Companion Planting for the Garden (The Easy Way)

Companion planting doesn’t have to be complicated. We’ve put together a list of quick tips and companion planting chart to get you started.

What is Companion Planting in the Garden?

Companion planting is planting different crops near each other to improve the growth of one or both crops.

Sometimes companions attract pollinators or ward off garden pests. Trap crops lure in pests to draw them away from more vulnerable crops. Tall plants can provide needed shade for heat sensitive plants, or act as a trellis for vining crops.

Nitrogen fixing plants like beans, peas, and clover help feed other plants, and plants with deep roots pull up nutrients from the subsoil. Low growing purslane, alyssum, and clover act as ground covers to protect the soil and reduce weeds.

You can read the post, “5 Reasons I Want Weeds in my Garden” to learn more about the use of weeds as ground covers, for soil building and for attracting beneficial insects.

The Easiest Way to Use Companion Planting

Here’s my super simple tip for companion planting – put smelly herbs and flowers all over your garden.

Then, apply common sense, and experiment, and find out what works for your growing conditions.

Think about growth habits – use tall plants or trellised plants to shade shorter ones that can’t stand the heat. Use low growing plants as a living mulch (but make sure to avoid overcrowding).

Strike a balance between keeping a crop concentrated enough for easy harvest, and growing other plants mixed in to repel pests.

If different plants tend to struggle with the same pests or diseases, don’t plant them near each other. For instance, peas and cucumbers may get powdery mildew in humid conditions, and both tomatoes and potatoes can be hit by blight. Avoid planting these crops right next to each other.

Companion planting guides generally recommend avoiding planting beans or peas and onions near each other. Some people mix them without problems, others find that both crops do poorly mixed together.

What’s going on? The answer may be in the rhizosphere, the soil right next to the plant roots that is impacted by the chemicals secreted by the roots.

Beans and peas partner with nitrogen producing bacteria to fix nitrogen in the soil. Onion family plants may produce naturally antibacterial substances from their roots. Under the right conditions, the onions might knock out the nitrogen producing bacteria.

I plant my onions near the edge of the bean patch, and haven’t had any troubles, but my neighbor mixed the two and both failed to thrive. If you’ve trying mixing the two, I’d love to hear your results.

Flowers are Good Companions for Almost Everything

I love the look of sweet alyssum and lobelia, and they do well in my garden. They are low growing, and can be tucked just about anywhere as a ground cover. Alyssum, dill, cilantro, parsley, and yarrow also help attract parasitizing wasps, which feed on caterpillars like tomato hornworms.

Nasturtiums always have a place in my vegetable garden for their beauty, and they repel aphids, bean beetles and squash bugs. They can act as a trap crop to lure blackflies away from fava beans, and cabbage butterflies away from brassicas.

Borage free ranges all over my garden. The bees love it, and it deters tomato worms and boosts strawberry and squash growth.

Marigolds, garlic, and chives deter Japanese beetles and Mexican bean beetles. Marigolds may also stimulate vegetable growth and deter pests such as aphids, potato bugs, squash bugs, and bean beetles.

Volunteer cosmos, calendula, and chamomile pop up all over the garden. I thin them as needed – the bees and butterflies enjoy them all. Think about providing blossoms from the last spring frost until after fall frost to keep the bees fed.

Don’t Forget the Herbs!

I tuck culinary herbs  all over the garden, too. Basil repels flies, mosquitoes, aphids, and spider mites. Yarrow can enhance the flavor and scent of some other plants, so I like to work with the herbs and the yarrow together.

Rosemary and sage deter carrot flies, and rosemary also slows down bean beetles and cabbage moths.

Mint is great for deterring aphids, ants, and flea beetles, but it also spreads rapidly and is difficult to eliminate. If you want to use it in your veggie garden, keep it in a sunken pot so it doesn’t take over.

Catnip, which is in the mint family, also repels insect pests and attracts pollinators. (Our bees made some amazing catnip honey last year.)

Catnip has a clumping root habit and is easier to control. It may attract cats, which helps to keep down rodent populations, but the cats sometimes dig in garden beds or roll in the catnip. I keep my catnip plants along the edges of garden beds.

3 Sisters Planting

Three sisters companion planting combines:

• Squash family crops
• Corn
• Pole Beans

In a traditional Native American Three Sisters planting, the corn and beans are both drying types harvested at the end of the season, so you don’t need to get in to harvest during the growing season.

