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Expert Q&A
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| By Donna Dawson Master Gardener | ||
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What is companion planting?
Usually when you are speaking about companion planting, you are speaking about a vegetable garden. Companion planting is when plants are planted together to complement each other and help each other grow to their full potential and yields.
With companion planting you are not only looking at what each plant can offer the other by way of repelling insects, but how they can help attract insects for pollination. Some plants can also be used to attract the bad pests and keep them away from those you want to grow on.
Flowers, fruits and vegetables can be grown close together in this method, all helping each other out. In gardens you will often see nasturtiums and tagetes (French marigolds). They both have many benefits in the garden. Parsley planted with carrots helps deter carrot flies; tomatoes repel asparagus beetle; borage around strawberry beds makes minerals more available in the soil; cilantro repels aphids.
It is quite an evolved subject, and besides being a good idea, it can also bring with it problems if you do not understand what to plant with each other.
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