by Mindi Cherry
Wow! The response to this post has been so overwhelming Be sure to also check out Don’t Plant These Together Either | Companion Planting, Part 2
Often times when we talk about Companion Planting we discuss the plants that play nice together and should always be planted side-by-side in our gardens. If you are just Getting Started With Square Foot Gardening, you may want to just plant everything that you want at once.
But there is a catch.....
Not too often do we talk about those plants that just don’t get along. It’s like we are gossiping about the neighbors or something. I mean, even though we love having sunflowers in the neighborhood they sure don’t play well with others. They emit a toxin from their roots that inhibits other plants from growing too close to them as they want all the nutrients in the surrounding soil. Who knew?
Well, I’m here to give you the dish on what plants to NOT plant together when you are companion planting, even if they would look just perfect in your vegetable or herb garden next to each other.
Anything in the bean family, whether it is growing string green beans or bush beans all the way to lima beans don’t get along with quite a few other vegetables. Their biggest nemeses in the garden are chives, garlic, leeks, and onions. They are not fans of bulb-type vegetables (luckily, you can grow many bulb vegetables from kitchen scraps)! Beans also don’t do well with peppers, either the sweet green peppers or their fiery cousins the jalapeños. One plant that I was shocked that beans don’t get along with are marigolds, which are typically crowd pleasers as they deter pests. In fact, all the plants that the bean family shuns are those that deter pests. Go figure!
Peas are cousins to beans and they also loathe the bulb veggies including chives, garlic, leeks, and onions.
Want to know about even more fruits and veggies that don't like each other? Be sure to also check out Don’t Plant These Together Either | Companion Planting, Part 2
Both broccoli and cauliflower have a few enemies in the vegetable world. Growing broccoli is really easy and fun, but you want to do it right. They are not fans of peppers, all types of squashincluding yellow squash and even pumpkins (and yes - this means that if you are growing zucchini, you need to plant them far away). How they don’t care for strawberries or tomatoes I will never know, but they don’t. It seems the cool season crops of broccoli and cauliflower have something against those fruits and veggies that like it a little hotter to grow.
Besides cauliflower and broccoli, steer clear of planting cilantro and cucumbers near tomatoes. Dill and carrots would rather be at other ends of the planter bed too.
So now you know too who would rather stay on their own sides of the garden!
To sum it all up - when companion planting:
- Beans: Don't plant near chives, garlic, leeks, onions, peppers, marigolds
- Peas: Don't plant near chives, garlic, leeks, onions, peppers
- Broccoli and Cauliflower: Don't plant near peppers, squash, strawberries, tomatoes
- Tomatoes: Don't plant near broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro, cucumbers
- Dill: Don't plant near carrots
- Sunflowers need to be planted at least 12 inches away from any other plant.
You might want to check out these other gardening tipsand frugal living ideas:
- 15 Unique Uses For Baking Soda
- How to Keep Houseplants Alive
- How To Grow an Herb Container Garden
- 15 Amazing Uses For Vinegar
- Basic Rose Care For Beginners
- Natural Pest Deterrents For Your Garden
- 10 Most Popular Vegetables to Grow in Containers
- Square Foot Gardening in Small Spaces
More Gardening Tips
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- A Beginner's Guide To Growing Basil
- How To Grow Fruit Trees In Containers
- Gardening Terms Explained | Gardening 101
Reader Interactions
Comments
SImplyOldSchoolCookingReese
Very interesting - I wasn't aware of this. This will definitely help with my garden!
Molly
Good list! I'd add that if you can, keep sunflowers in a completely different garden from tomatoes because stinkbugs will come for the sunflowers but really feast on your tomatoes and ruin them.
eric
See AlsoAlmond Banket Bars RecipeMindi, this is interesting but where is this information coming from?
Mindi Cherry
Hi Eric!
This article was written for me by one of my writers, who is a Master Gardener. (if you are unfamiliar with what a Master Gardener is, check out this link: http://www.ahs.org/gardening-resources/master-gardeners )
Wanda McCrumb
Wow, didn't realize this; I am a person who plants onions and garlic around my beds and trees.
Would that be alright? Their not in with the vegies? The marigolds surround my garden due to the numerous rabbits and squirrels I enjoy.Melissa
What do I plant to keep the dogs our of my flowerbeds...
BeagleMom
a fence!! we fenced our garden once the planting started because the dogs just loved to run and dig in all that fresh turned dirt!! nothing fancy.....got those green metal stakes from home depot, farm fencing and chicken wire....another trick i've heard of and plan to try this year is using the fence as part of the garden....i plan to grow (or try) my viney veggies on the fence.....
JoAnna
That's my favorite reason for having hicken wire: all that space for climbing veggies!
SouthernMom
Beans: Don’t plant near chives, garlic, leeks, onions, peppers, marigolds
Peas: Don’t plant near chives, garlic, leeks, onions, peppersWhen you say "don't plant 'near' ..." how much spacing should be allowed? Can beans and peas play nicely with chives, garlic, leeks, onions, etc. that are planted on the row next to them?
