Farmer wants a wife! As human beings, some vegetables are irresistibly attracted to each other… and grow better when they are planted together. Wise associations for a Valentine’s Day all the way to the vegetable garden.
The vegetable companionship technique consists in growing some vegetables in the same place to yield benefits. It relies on an age-old principle: stronger together! Discover 5 associations that have demonstrated success.
1. Bean + corn + squash
It must be the most well-known example: in North and Central America, they have been cultivating corn, beans and squash together for a long time – also called “the three sisters” (or milpa in Mexico). Corn stalks are used as support to climbing beans which – as all legumes do – enrich the soil in nitrogen, a squash favourite. The latter with their crawling and sharp stems wards off herbivorous animals, limits weed proliferation and creates a vegetable carpet maintaining a humid soil. Clever, right?
2. Carrot + onion
These two gets along perfectly: the onion (same for shallots, garlic or leek, part of the alliaceae family) wards off carrot flies thank to its smell. In return, the friendly carrot wards of alliaceae flies. A win-win duo long practiced in vegetable gardens.
3. Cabbage + celery
In the same vein, cabbage and celery protect each other from their main foe: celery – whether celeriac or sticks – wards off cabbage pest (worms and flies). As for cabbage, it deters rust, septoria and flies from bothering celery. Barter also works between vegetables!
4. Salad + tomato
Vegetable companionship can also help protect vegetables from the sun and dryness thanks to high and leafy plants used a natural “parasol”. For instance, green salads enjoy growing in the shade of tomato, pepper, or large-leaves cabbage plants, especially at the beginning of their vegetative cycle: it avoids them going to see too quickly and keep soft leaves.
5. Pepper + basil
As other aromatic plants, basil acts as a natural insecticide thanks to its smell. Warding off flies and mosquitos, it gladly partners with peppers, tomatoes or aubergines: their association is as good in the garden as it is in the kitchen!
In plates and in the garden, love marriages exist… and last!