Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Companion planting
After some snowshoeing, I’m looking forward to the soup I made using herbs from last year!
They are a wonderful family of plants. They offer fragrance, taste, medicinal properties and they repel some pests.
Until fairly recently, companion planting wasn’t really given it’s due credit by University based Horticulture departments, even if some of the instructors may have written a book or two!!! One I’ve used to plan my vegetable garden is called ‘Carrots love Tomatoes’.
She also wrote a great article for Mother Earth News – “Companion Planting for the Healthy Garden” in 1992. It’s chock full of info!
Beth Jarvis with the U of MN was one of my instructors for the Master Gardener Program back in 2003. She compiled a list of companion plants as well. Click on the PDF: It’s quite extensive. CompanionPlantingGuideCompiledbyBethJarvis
Carrots also like peas, cabbage, onions and chives but do NOT like dill. Don’t grow Coriander, also known as Cilantro, near Fennel, the fennel won’t flower. In fact, fennel is one herb that should NOT be grown in the vegetable garden. (most plants don’t get along with it)
I do love fennel though and have grown it. The seeds have such a great anise taste and add wonderful flavor to Italian sausage and fish. The bulb is also used in antipasto dishes.
Dill likes cabbages, onions and lettuce but mature dill is not good for carrots and tomatoes.
Don’t plant garlic with beans and peas but, instead, plant with tomatoes.
While mint seems to repel insects and pests but it can be invasive.
