Originally published by Jung Seed Co.
When planning your vegetable garden, it is beneficial to learn the principles of companion planting to help you design a successful garden.
What is Companion Planting?
Companion plants are neighboring plants that will provide each other with additional beneficial nutrients and can provide an easy pest management strategy to help your garden flourish. Be careful, however, as some neighboring plants can have the opposite effect on each other. Before you start planting your garden, it is important to learn what plants should and should not be neighbors in your vegetable garden.
Companion Planting Favorites
Two plants all vegetable gardens can benefit from are Nasturtium and Marigold. Marigold flowers are known to not only help vegetables flourish, but their strong scented flowers repel insects and their roots prevent weeds from growing. In southern climates, they help kill harmful parasitic worms that are known to destroy vegetable plants and ornamentals.
Nasturtium blooms, like marigolds, attract pollinators to the garden but the flowers are also edible. Their best function, however, is as a trap crop. Aphids can’t resist them! Nasturtiums planted on the perimeter of the garden will attract aphids and whiteflies away from your vegetable plants.
Peas and beans are good companions for almost any vegetable garden as they provide the soil with nitrogen for neighboring plants to use.
Companion Planting Chart
| Plants | Plant Companions | Plant Enemies |
| Asparagus | Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Tomato | Alliums (Onion Family) |
| Bean, Bush | Beet, Cabbage, Carrot, Celery, Chard, Cucumber, Pea, Potato, Radish | Garlic, Leek, Onion |
| Bean, Pole | Corn, Potato, Radish | Beet, Garlic, Kohlrabi, Onion, Sunflowers |
| Beet | Bush Bean, Cabbage, Lettuce, Onion | Field Mustard, Pole Bean |
| Broccoli | Beet, Celery, Chard, Cucumber, Lettuce, Onions, Potato, Spinach | Dill, Pole Bean, Strawberry, Tomato |
| Cabbage | Beet, Celery, Chard, Cucumber, Lettuce, Onions, Potato, Spinach | Strawberry |
| Carrot | Bean, Leek, Lettuce, Onion, Pea, Pepper, Tomato | Dill |
| Cauliflower | Alfalfa, Beets, Celery, Chard, Herbs, Onions, Spinach | Dill, Pole Bean, Strawberry, Tomato |
| Corn | Bean, Cucumber, Parsley, Pea, Potato, Squash | Tomato |
| Cucumber | Bean, Cabbage, Corn, Lettuce, Pea, Radish, Tomato | Herbs, Potato |
| Eggplant | Bean, Herbs, Pepper | |
| Fennel | None | Everything |
| Garlic | Cabbage, Fruit Trees, Roses, Tomato | Bean, Pea |
| Kale | Beet, Celery, Chard, Cucumber, Lettuce, Onion, Potato, Spinach | Pole Bean, Strawberry, Tomato |
| Lettuce | Beet, Carrot, Onion, Radish | Cabbage family (Brassicas) |
| Onion | Beet, Cabbage, Carrot, Lettuce, Pepper, Tomato | Bean, Pea |
| Pea | Bean, Carrot, Corn, Cucumber, Radish, Turnip | Garlic, Onion |
| Pepper | Carrot, Eggplant, Onion, Tomato | Fennel, Kohlrabi |
| Potato | Bean, Cabbage, Corn, Eggplant, Pea | Apple, Cherry, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Raspberry, Tomato |
| Radish | Bean, Carrot, Cucumber, Lettuce, Pea | Hyssop, Potato |
| Spinach | Cabbage, Celery, Strawberry | Hyssop |
| Squash | Corn, Melon, Pumpkin | |
| Swiss Chard | Bean, Cabbage family, Chives, Onion, Tomato | Corn, Cucumber, Herbs, Melon, Potato |
| Tomato | Asparagus, Carrot, Celery, Cucumber, Onion, Pepper | Corn, Dill, Kohlrabi, Potato |
| Turnip | Pea |