Companion planting is the practice of growing different crops near one another to enhance crop production, repel damaging pests, improve soil health, and promote biodiversity.

Three Sisters Garden
Utilizing companion planting also helps maximize your garden space, by pairing different types of plants, like tall plants to provide shade to smaller plants, vining plants like squashes to help with weed suppression, and flowering plants to attract beneficial insects. A great example of companion plantings is ancestral The Three Sisters Garden or Milpa, which includes corn, beans and squash. The corn provides a natural support trellis and shelter for beans, peas and other climbing crops. In return, these legumes provide nitrogen to the soil for the corn and squash plants. Squash and pumpkin leaves shade the smaller bean and pea plants that need sun protection and provide weed suppression.

Here is a list of the most crops and their preferred companions:

Vegetable Plant with Do not plant with
Beans Potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage,

summer savory, most other vegetables and herbs

Onions, garlic,

gladiolus

Beans, Bush Potatoes, cucumbers, corn, celery, summer savory,

sunflowers, strawberries

Onions
Beans, Pole Corn, summer savory Onions, beets,

kohlrabi, sunflower

Beets Onions, kohlrabi Pole beans
Cabbage Family (cabbage, cauliflower, kale,

kohlrabi, broccoli)

Aromatic plants, potatoes, celery, dill, chamomile, sage, peppermint, rosemary, beets, onions, thyme, lavender Strawberries, tomatoes, pole beans
Carrots Peas, leaf lettuce, chives, onions, leek, rosemary,

sage, tomatoes

Dill
Celery Leek, tomatoes, bush beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash
Corn Potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, squash, pumpkin
Cucumbers Beans, corn, peas, radishes, sunflowers Potatoes, aromatic

herbs

Eggplant Beans
Leek Onions, celery, carrots
Lettuce Carrots and radishes (lettuce, carrots, and radishes

make strong team grown together), strawberries, cucumbers

Onion/Garlic Beets, strawberries, tomato, lettuce, summer savory,

chamomile, beans (protects against ants)

Peas
Parsley Tomatoes, asparagus
Peas Carrots, turnips, radishes, cucumbers, corn, beans,

most vegetables, herbs (adds Nitrogen to soil)

Onions, garlic,

gladiolus, potatoes

Potato Beans, corn, cabbage, horseradish (should be

planted at corners of patch), marigold, eggplant (as a lure for Colorado potato beetle)

Pumpkins, squash,

cucumber, sunflower, tomato, raspberries

Pumpkin Corn Potatoes
Radish Peas, nasturtium, lettuce, cucumbers
Soybeans Grows with anything; helps everything
Spinach Strawberries
Squash Nasturtium, corn
Sunflower Cucumbers Potatoes
Strawberry Bush Beans
Tomatoes Chives, onion, parsley, asparagus, marigold, nasturtiums, carrots, limas Kohlrabi, potatoes, fennel, cabbage
Turnip Peas

Here is a list of the most commonly planted herbs and their preferred companions

Herbs Companions and Effects
Basil Companion to tomatoes; dislikes rue intensely; improves growth and flavor;

repels mosquitoes and flies.

Beebalm Companions to tomatoes; improves growth and flavor.
Borage Companion to tomatoes, squash, and strawberries; deters tomato worm;

improves flavor and growth.

Caraway Plant here and there; loosens soil.
Catnip Plant in borders; deters flea beetles.
Chamomile Companion to cabbages and onions; improves growth and flavor.
Chervil Radishes; improves growth and flavor.
Chives Companion to carrots; improves growth and flavor; plant around base of fruit

trees to discourage insects climbing trunks.

Dill Dislikes carrots; improves growth and health of cabbage.
Fennel Plant away from the garden; most plants dislike it.
Garlic Plant near roses and raspberries; deters Japanese beetle; improves growth and

health; plant liberally throughout the garden to deter pests.

Horseradish Plant at corners of the potato patch to deter potato bugs.
Hyssop Companion to cabbage and grapes; deters cabbage moth; keep away from

radishes.

Lamb’s Quarters This edible weed should be allowed to grow in moderate amounts in the garden, especially in the corn.
Lemon Balm Sprinkle throughout the garden.
Marigolds The workhorse of the past deterrents; plant throughout garden especially with

tomatoes; it discourages Mexican bean beetles, nematodes, and other insects.

Mint Companion to cabbage and tomatoes; improves health and flavor; deters white cabbage moth.
Marjoram Plant here and there in the garden; improves flavor.
Nasturtium Companion to tomatoes and cucumbers.
Petunia Protects beans; beneficial throughout the garden.
Purslane This edible weed makes good ground cover in the corn.
Pigweed One of the best weeds for pumping nutrients from the subsoil, it is especially

beneficial to potatoes, onions, and corn; keep weeds thinned.

Rosemary Companion to cabbage, bean, carrots, and sage; deters cabbage moth, bean beetles, and carrot fly.
Rue Keep it far away from sweet basil; plant near roses and raspberries; deters

Japanese beetle.

Sage Plant with rosemary, cabbage, carrots, beans, and peas; keep away from cucumbers; deters cabbage moth and carrot fly.
Summer Savory Plant with beans and onions, improves growth and flavor; deters bean beetles.
Tansy Plant under fruit trees; companion to roses and raspberries; deters flying insects,

Japanese beetles, stipend cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and ants.

Tarragon Good throughout the garden.
Thyme Plant here and there in the garden; it deters cabbage worms.
Yarrow Plant along borders, paths, near aromatic herbs; enhances essential oil

production.

Adapted from Organic Gardening and Farming, February 1972, pp. 32-33, 54, and The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, Rodale Press, Inc., 1978, pp. 233-235.