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!
