Lately, my social media feeds have been full of photos from my friends and family in the Intermountain West being buried under feet of snow. I live in San Antonio and our idea of winter is a bit different. My daughter’s school has a policy that the kids cannot go outside for recess if it is below 50 degrees… but that rarely happens!

No matter where you live and no matter what the weather, this is a great time to be planning your garden if you haven’t already. Hopefully you’ve gotten some great gardening catalogs in the mail and you have been pouring over the pages, dreaming of what will be growing in your garden this year.

And hopefully, you are starting to decide where to put everything in your garden.

Why is location important?

Well, the company plants keep can be very beneficial to one or both plants or it can potentially cause problems.

this is companion planting.

When good companion plants are planted together, they can boost growth in each other and repel pests. When bad companion plants are planted together, the opposite happens.

Here’s some examples.

All members of the cabbage family (which includes Brussels Sprouts, broccoli, kale, etc) should not be planted next to tomatoes because they will stunt the growth in tomatoes.
However, basil, when planted near tomatoes improves the growth of tomatoes and makes them more flavorful. Bonus? Basil also repels some insects, which protects tomatoes further.
Herbs are great companion plants!
They can be planted next to just about anything and will usually repel many insects. Borage, for example, will repel tomato horn-worms when planted next to tomatoes. Marigolds are great in the garden as well because they can also repel pesky insects and attract beneficial ones.

The list just keeps going.

How does companion planting work?

Well, we don’t really know. And by we, I mean the world. Very little scientific research has been devoted to companion planting.

We do know that beans add nitrogen to the soil, so when planted next to something that takes a lot of nitrogen from the soil, the other plant will benefit greatly.

We also know that herbs are effective at natural pest control because they tend to be strong smelling and that scent disorients bugs.

A lot of information we have about companion planting is knowledge passed on from generation to generation of gardeners which pretty much makes it folklore. Because of this, there is no perfect list of good and bad companion plants.

It can be easy to start making a list of good vs. bad companion plants and find differing answers between books and multiple internet sources. Remember the tomatoes vs. cabbage example I shared earlier?

Most sources I consulted confirmed that planting tomatoes and cabbage together is a big no-no. However, the first result in my internet search promised that planting tomatoes and cabbage together was a great idea.

How is a gardener suppose to keep all That straight?

There are some great books out there and some great websites, but even if the information is reliable, they don’t always have a complete list.

The good news? I’ve done the hard work for you!

I compared each veggie and fruit on our Common Plant Quick Guide (found in the Black Thumb Garden Club Workbook) to three sources each to make a comprehensive list of good and bad companion plants.

I’m sharing this companion planting guide with you!

When using the guide, please note the √ are good companion plants and the X are bad companion plants. Blank spots indicate neither good nor bad, so go ahead and plant together… everything will be just fine!

Download The Companion Planting Chart here!