Welcome to the ultimate garden buddy system known as companion planting. If you’ve ever wished your plants would just get along, grow stronger, resist pests, and make the most of your precious garden space—companion planting is about to become your new favorite tool.
Companion planting is more than just a feel-good gardening trend—it’s a time-tested method used by home gardeners, farmers, and even ancient cultures to help plants thrive together. But what is it, really?
This technique refers to the intentional placement of certain plants near each other to create natural benefits. Some attract pollinators. Others repel pests. Some improve the flavor of their neighbors, and a few even help condition the soil. Think of it as setting your garden up with a cast of characters that work together, not against each other.
🌿 What Companion Planting Is (and Isn’t)
It’s not magic. It’s strategy. While folklore has passed down some questionable combos, many plant partnerships have real science (or solid gardening experience) behind them.
Are you ready to take things up a notch and let your plants play matchmaker? Let’s get into it.
🌿 Why Companion Planting Works
Think of it like a carefully curated dinner party: Some guests bring out the best in each other (tomatoes + basil forever), while others clash, compete for resources, or attract drama (we’re looking at you, fennel).
When you use companion planting strategies, you:
- Deter pests and disease without chemicals
- Attract pollinators and beneficial insects
- Make better use of garden space
- Boost yields and improve flavor
- Create healthier, more resilient soil and ecosystems
🌿 Herbs: The Unsung Heroes of the Garden
Herbs are the multitaskers of the plant world. They repel pests, improve flavor, and boost plant health — and they’re straight-up pretty in a garden bed or container.
- Basil repels tomato hornworms and helps tomatoes thrive.
- Chives and garlic fend off aphids and beetles.
- Rosemary and sage protect carrots, beans and brassicas.
- Cilantro and dill attract predatory insects that eat garden pests.
Bonus? You can still toss them into your cooking like a total garden goddess.
And to honor one of my soapbox recurring themes, always say no to insecticides (a.k.a. pesticides). Herbs are your best friend and natural pest repellent. Scatter them with intention. Your veggies will thank you. I completely eliminated my use of these poisons decades ago and my garden rewarded me with the reestablishment of health, vigor and diversity.
🥕 The Great Garden Matchup: Besties, Bullies & Soil Drama
📥 Grab the Guide
I created a handy printable with the most common crops and their best (and worst) pairings — perfect for your garden journal, stuck on the shed door, or tacked up wherever you make your planting decisions.
Note that while some of the most common companions are covered here, there certainly are other companions and cautions. Lots more! I thought you might appreciate a single-page front and back printable and digestible article to get started with instead of a lengthy manuscript. Please do your own research and learn more! I’m learning every single day in the garden.
✨ Don’t see your crop on the list? Google it! Just type “what to plant with ___” or “what not to plant with ___” and look for consistent pairings across trusted sites.
What about the why?
Let’s go a little deeper than the printable guide and touch on the why.
Bean
- Loves: Carrot, Corn, Cucumber, Lettuce, Pea, Potato, Radish, Strawberry
- Avoid: Garlic, Onion, Pepper
- Why: Beans fix nitrogen in the soil and support leafy and fruiting crops. Onion relatives, including garlic, stunt growth and interfere with roots. Bean vines can crowd peppers.
Beet
- Loves: Brassicas*, Garlic, Lettuce, Onion, Radish, Spinach
- Avoid: Pole bean, Chard, Fennel, Squash
- Why: Root crops and leafy greens pair well with beets. Beans may interfere with beet development. Chard competes for the same nutrients. Fennel is just a problem child all around and should be planted alone. Squash sprawls too much blocking light.
Broccoli
- Loves: Basil, Beet, Celery, Chamomile, Dill, Onion, Rosemary, Sage
- Avoid: Strawberry, Tomato
- Why: Aromatic herbs confuse cabbage moths. Strawberries compete for root space and like tomatoes, compete for the same nutrients. Tomatoes also attract similar pests and fungal diseases like blight.
Carrot
- Loves: Chive, Leek, Onion, Pea, Rosemary, Sage, Tomato
- Avoid: Celery, Dill, Fennel, Parsnip, Potato
- Why: Companions deter carrot fly and share space well. Dill and fennel inhibit root growth. Celery and parsnip are closely related leading to shared nutrients, pests and disease. Potatoes compete for space and can lead to disease and pest problems.
Cucumber
- Loves: Bean, Dill, Lettuce, Onion, Oregano, Radish
- Avoid: Potato, Sage
- Why: Beans fix nitrogen in the soil. Other companions attract beneficial insects and repel the bad guys. Potato is a mutual heavy feeder, an underground space hog and prone to similar diseases. While sage’s strong scent can deter some pests, it is more likely to confuse or pollinators that cucumbers depend on.
Lettuce
- Loves: Basil, Beet, Carrot, Chive, Onion, Radish, Strawberry, Tomato
- Avoid: Brassicas*, Celery, Parsley
- Why: Basil, chive and onion repel pests like aphids and slugs. Beet, carrot and radish have non-competing roots and help loosen soil. Strawberries act as a living mulch, keeping the soil cool and moist just as lettuce prefers. Tomatoes provide shade as the plants grow and things heat up, slowing lettuce bolt. Brassicas steal nutrients, block sun and attract pests. Celery competes for water and nitrogen. Parsley crowds the space and can draw aphids.
Melon
- Loves: Bean, Corn, Radish
- Avoid: Cucumber, Potato, Squash
- Why: Bean fixes nitrogen while corn offers light shade and wind protection. Radish acts as a trap crop, distracting pests. Cucumber and squash compete for space, water and attract the same pests. Potato competes underground and spreads diseases like blight.
