What To Plant In Your Vegetable Garden In Alabama

Updated date:

Oct 19, 2021

Vegetable Garden Companion Plants Guide

Kathy is an avid gardener who loves to grow perennials and vegetables in her zone 5 Ontario gardens.

Zucchini growing in my organic vegetable garden. Marigolds help repel bugs, and the zucchini leaves provide shade for the lettuce.

Kathy Sima, 2012

Companion Planting Can Help You Be a Better Gardener

Growing your own vegetables is a wonderful way to save money and may help you eat healthier by providing a ready supply of vegetables during the growing season. Whether you are an experienced gardener or just starting out, it can be helpful to learn about companion planting as a natural and eco-friendly way to have a productive and healthy garden.

Basically, companion planting means learning about which plants provide benefits to other plants and planting them together in the garden. Companion plants for a vegetable plant can be other vegetable plants, herbs or even flowers.

Benefits of Companion Planting

When successful, companion planting can:

Deter harmful insects and other garden pests.
Attract beneficial and predatory insects.
Improve pollination and crop yields.
Improve the flavour of certain vegetables.
Maximize growth of plants by keeping down weeds and providing shade where needed, without the use of harmful chemicals.

Marigolds are an invaluable addition to any vegetable garden.

Kathy Sima, 2012

Planting Herbs and Flowers in Your Vegetable Garden

There are many flowers and herbs that are beneficial to vegetable plants. The main benefit of most of these is in their ability to either attract or repel various insects.

Beneficial flowers in a vegetable garden include nasturtiums, marigolds, zinnias, petunias, sweet peas, cosmos, and sunflowers. Of these, nasturtiums and marigolds are my absolute favourite companion plants. They both keep away a large variety of garden pests and provide a bright colourful addition to the garden. I tend to intersperse several different varieties of marigolds throughout my vegetable garden and plant the lower growing nasturtiums along the edge of the garden.

Herbs such as chives, basil and dill also provide benefits to the vegetables growing in your garden. Of course, they are also great for cooking.

Flowers and Herbs for the Vegetable Garden


Flower	Plant With	Benefits
Marigolds	Beans, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cucumber, Lettuce, Peppers, Potatoes, Tomatoes	Strong smell repels garden pests such as Mexican bean beetles, nematodes, slugs, and tomato worm.
Nasturtiums	Broccoli, Cucumber, Cabbage, Potatoes, Radish, Squash, Tomatoes, Zucchini	Wards off fungal diseases. Attract aphids away from other plants. Also trap other insects such as whiteflies, squash bugs, cucumber beetles and cabbage worms.
Petunias	Throughout the garden, especially near tomatoes	Repel aphids, tomato worms, Mexican bean beetle, asparagus beetle, leafhoppers and other garden pests.
Yarrow	Anywhere in or near vegetable garden	Attracts beneficial insects such as ladybugs and wasps. Repels harmful insects. Fertilizes soil.
Zinnias, Sweet Peas, Cosmos and Larkspur	Anywhere in or near vegetable garden	Attract bees to the garden to improve pollination. Also attract beneficial insects such as ladybugs and wasps.
Basil	Asparagus, Cucumber, Tomatoes	Repels aphids, whiteflies, spider mites, hornworms and other garden pests. Attracts bees to improve pollination. Improves flavour of tomatoes.
Chives	Asparagus, Carrots, Tomatoes	Repels aphids. Improves the flavour of carrots and tomatoes. May help to prevent powdery mildew on cucumber plants.
Dill	Asparagus, Beets, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Celery, Corn, Cucumber, Lettuce, Onions,	Attracts beneficial insects such as bees, wasps, and hoverflies. Repels garden pests such as aphids, spider mites, squash and cabbage bugs.

Vegetables as Companion Plants

Certain vegetables grow better when planted close to others. They may provide needed shade, improve the soil by adding nutrients, attract beneficial insects, repel harmful garden pests or improve the flavour of the other plant. A good example of this is the Three Sisters Garden,

In a Three Sisters Garden, corn, beans and squash are planted together to maximize the yield on each crop. Each of these plants is beneficial to the other plants in some way. The corn provides support to the bean stalks as they grow. Beans improve the soil by adding nitrogen to it, which benefits both the squash and the corn, which is a particularly heavy feeder. The squash helps keep the weeds down, and they benefit from the shade provided by the other two plants.

