Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Companion planting
Gazing out at a winter wonderland, I’m making soup using herbs from last year. They are a wonderful family of plants. They offer fragrance, taste, medicinal properties and they repel some pests.
They offer fragrance, taste, medicinal properties and they repel some pests. While not always substantiated by University based information, there are a number of books and articles, as well as old gardeners around that swear by the use of herbs and companion planting.
So this isn’t “necessarily” scientific, however, I know plenty of University of MN horticulturists who DO use some of these “rules” for the vegetable garden.
There’s a book I recommend called “Carrots Love Tomatoes” by Louise Riotte. 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 2002. She compiled a list of companion plants as well. Click on the PDF: It’s quite extensive. CompanionPlantingGuideCompiledbyBethJarvis
There are many reasons for companion planting. Some to keep pests away, some to complement each other’s soil needs, some to deter rabbits. There’s another site I want you to check out too, Companion Planting, Secrets of Organic Gardening.
