Companion Planting
Choosing what to plant together for the happiest, healthiest garden is called “companion planting.” Companion planting is the practice of growing plants next to each other for mutual benefit.
This can happen because a companion attracts beneficial or repels harmful insects, or because the natural chemicals found in or produced by a plant improve flavor or growth.
I have scoured the web for lists of what each vegetable likes and dislikes, put it all into a color-coded chart, and here you go!
- Download the file here.
- Look in the top row for the vegetable you are interested in.
- The column of vegetables underneath is color coded.
- Red is bad, yellow is good, green is best
Try it out and let me know how it works for you!
Either way–depends on how much space each plant takes, and what your intention is. I plant basil in with tomatoes or lettuce, without intending to really harvest the basil. The plants will overtake it and block the sun.
Should companion plants be mixed into the same square or just planted in an adjacent square?
I have printed out your chart. Many thanks. Marion
Reworking some of these tools. I left the PDF and will revisit it soon.
Thanks, I have only tried on garden and things were not great. But with this I belive I will do a lot better.
will i get less or more bugs when i plant zuccini and squash together?
BTW, I LOVE BEETLES!
im making my own garden and with your tables i should do great
So glad I found your site, and your helpful tools here! I was already working on planning my garden for next year, and this spreadsheet just took away days of laboring over this! I plan to point some more people to this (on my food blog)- it’s worthy of spreading the word!
Thanks!
I am going to work on a new version, but I made it read only so people can’t make any changes and disrupt the way it works.
This Excel file is fantastic. Is there any way to edit this file to add more companion plant selections? I have many more items in the garden than in the Excel such as Melon, Parsnip, Swiss Chard, etc. Thanks.
I’m confused. The excel chart for pole beans shows tomatoes as a better companion, but the color coded chart shows tomatoes as red, or bad, companion for pole beans. Which is it?
This is my first year trying a square foot veggie garden. Your pdf has been a HUGE help! Thank you so much! I saved it to my smart phone to help me wherever I am.
PS You have an awesomr first name! 😉
Bush beans and peppers won’t get very tall–maybe 18-24″. Tomatoes, peas, and pole beans will all get as tall as you let them–4-6 feet.
Thank you so much for this. I spent last Saturday laying out my garden grid plan. This is my first time and I am super excited. Then the companion planting was recommended. This was exactly what I was looking for. Amazingly, I guessed pretty darn close.
? With tomatoes, pole beans, bush beans, pole peas and peppers, which ones should I expect to grow the tallest. I’m trying to stagger the heights to get the most out of my limited sun?
I just found your Excel sheet and LOVE IT!
Just wish it had more items on it or a way to add them.
Thanks for sharing your work
Thank you so much!! I am a first time gardener, so this is SO appreciated! I can’t wait to get started!!!
Can you add strawberries to the companion planting guide? They’re a pretty typical crop in California 🙂 Thanks!
I do a minimal amount of succession planting, but in his book Mel has a schedule for year round gardening.
Emily this is just what I was looking for. I was wondering if you had something similar for succession planting and crop rotation. I’m still learning and getting advice from people like you who have experience and are willing to share really helps. Thanks again
Gary
Great help … Love the xls spread sheet 😉
Here is nice site on beneficial insects
Regards
Chris
Thanks for this resource. This fall will be my first rather full scale vegetable garden – and I am excited to have found your site. THANKS!
Thank you for sharing your gift for detail! This is a great resource as we begin our second year of square foot gardening.
We just moved into a house last month that has 7 square-foot gardening plots. I had sfg’d many years ago and loved it! I’m so happy to be back in a place where I can do it again!
Your tips and this companion planting guide will be a huge help for me this year! Plus, my two teenaged boys have decided to take over a plot and have a competition on who grows the most! So, this companion guide will be helpful for them, too!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
If/when I update this I will add that change!
Thank you! I really appreciate not having to do all the research myself. Peas are going to be a large part of the garden and it’s good to know what I can plant next to it. 🙂
Wow., this is excellent, makes life so much easier. Thanks a lot for sharing this.
Hi,
On the pdf version of your wonderful planting guide, it would help if you would include the instructions on the actual guide somewhere ( Look at the top for the vegetable, look down the column, red is bad, etc.)
Thanks,
Mack
This is so awesome!!! I have read several books on the subject but it was so much easier to look it up on this spreadsheet! Thank you so much for sharing it!!!!
This was a great resource! It really helped to have this information while we were laying out our school’s garden.