Mindi Cherry
you should allow at least 1 row between the plants that don't get along, but preferably put them on opposite sides of your vegetable garden
desirae
so I understand not to plant my beans near peppers. but what about tomatoes near my beans. ive noticed that when I plant anything near my tomatoes they never get pests. for instance I container planted last year and as long as all my peppers and beans were near my tomatoes they didn't have mites . but when I moved them away from the tomatoes they became quickly infested. so is it okay to plant beans near tomatoes.
LB
I usually don't post to these sort of things but there are a few inaccuracies in your post. Sunflowers do amazingly well when planted near corn, and will increase the yield. Sunflowers have also been known to purify soil, (phytoremediation) and have been used to detoxify soil for years. Sunflowers have been planted in radio active areas to soak up toxins where there has been nuclear fallout and devastation. Also tomatoes and cucumbers do quite well when planted next to each other, they both warm season crops that require good soil drainage, the same pH, and deep watering. They are susceptible to the same diseases but those are not limited to these two crops......
Mel @ Trailing After God
Interesting! Last year our bell peppers and beans were in rows right next to each other with no issues. Wonder why they don't like each other?
Irene B. Sessa
Don't plant gourds near squash.
Dawn S.
I forgot and planted marigolds around one of the pepper patches this year. The peppers did fine until the marigolds bloomed. Then all the peppers grew curled up and deformed. The other pepper patch did not. I had to research. Once I saw "marigolds" are a no-no, I ripped them out.
The production of those peppers picked up to normal and all the new peppers are normal shaped! Thanks for the great article.
Mindi Cherry
So glad it helped you! What are you making with all your peppers?
The Urban green thumb
OK.. I have been gardening since I was very young. I am a Master Gardener, I am also an experimental Gardener. I have to say from what my gardens produce. You have no Idea what your talking about. with very little science or back round in gardening. I never have issues with planting any of these type of plant together. I would have to say if you use the right soil and plant wisely and educationally and check your garden science and not follow the word of people wanting to be the next best web thing. You will have a high producing and lovely garden. If you do have issues with bulbs sucking up your nutrients in your soil. It might one or two things or both. Try calcium and rose tune(bonemeal) or both. I use egg shells smashed up from my kitchen for calcium. which most gardens lack. An be smart about over crowding plants. companion or not. Plants need to eat easily from your soil and stretch and grow. Think of little kids or kittens. if you have them all from one plate not everyone will get there healthy share of food. and if you keep them in a small space together they will not get along and will not grow in a health matter. so space wisely and learn to find and grow plants that ward off bugs. and please do not follow web sites that are only here to make a buck off your clicks. IF you have more questions Contact your local Cooperative extension . The USA has a great program you help farmers and gardeners navigate the ways of growing plants animals. they are more practiced then this person. Good luck and have fun growing stuff.
Mindi Cherry
While I appreciate your input as well as your being a Master Gardener, I would also like to mention (again) that this article was written for me by one of my writers who is also a Master Gardener. In addition, my mother is a Master Gardener and I ran the article by her before publishing it "just to double check" the work of my writer and she agreed with the article.
sandra
I have been gardening for years I don't agree with you on the sun flowers I have always lined the back of my garden with sunflowers and have never had a problem with quantity of veggies I also plant marigolds by my trellis of beans and always have more beans than I can eat. Just saying
Lori H.
After reading this I think I found out why my peppers did awful last year. I planted them in the same 4x4 foot square box with my beans. I always had a huge supply of peppers but never planted them with beans before last year. Who knew.
David
Nice tips! I've been planting my tomatoes and cilantro together. Was getting worried about doing something wrong. I guess I'll move stuff around.
Diane Dobson-Smith
And in the flower world, don't plant roses and peonies together. The ants eat the waxy substance on the peony blooms, which helps them to bloom. But once the peonies have bloomed, the ants farm their "cattle" (aphids) on the roses.
Seadonna
I planted my squash and broccoli both heirlooms together we don't use standard rows and it worked perfectly once the cold snap took out the squash plants my broccoli flourished got loads of squash then loads of broccoli sorry not a master gardener but garden by trial and error and this was NOT an error will be done but again
Richard
enjoyed the articles. Its nice to hear what others have to say. And its also nice to
respect the fact that not everyone will agree with you. If it works well for you, keep
doing it. If you want to experiment and try a different approach and report back that
would be nice as well. The main thing is to enjoy your gardening experience and be
in the moment. It helps keep me young, Thanks again for all the posts.
Remember you can never make a bad situation worse by being kind.
Sincerely,
Mr. Richlisette
Wow! This is so helpful! I'm starting my first vegetable garden and this is really useful. Thank you for sharing!
Julia
I have heard that cucumbers love sunflowers, and that you may even use the sunflowers as a living trellis for the cucumber plant. Have you found this to be true?
susan
Well, looking at the posting's there sure a lot to learn. ive been researching gardening for my child care home and it's been challenging to say the least. just making sure of what plants are poisonous was the hard part. have any suggestions as to what I should do.
Debbie
I've always planted my beans right next to (a foot away) from my peppers (all types) and never had a problem with either. I only do this because spacing is the same and it keeps the rows even. I've also always planted my cucumbers up the fence around the garden with my tomatoes a foot away and never had a problem. Only thing I've ever had a problem with is planting my habaneros too close to my other peppers. Ruined my crop with cross pollination, I had really hot green and red peppers 🙁
