What Is Companion Planting?
March 8, 2010 – 3:01 pm by MarinaHanes
When you’re planning out your vegetable garden, it’s beneficial to consider how the different plants are going to react around one another. Don’t you behave differently when you’re around certain individuals? Well, it’s somewhat similar in plants. Before you start planting your vegetables, you should think about the basics of companion planting.
The idea of companion planting or symbiotic plants originated with the Native Americans. They understood plants and realized that plants can benefit from being planted near certain plants. Native Americans focused on corns, beans and squash, which is why these three vegetables are the most common symbiotic plants. The reason why they are companions to one another is because of how they interact with each other. For example, since the corn is tall, the beans have something that they can climb up, and the squash replenishes the soil with its dead leaves. Several positive relationships occur with these three plants.
By incorporating companion planting into your garden, you will be able to enjoy a more diverse and fruitful garden. Depending on how you plan your garden, you could strategically create natural barriers that defend the crops against insects and animals. Fortunately, symbiotic planting can be as easy as following an equation.
You can plant pumpkins with corn and marigolds, or beans can be next to almost any vegetables as well as herbs. By researching online or buying a helpful guide, you can find outlines showing which plants are compatible with others. Taking this extra time to think about your garden will ensure that you have a larger harvest and an aphid free environment for your crops to flourish in.
