The right plants combinations for the vegetable garden

The association of certain plants between them makes it possible to obtain beautiful harvests and to have a beautiful garden by excluding the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This technique called “companionship” consists quite simply in associating, within the same cultures, plants which are companions of each other which can exchange various services such as for example having a repulsive or toxic action on specific insects. Companionship was practiced mainly before the invention of chemical pesticides, but it has been used again for a few years in the context in particular of permaculture and organic gardening.

Fast-growing aromatic and medicinal herbs

Biodiversity: Health insurance for your vegetable garden

The greater the diversity of vegetables, aromatic plants, flowers and fruit plants in the vegetable patch, the lower the risk of disease and the presence of pests. However, in the vegetable garden, care will also be taken not to cultivate side by side certain plants of the same genus. This is the case, for example, of the potato and eggplant which risk competing by searching for the same elements in the soil and becoming an easy target for the same cryptogamic diseases and the same predatory insects.

To associate plants with common sense, you should know that certain plants are eaten by parasites and poison them. Others, like aromatic plants, diffuse odors masking the odor of plants appreciated by pests and thus making them untraceable. Still others, like mustard or nasturtium, are used as bait or lures to insects in order to keep them away from cultivated plants.

Amazing ideas to intercropping vegetables and flowers together

Repellents against pests

Certain plants emit perfumes which can either attract pollinators for example or repel parasites. Here are some examples of ecological marriage in the vegetable patch and the orchard that will save you a lot of problems during the season:

Dill, fennel keep aphids, spiders and moths away from leek.
Rue officinale repels aphids.
Chives keep insects away from fruit trees and protect them from scab.
Radishes keep leafminers away from the vines.
The carrot drives out the leek moth.
Mugwort is a repellent that keeps mice, rodents, snails and slugs away.
Mint and lavender are excellent repellents against ants and aphids.
Chervil keeps the slugs away (this is also the case for officinal borage).
Elderflower and purge spurge helps keep moles away.
Basil protects against the appearance of cucumber downy mildew and attracts pollinators.
The smell of the tomato repels the white cabbage.
Garlic or onion planted at the feet of peach trees helps protect them from blistering.
Leek and onion chase the carrot fly.

Tired of weeding? Grow “herbicidal plants”!

The growth of weeds (“weeds”) can also be prevented by the allelopathic effect of certain plants (which emit biochemical substances in the environment, preventing or limiting the growth of certain families of weeds), this is the for example, absinthe roots (Artemisia absinthium) inhibit the growth of weeds. The potato and tomato planted in high density even makes it possible to overcome the bindweed.

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