Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Companion Planting
Gazing out at a winter wonderland, I made soup using herbs from last year.
I dry them in my dehydrator and LOVE having them on hand. Oh the Rosemary!
Herbs 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.
A book I’ve used to plan my vegetable garden is called ‘Carrots love Tomatoes’, which they do. Carrots also like peas, cabbage, onions and chives but do NOT like dill.
Author, Louise Riotti, says 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. This guy is odd man out. I do love fennel though and have grown it here. 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.
Another source of companion planting information comes from my Master Gardener Instructor all those years ago, Beth Jarvis. Click on the link for an extension list: CompanionPlantingGuideCompiledbyBethJarvis
- 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, it can be invasive. All plants seem to love mint.
- Spinach likes cabbage, strawberries, celery, peas, onions.
- Squash likes to grow among corn, nasturtium but not with potatoes.
