Why is companion planting important?

As the weather in the Gulf gets better, it is time for gardeners to plant their seasonal flowers and vegetables. Companion planting is something most gardeners do unconsciously, but it is a good idea to be mindful of it particularly when we have container gardening and lack of ground space.

Some of the reasons why companion planting is useful are:

  1. It attracts beneficial insects to pollinate your food plants and increase the produce.
  2. It is a natural way to deter pests from your food.
  3. It is easy to fertilize and use pesticide if we group plants which need similar nutrients or have the same kinds of pests.
  4. Sometimes planting complementary plants together is helpful as they do not compete for the same nutrients.
  5. On a completely different note, many experienced gardeners share anecdotes that the plants of the same family do better as a group.
  6. Sometimes cross pollinations between the same species gives rise to new colours when we collect the seeds.

The chart below shows us what we can plant together:

The most common ones are :

1: Plant marigolds and basil along with tomatoes.

2. Avoid planting fennel with other plants. I would plant it separately in a pot.

3. Plant Garlic with your Roses as it deters pests.

4. Plant Mint near your cabbages as it deters the cabbage worms.

Companion planting for specific produce is a huge topic but the above post should start you off well.

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