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Companion Planting CheatSheet

Companion Planting CheatSheet
Here is a short list of very useful companion planting tactics to use for growing plants organically. There are books which more completely outline and list companion planting pairings, but this page can get you started..

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 trap crop… they shout ” Choose me, choose me!” to the aphids which want to suck the juices from your tomato plants; and they are pretty, too!
  • 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*
  • home-grown tomatoes will taste better with a near-by planting of sweet basil.
Read More About Tomato Companions

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
  • Lovage helps improve the flavor and health of almost any garden plant.
  • Tarragon and Marjoram will enhance flavors in the same way.
  • If spinach is planted with peas and beans, they provide shade for the spinach. Good companion for cabbage, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, onion, peas, strawberries.
  • Sage to deter cabbage moths, black flea beetles, and carrot flies from broccoli, cauliflower, rosemary, cabbage, and carrots

Ornamentals

  • White geraniums reputed to ward off Japanese beetles from roses
  • Feverfew will help to keep the aphids away from your roses
  • Rue repels many insect pests
  • 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
  • Calendula repels tomato hornwoms and asparagus beetles and attracts caterpillars, leafhoppers, aphids, whiteflies. So it can be used to repel certain pest from tomatoes and used as a “catch crop” for other plant’s pests. It is bright and pretty in the garden

Roses

Bury used tea bags under mulch around the base of the roses to make soil more acidic. Coffee grounds will give a steady dose of nutrients.

Rotten bananas, using the entire thing, dug into the soil around the base of the roses provides potassium to boost your blooms.

Underplant with white geraniums (pelargoniums) to deter Japanese beetles.

Alyssum flowers attract hoverflies whose larva devour aphids.

Remember to make use of “The Good Bugs“.

*footnotes: nematode guidelines
companion plant wiki

Source: permacultureglobal.com
You can buy this and other sustainable gardening posters at the Afristar poster shop.

Miscellaneous Tips

Tansy to repel ants- but keep it from foraging animals, it can be toxic if ingested. Hang it in a dried bunch to repel flies.


A thorough PDF on the topic:
Companion Planting

Links
Companion Planting