kill your best selling vegetable. My favorite two plants to tuck in around our garden are radishes and green onions. They can be stuck in just about anywhere and harvested before the other crops start to fill up that space. Not having large spaces of open soil not only allows you to grow more plants but helps hold the soil and keep it moist.
Vining plants like squash and cucumbers are especially useful for shading the soil. In a time where droughts have become a real problem in much of the United States this is perhaps one of the most important aspects of companion planting. The same way that having soil covered in plants hold water it also blocks weed growth. In the well known Native American method, the three sisters garden, vining squash is grown beneath corn and beans to shade the soil and prevent weeds from growing.
When you ditch the conventional monoculture garden layout it will be harder for pests to destroy your crops.
Some plants even deter certain pests. For example, wormwood can be planted among cabbage and other brassicas to help deter cabbage moths and marigold can be planted with beans to deter Mexican bean beetles.
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