Companion Planting

Companion Planting is something I've always been interested in and I hope to improve upon this year (pictured: a start to my companion seed collection). I like to mix veg and flowers together in beds but I've rarely purposely planted things together to keep pests at bay; I usually plant rather randomly.  But this year I'm going to try to plan better for companion planting and I did a bit of research on the internet that I thought I'd share (source links listed below). If only there was a companion plant to keep slugs and snails away!

The companion planting tips have come from Gardener's World and BBC websites:

•  French marigolds grown with tomatoes; marigolds emit a strong odour that repels greenfly and blackfly. Can also lure aphids away from beans. It also attracts beneficial insects e.g. ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies, which prey on aphids.
•  Sage, grown with carrots or plants in the cabbage family, ward off pests. Both have strong scents that drive away each other's pests.
• Nasturtium grown with cabbages are a magnet for caterpillars that will then leave the cabbages alone. Planted with French and runner beans, acts as a sacrificial crop, luring aphids away from the beans. Its attractive flowers help attract beneficial insects, which prey on aphids.
• Garlic grown with roses wards off aphids.
• Carrots and leeks grown together protect against a number of pests. Leeks repel carrot fly and carrots repel onion fly and leek moth.
• Garlic chive, grown with carrots; its strong scent confuses and deters the carrot root fly, which can normally smell carrots from up to a mile away.
•  Lavender  attracts pollinators including butterflies, bees and hoverflies. Its strong scent deters aphids. Plant with carrots and leeks to confuse pests.
•  Sage is strongly scented and confuses pests of brassicas if grown alongside them. Its blue flowers attract bees and hoverflies, which also pollinate crops.
• Borage prevents attack from tomato hornworm and might even improve the flavour of strawberries.
• Thyme grown with roses; its strong scent deters blackfly. A thyme tea sprayed on cabbages prevents whitefly.
• Fennel flowers produce attractive yellow blooms that attract hoverflies, which prey on aphids.
• Chervil keeps aphids off lettuce.
•  Chives’ onion scent wards off aphids from chrysanthemums, sunflowers and tomatoes.
•  Coriander helps to repel aphids.
• Dill attracts aphid eating beneficial insects likes hoverflies and predatory wasps.

Have you had any particular success with companion planting?

Tried and tested tips welcome!