Companion planting – it’s all in the name

Companion planting – for garden borders and vegetable gardens

As the name suggest companion planting is all about teaming plants up so they can help each other out. Plants natural grow together as a mixture of different species in the natural environment they grow in. From a gardeners point of view this simply means mixing up the plant species to get away from the monocrop situation and planing plants to combine with your existing plants in borders and vegetable gardens to support each other by sharing mycorrhiza and to defend against pests.

The benefits of companion planting are

• Break up large block of plants of the same species which create a bigger target for pests.

• Support insects such as ladybirds and lacewings that feed on Pest such as aphids

• Cultivate plants that release chemical agents to keep pests away

GardenAdvice top recommendations on companion plants for garden borders and vegetable gardens

• Calendula

• Tagetes

• Pyrethrum

• Nasturtiums