Why Vegetables Need Friends: Companion Planting Made Simple 🌺

Vegetables need friends too! Nature works in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways, and with a little know-how you can harness the powers of nature to boost and protect your crops as well as wildlife. Ben reveals some of his treasured secrets in this week's episode.

Our team of passionate plant nerds have been hard at work for many many months, thoroughly researching the science behind beneficial plants, bringing you tried and tested Evidence-Based Companion Planting methods.
All of this in depth information and more is available on our online Garden Planner software. See the link below.

If you love growing your own food, why not take a look at our online Garden Planner which is available from several major websites and seed suppliers:
and many more...

[jamieboyd]

Great info Ben! I've always included a few companion plants in our gardens, but last year I really made a conscious effort to include as many as possible. WOW what a difference! The gardens were full of marigolds, zinnias, calendula, nasturtium, basil, and borage, and I can honestly say after almost 17 years this was the best my garden has ever produced, even with the terrible weather last summer. Not only were the beneficial bugs plentiful, but the pest population seemed much reduced, AND it was astonishingly beautiful. I loved going out to weed and to watch the bees, butterflies, wasps, hoverflies, hummingbirds, etc early in the morning. It was so peaceful. This year I have similar plants planned, with full rows of pollinator strips throughout. If anyone reading this hasn't tried companion planting yet, I highly recommend Even just a few zinnias and marigolds to start with are helpful, beautiful, and grow easily from inexpensive seed packets💚

[Listenclearly]

I heard something years ago that has to do with companion planting.
'If it tastes good together, it grows well together'
Certainly true for tomatoes and basil.

[dut]

2 years ago I was killing dozens of hornworms on my tomato plants. Last year I planted marigolds underneath and didn't have a single hornworm. My wife also planted an entire flower bed nearby with calendula for making soap and salve, and my garden was pretty much pest free other than the fall grasshoppers.

[MoparRob]

I'm in Tennessee. I grew basil around my tomatoes last season and noticed a sharp decrease in pests in comparison to years past. You can't go wrong with basil between the benefits from companion planting, the smell, and cooking uses it's a definite win.

[MIchelle-cairn_mom]

I’ve had so much success planting marigolds with tomatoes!

[lovingfantasy]

I want to thank you for noting differences from your garden and those in North America. I really appreciate those notes, it’s so kind of you. ❤️

[joeibassett]

Last year I mistakenly ordered Holy Basil or Tulsi instead of basil. It grew very well and attracted a huge number of different pollinators. It was at the edge of a path to the greenhouse and got brushed every time I walked by. The aroma was wonderful. I added it to my list of “companions” for this year. Easy to grow from seed with lovely little blue flowers. Highly recommended.

[RedNicole]

I’ve been doing this for the last few years, and saw that it does work and help. Nasturtiums were amazing! They saved a lot of my veggies bc they migrated to them instead. They taste so good as well, and help with pain. I ate the leaves when I had a toothache and it relived my pain until I was able to get to the dentist.

[billyandrew]

I grow garlic the year round.
Agreed, at times there is no hope of a decently formed bulb, however, the leaves are edible, while the scent is still strong enough to do the job of repelling.

[redsaint]

Inspired by Tony Smith, Emmas Allotment Diaries, Green Side Up, Lifesabooch, Malcolm Kingswell, Jessie at Plot 37 and now you. Not sure when I'm going to find time to watch all the blogs and still get the work done on my Allotment. Have access to a large plot (0.75 of an acre). Plan is to create a community resource. Have a few volunteers in the team so far and made connections with a local food bank and support groups for survivors of domestic violence and people suffering from anxiety. I'm going to record the progress, not initially for blogging reasons but for progress reporting. Thank you for inspiring me. My seed potatoes will start chitting this week I think. Red Duke of York is one of mine. No idea what I am letting myself in for. Very little experience. But I find myself really excited. Time to graft

[lieveguastavino]

For years now, I put carrots and onions together. Succesfully. Thank you for your videos!

[michaelwalker]

Ben my wife and I have learned so much watching your videos! Thank you for taking the time to make them!

[christinej]

I’m trying to do more companion planting this year. I do know for a fact Basil does indeed keep bad bugs away from pepper plants. I had planted my Basil at the end of my pepper plants and never had any problems at all with any of the plants. In fact they were the prettiest plants in my garden. The yum yum mini peppers and jalapeños peppers produce the most and the green bell produce a lot too, however the peppers were on the small side. I now know to plant Basil next to my tomato plants and plan to grow different varieties of Basil too. Still learning as I grow! Thank you for sharing your knowledge as to what works!

[bowler]

I actually made an app that did this exact thing as a school project a couple of years ago. We didn't have a lot of combinations in our app but I found it super cool

[gabbym]

Big fan of companion planting, planting flowers and herbs alongside my vegetables. Interestingly nettles have so much benefit in the garden, they deter blackfly and attract lady birds. I grow clumps of yarrow which is a great compost activator and attracts lots of hoverflies. I like to plant flowers which attract insects and birds into the garden, Teasil is said to attract Goldfinches and Sweet Rocket attracts the Orange Tip butterfly. Flowers herbs and vegetables look beautiful interplanted and it's so nice when working you smell all the lovely smells of Chamomile. mint and thymes

[jacisiehl]

Moved to a new state last year and put in a rushed garden. It did well, even though for the past 75 years it was dry grass hay fields. I did a couple companion plantings around the tomatoes and peppers. This year I'm going hog-wild. I am even doing my corn, half traditional rows and half 3 sisters. I am also looking at companion plants that can be dried and used as tea. Every plant and every animal on my place has to do their own share of work.

[fuubar]

Love this software. Gives me some excellent day dreaming during the winter months and allows me to maximize what I can grow throughout the year.

[ChewFingers]

Every time I've had nasturtium in my garden I find that they actually attract more cabbage butterfly larvae to both them and everything around them than when I haven't - they reeeally love them! So my advice is to use them sparingly unless you do plant a lot of cabbage and broccoli type plants.

[davidthescottishvegan]

Interesting & informative video Grow Veg. Companion planting is essential for organic gardening so I am planning to do it.

[ArtByKarenEHaley]

I had just a few nasturtium sprouts last year... They kind of struggled along for a little while but then boom! They became the most vibrant plants in the garden. They almost took over a whole raised bed, and the offspring of that are sprouting this week as volunteers. All the blooms on last year's variety were hot tomato red.