Onion
- Loves: Beet, Carrot, Lettuce, Spinach, Strawberry, Tomato
- Avoid: Bean, Pea
- Why: Onions deter pests but inhibit legumes. Companion leafy and root crops thrive nearby. I interplant pretty much everything with onions in my garden, except for beans and peas. I buy several types of onion sets each spring and add the onions in between and around my other crops. Onion is probably my favorite companion vegetable. I harvest green onions early and let others grow to full size.
Pea
- Loves: Bean, Carrot, Celery, Corn, Cucumber, Dill, Oregano, Radish, Tomato, Turnip
- Avoid: Chive, Garlic, Leeks, Onion
- Why: Beans, corn, cucumber and tomato offer vertical support or thrive nearby without crowding. Peas repay the favor by fixing nitrogen to boost its friends. Carrot, celery, radish and turnip are all shallow-rooted and don’t compete for nutrients while they benefit from the pea-added nitrogen. Dill and oregano attract pollinators, beneficial bugs and deter pests.
Pepper
- Loves: Basil, Carrot, Cilantro, Dill, Onion, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Spinach, Thyme, Tomato
- Avoid: Bean, Brassicas*, Fennel, Potato
- Why: Strong-scented herbs deter pests, attract pollinators and can boost pepper flavor and health. Carrot and spinach don’t compete and grow well in the same conditions. Onion deters aphids, beetles and other pepper pests. Tomato, a fellow nightshade, shares similar needs and both benefit form each other’s pest defenses. Beans compete for space and can shade out peppers. Brassicas have different soil needs and may stunt pepper growth. Fennel releases naughty growth-stunting chemicals into the soil and potato competes for nutrients and shares diseases like blight.
Potato
- Loves: Bean, Cabbage, Corn
- Avoid: Cucumber, Fennel, Squash, Tomato
- Why: All three of the loves play nice underground and boost each other’s growth. Beans fix nitrogen, Cabbages shallow roots don’t interfere with potato root development and deter some common potato pests. Corn grows tall without shading potatoes. Cucumber, squash and tomato compete for nutrients, spread pests and disease. Fennel—need we go there again? Just don’t grow it next to anything. It’s a garden diva that doesn’t play well with others.
Squash
- Loves: Bean, Corn, Radish
- Avoid: Potato
- Why: We’ve established bean’s nitrogen super powers. Corn can act as a natural trellis and provide light shade. Radish deters pests like squash borers and beetles. Potato requires the same nutrients, attracts similar bugs and diseases.
Strawberry
- Loves: Bean, Borage, Lettuce, Onion, Spinach, Thyme
- Avoid: Brassicas
- Why: Supports soil health and discourages pests. Brassicas compete and reduce berry quality. Bean—ya know the nitrogen king. Borage and thyme attract pollinators and repel pests. Lettuce and spinach, both shallow-rooted, help retain moisture without competing. Onions repel aphids and weevils. Brassicas compete for the same nutrients, attract the same pests and can disrupt each other’s chemistry, stunting growth.
Tomato
- Loves: Basil, Carrot, Chive, Onion, Parsley
- Avoid: Corn, Fennel, Potato
- Why: Basil, chive and onion repel pests like aphids and hornworms. Carrot and parsley have shallow roots, don’t compete and help loosen the soil. Corn attracts tomato hornworms. Potato shares diseases and competes for nutrients. Fennel—stunts growth, like it always does.
Notes
- *Brassicas include bok or pak choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens. rutabaga and turnips.
- Marigolds and nasturtiums are versatile companions. Marigolds deter nematodes and pests. In addition to being edible, nasturtiums attract beneficial insects with their beautiful flowers and act as trap crops for aphids. Plant both throughout your garden to help protect and boost plant health.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still rotate crops if I use companion planting?
Sure—crop rotation by plant family is the gold standard, and companion planting plays nice with it. But let’s be real: in most backyard gardens, there’s only so much shuffling you can do. If your tomatoes end up where they grew last year, it’s not the end of the world. My grandpa grew showstopper tomatoes in the same pots for decades. Now those same vintage beauties are cranking out veggies in my garden. ❤️ So rotate when you can—but don’t lose sleep if you can’t.
Does this work in raised beds or containers?
Absolutely. Many companion combos are ideal for small-space and raised bed gardening. In fact, I grow my veggies almost exclusively in raised beds or containers. Just be sure each plant still has enough room to grow comfortably to its full size.
How do I know if it’s working?
Pay attention over time. Are you seeing fewer pests? Better yields? Companion planting isn’t instant—it’s a strategy that works best with observation, adjustment, and a little patience.
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Here are some of my favorite supporting team members:
- Seed Storage Organizer — Keeps your companion planting game tight and tidy.
- Sharp, comfortable pruners — my old standby from Fiskars.
- Soil Thermometer — Because warm-season veggies have opinions.
- Plant tags — No more “mystery squash” surprises.
- Garden marker — Sharpie doesn’t cut it unless you love blank tags later.
- Floating Row Covers — Protects young crops and confuses pests.
- Garden Journal — Because your brain deserves a backup.
- EZ-Straw – love this stuff, natural, biodegradable, less mess than the bale.
Your garden doesn’t need drama — it needs a dream team. Companion planting is about pairing plants that help each other thrive, fight pests naturally, and share space without starting a turf war. Basil brings the calm, carrots play well with others, and fennel… well, fennel shows up uninvited and wrecks the vibe.
When you plant with purpose, you grow more than veggies — you grow resilience, balance, and beauty. No chemicals. No chaos. Just the kind of backyard magic that comes from putting the right roots in the right place.
Looking to dig deeper? Check out the related posts linked to this article. Happy planting!
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