Companion Planting Gone Wrong:10 Planting Combinations to Avoid:- Not everyone should be paired up with someone else. Some people don’t get along with others in gardening, just like in real life. Partner planting is a great way to get higher yields, save room, and lower the number of pests that bother your plants, but some combinations can hurt the growth of one or both of the plants.
Companion Planting Gone Wrong:10 Planting Combinations to Avoid
- Not everyone should be paired up with someone else. Some people don’t get along with others in gardening, just like in real life. It is possible to increase crop yields, save room, and lower pest pressure by planting plants next to each other. However, there are some plant combinations that should not be used together because they can hurt the growth of one or both crops.
- Most incompatibilities happen when you forget to think about how a plant grows. Like, a zucchini plant with big leaves will quickly block the sun from a small carrot. In the same way, if you put kale and lettuce too close to each other, the kale will overpower the lettuce.
- Also, some plants make chemicals that stop other plants from growing. If you make a mistake when planting allelopathic foods with other plants, your yields will drop by a lot or even die.
1. Mint and Vegetables
- Mint smells fantastic and repels pests, but never grow it in veggie beds. Mint spreads quickly and aggressively, so keep it in a pot, raised bed, or ground cover.
- It must be close to your crops but not too close to serve as a companion plant. The flowers’ aroma can spread within 2–5 feet of a veggie garden, attracting healthy bugs.
- If your yard has raised beds, grow mint along the paths or edges to keep it out. This herb may grow too big for annual beds, so never plant it there.
2. Lettuce and Zucchini
- Although lettuce appreciates some shade from tomatoes or peppers, zucchini may totally shade and outcompete them. Cucurbit zucchini grows quickly and has large leaves.
- Because they block light from reaching the earth, those leaves reduce weeds. If you plant lettuce with summer squash, you may be disappointed. A big, thorny zucchini plant is too much for the small heads.
3. Black Walnut Trees and Almost Anything Else
- This peculiar tree produces tasty nuts but also harmful substances to other plants. Allelopathic black walnut trees exude a natural herbicide in their roots, husks, and leaves to repel other plants.
- Additionally, you should not mulch your garden with black walnut wood chips or compost the hulls in your kitchen compost pile. To avoid residue, compost black walnut leaves, hulls, and shells in a dedicated pile and utilize the compost under the tree where it originated.
- Growing under a black walnut tree? Consider container gardening and remove all tree debris. Some plants may like its shade, but they won’t like the juglone in all black walnut sections.
4. Fennel and Most Vegetables
- Fennel, like black walnuts, is allelopathic. Seeds cannot germinate in its root zone because it generates chemicals. Fennel’s ancestors evolved this to stay competitive in the wild. It suppresses garden weeds that compete with fennel. If you’re growing other vegetables close, it can be harmful.
5. Asparagus and Potatoes
- Because they take up so much area during active growth, perennial vegetables like asparagus are unsuitable companion plants for many veggies. You may think you can plant anything near a barren asparagus patch in winter.
- The plants look lowkey when the spears emerge in spring. But when the sprouts take off, you’ll have a small asparagus forest. Not much can match asparagus fronds in full bloom.
- Because they compete for underground space with asparagus rhizomes, potatoes are a lousy friend. You cannot sow or dig seed potatoes without destroying them or the asparagus.
- Grow potatoes in deeper soil or a raised bed with annuals, and asparagus in a perennial bed on your garden borders.
Also see:- 10 Companion Plants to Grow with Artichokes
6. Brassicas and Tomatoes
- Pairing two heavy-feeding crops is usually bad. The competition for nutrients can hurt plants and lower harvests. Because brassicas like cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli absorb nutrients, planting tomatoes among them stunts them.
- Most brassicas thrive in milder temperatures, especially cauliflower and broccoli, which bolt in the heat. Tomatoes and most nightshades (excluding potatoes) prefer warm temperatures and shy away from cooler weather. These aren’t seasonal winners!
7. Corn and Tomatoes
- Some of the sunniest garden vegetables are tomatoes and maize. Both are heavy feeders that need rich soil and nutrients.
- Due to their demands, planting these two aggressive growers together can be problematic.
- Corn’s quick growth could shadow tomato seedlings, while tomatoes’ expansiveness could diminish corn productivity.
- These two competitive plants’ height may limit sunlight for one or both parties. Avoid this plant combination to boost agricultural production.
- Grow tomatoes in a raised bed with trellises and basil or lettuce. Corn can grow alone or with beans or squash.
8. Carrots and Dill
- Dill’s umbel-shaped blossoms attract predatory wasps, hoverflies, ladybugs, and other beneficial insects, making it a great crop partner. However, putting dill near carrots can backfire. Both crops attract carrot flies, spider mites, and aphids since they are related.
- Early on, their leaves look alike. After flowering, dill becomes a better friend to other crops but shades and outcompetes carrot roots. To confuse pests, sow these two in separate garden areas with other plant families.
9. Cucumbers and Melons
- Since they share environmental needs, crops of the same family benefit each other. As Cucurbitaceae, cucumbers and melons vine. Combining these two (especially without a trellis) can result in tangled vines and cucumber beetle damage.
- To attract pollinators, grow phacelia, marigolds, or alyssum between these two. Install a cattle panel trellis to train cucumbers to climb.
- Unless you cultivate smaller melons, let them roam a mulched bed away from cucumbers. To focus energy on fruit production rather than vine development, prune both crops’ suckers.
- You should avoid this plant combination, although melons have many better companions.
10. Beans and Onions
- Alliums repel pests with their strong sulfurous smell, making them good companions. Because they fix nitrogen and don’t outcompete their neighbors, beans work with dozens of garden crops.
- However, research reveals that beans and onions impede each other during seed germination. Stay away from this plant combination to receive plenty of green beans and onions for harvest meals. Inter plant each species with more palatable combinations like pole beans and lettuce or onions and kale.
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