Watch the video below for more information on companion planting in an organic garden, including an example of a Three Sisters Garden.

Plant Combinations to Avoid

In the same way that certain plants are beneficial to each other when planted together, there are some plant combinations that are best to avoid.

For example, beans are beneficial to many vegetable plants, as they fix nitrogen from the air and enrich the soil. However, they should not be planted with beets as the two will stunt each other's growth. Also, onion bulbs' growth is stunted by too much nitrogen in the soil, so beans and onions should not be planted near each other.

The chart below summarizes which vegetables make good companions and which combinations should be avoided.

Vegetable Garden Companion Planting Chart


Vegetable	Good Companions	Avoid Planting With
Asparagus	Basil, Chives, Parsley, Tomatoes
Beans	Broccoli, Brussell Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Lettuce, Marigolds, Parsley, Peas, Rosemary, Sage	Chives, Fennel, Garlic, Onions, Shallots
Beets	Bush Beans, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Corn, Lettuce, Onions	Climbing Beans, Tomatoes
Bell Peppers	Basil, Carrots, Marigolds, Onions, Parsley, Tomatoes	Dill, Fennel
Broccoli	Beans, Beets, Cucumber, Dill, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Potatoes, Tomatoes	Rue, Strawberries
Cabbage	Beans, Beets, Chamomile, Celery, Cucumber, Dill, Lettuce, Marigold, Nasturtiums, Onions, Peas, Potatoes, Rosemary, Sage	Garlic, Rue, Strawberries, Tomatoes
Carrots	Beans, Chives, Coriander, Cucumber, Dill, Leeks, Lettuce, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Onions, Peas, Radish, Rosemary, Sage, Tomatoes	Parsnip
Celery	Bush Beans, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Dill, Leeks, Peas, Tomatoes	Parsnip, Potatoes
Corn	Beans, Beets, Cucumber, Marjoram, Parsnip, Peas, Parsnip, Pumpkin, Radish, Rosemary, Squash, Zucchini
Cucumbers	Basil, Beans, Broccoli, Brussell Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Corn, Lettuce, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Onions, Peas, Radish	Potatoes, Sage
Eggplants	Beans, Marjoram, Potatoes	Dill,
Hot Peppers	Basil, Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Squash, Tomatoes	Beans, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Dill
Lettuce	Beans, Beats, Cabbage, Carrots, Cucumbers, Marigolds, Onions, Parsnip, Peas, Radish	Parsley
Onions	Beets, Cabbage, Carrots, Lettuce, Leeks, Parsley, Parsnip, Tomatoes	Beans, Peas,
Peas	Beans, Cabbages, Carrots, Celery, Corn, Cucumber, Lettuce, Parsnip, Potato, Sage	Chives, Garlic, Onions, Shallots
Potatoes	Beans, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Corn, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Peas	Celery, Cucumber, Dill, Pumpkin, Rosemary, Tomatoes
Pumpkin	Corn, Marjoram	Potatoes
Spinach	Marjoram, Fruit Trees, Strawberries
Squash	Beans, Corn, Cucumbers, Marigolds, Onions, Nasturiums, Peas, Pumpkin, Spinach, Sunflower	Potatoes
Tomatoes	Asparagus, Basil, Carrots, Celery, Chives, Dill, Lettuce, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, Onions, Parsley, Parsnip, Peppers, Radish, Spinach	Beets, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Corn, Fennel, Potatoes, Rosemary, Rue
Zucchini	Corn, Marjoram, Nasturtiums

Natural Insect Repellents


Pest / Insect	Natural Repellents to Try
Ants	Garlic, mint, tansy, pennyroyal
Aphids	Basil, chives, garlic, onions, nasturiums, petunias, tomatoes
Cabbage fly	Chamomile, dill, garlic, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme
Caterpillars	Garlic, tomatoes
Mice	Mint, wormwood
Mosquitoes	Bee balm, catnip, citronella, lemon balm, marigolds, pennyroyal, tansy, wormwood
Moths	Lavender, mint, rosemary, sage, thyme
Slugs	Dry rosemary, marigold, leaf mulch, wormwood
Spiders	Nasturiums, Onions
Snails	Garlic
Tomato worm	Garlic, marigolds
White fly	Basil, nasturiums

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.