For detailed suggestions on plant spacing and suggested varieties, see The Resilient Gardener.

I found that planting sweet corn and pole beans together did not work well in my northern garden. The corn was crushed by the beans before it could get well established. Similarly, planting the corn and squash together led to the squash strangling the corn.

What did work well for me was to plant the squash in hills placed at intervals around the corn patch, and allowing some vines to trail into the patch once the corn was established. This helps keep the raccoons at bay.

If you want to combine corn and bush beans, make sure to space the corn rows wide enough that the bean plants get enough sunlight and air circulation.

Companion Planting Chart

Plant	Good Companions/Allies	Avoid Planting With
Asparagus	Basil, calendula, parsley, tomatoes	Onion, chive, garlic, leek
Beans	Carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chard, corn, cucumber, eggplant, marigold, parsnip, pea, potato, rosemary, petunias	Basil, fennel, kohlrabi, onion family, radish, sunflower. Onion family plants stunt bean growth.
Beets	Bush beans, cabbage family, corn, leek, lettuce, lima beans, onion, radish	Pole beans, mustard
Broccoli and other Cabbage family plants (Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage)	Bush beans, beets, carrots, celery, chard, cucumber, dill, lettuce, nasturtiums, onion family, oregano, potato, rosemary, sage, spinach, catnip	Pole and snap beans
Carrots	Bean, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, chive, leaf lettuce, leek, onion, peas, pepper, radish, rosemary, sage, tomato	Celery, dill, parsnip are in the same family so attract the same pests.
Celery	Beans, cabbage family, and onions. Low growing alyssum helps shade celery stalks.	Carrot, parsley, parsnip
Corn	Bush beans, beets, cabbage, cantaloupe, cucumber, parsley, pea, pumpkins, squash. Plant vine crops around the edge for easier harvest & more light.	Tomatoes and corn are attacked by the same worm (corn earworm/ tomato fruitworm).
Cucumbers	Bush beans, broccoli, cabbage family, corn, dill, eggplant, lettuce, nasturtium, radish, sunflower	Aromatic herbs such as sage may stunt cucumber growth.
Eggplant	Bush beans, pea, peppers, marigold	Fennel
Garlic	Beet, lettuce. Garlic deters Japanese beetles and aphids.	Bean, peas
Kale	Bush beans, beets, celery, cucumber, lettuce, onion, potato, aromatic herbs, marigolds	Pole beans, tomatoes
Lettuce	Carrots, garlic, onion, radish, chives
Melons and Watermelons	Corn, radish, marigolds, nasturtiums, oregano	Potato
Onions	Beets, cabbage family, carrot, kohlrabi, early lettuce, parsnip, pepper, spinach, tomato, turnip	Asparagus, beans, peas, sage. Onions are antibacterial, and beans/peas fix nitrogen using bacteria.
Peas	Carrot, celery, chicory, corn, eggplant, parsley, early potato, radish, spinach, sweet pepper, turnip	Onion family, late potato
Peppers	Carrot, onion, parsnip, pea	Fennel, kohlrabi
Potatoes	Bush beans, cabbage family, corn, marigold, parsnip, pea. Basil deters potato beetles.	Cucumber, pumpkin, rutabaga, squash family, sunflower, tomato, turnip. Cucumbers may encourage blight in late potatoes.
Sweet potatoes	Marigold	Beets, carrots, potatoes
Swiss chard	Bush beans, kohlrabi, onions	Pole beans
Radish	Lettuce, beans, beets, carrot, nasturtium, parsnip, pea, spinach. Radishes attract flea beetles & can act as a trap crop.	Fennel
Tomatoes	Asparagus, basil, bush beans,  carrot, celery, chive, garlic, head lettuce, marigold, nasturtium, onion, parsley, pepper, borage	Pole beans, dill, fennel, potato, corn, kohlrabi
Winter Squash and Pumpkins	Celeriac, celery, corn, onion, radish	Potatoes
Zucchini/Summer Squash	Celeriac, celery, corn, nasturtium, onion, radish	Potatoes

Download the chart in Printable PDF format here.

Companion Planting Books

I loosely adapt the concepts presented in the book “Great Garden Companions”. Carrots Love Tomatoes, and its companion book for flowers, “Roses Love Garlic” are also popular.

You may also enjoy:

• How to Start a Garden
• Printable Garden Journal Templates
• When Should I Start My Seeds? Printable seed starting calendar

Originally published in 2016, last updated in 2022.