Green Goods Guide

Companion planting is, put simply, a way of planting different types of veggies or fruits next to other veggies or fruits to give both maximum benefits.

What are the benefits?

• Attracting beneficial insects, such as pollinators and soil aerators
• Repelling harmful insects
• Mutual assistance in nutrient uptake- one supplies what the other needs
• Pollination
• Better yield
• Better flavor

When you companion plant you are mimicing the natural relationships these plant families have in the wild and taking advantage of the symbiotic relationships they developed as, through natural selection, certain plant and animal traits were enhanced through their mutual gene pools. So you’re working with nature, which is always the easier path to tread when gardening.

Some of the more commonly known plant relationships are–

• Tomatoes and Asparagus
• Bush Beans and Beets
• Cabbage and either Mint or Thyme
• Corn and Melon or Pumpkin

Yellow, orange and red flowers will often aide in your gardening efforts  Marigolds and nasturtiums work well for this for a few reasons. The colors are right for attracting certain pests to the flowers and away from vegetables, and the smells deter others such as beetles and aphids. This practice is called trap cropping.

For more complete lists check this Companion Planting Relationships article at Wikipedia, and this Companion Planting page from the North Dakota State U Extension Service. Wikipedia also has a list of repellant plants.

Garden season will be upon us soon, and we’re all ordering seeds this month. Include companion planting in your garden plot plans and reap bigger crops with less insect nibbles naturally!

Click now for more companion planting info and for more Organic Gardening Secrets*!

Technorati Tags: companion planting, Organic Gardening, repellant plants, trap cropping