Protect your garden with companion planting

Helpful insects

Planting certain flowers and herbs around your fruits and vegies will attract insects into your garden that then help pollinate your plants. Plants that attract helpful insects include herbs such as thyme, sage, coriander, chives, mint and flowers like cosmos, calendula, lavender, Echinacea and marigold.

Masking and decoy plants

Masking plants give off an odour that disguises the smell of plants that might be attacked by insects and pests. Planting chives, onion or garlic near roses will stop thrips, aphids and other pests.

Decoy plants attract pests so that they don't attack other nearby plants. Nasturtiums are one of the best-known decoy plants because they act like magnets by luring pests away from other plants.

Nurturing plants

Some plants create better growing conditions for other plants around them. For example, peas and other legumes take nitrogen from the air and release it into the soil, which then helps neighbouring plants grow. Tall flowers can provide shade to protect other plants from the sun. You can also get more plants into your garden space by growing vining plants on the ground together with plants that grow upright.

Common companion plants

Here are some examples of the more popular plants that make the perfect growing partners:

Roses and chives

Chives help repel pests that eat roses, plus their small purple or white flowers look great in your garden.

Tomatoes and cabbage

Tomatoes repel diamondback moth larvae, which are caterpillars that chew through cabbage leaves.

Cucumbers and nasturtiums

Nasturtiums keep cucumber beetles away because they attract spiders to eat them.

Cabbage and dill

Dill attracts wasps that keep cabbageworms away from cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts.

Carrots and onions

The smell of onions is said to keep a number of different pests away from your carrots.

Corn and beans

Beans attract beneficial insects that prey on pests, which eat corn.

Lettuce and tall flowers

Planting tall flowers gives lettuce the shade it needs to grow.

Radishes and spinach

Radish leaves draw leaf miners away from your spinach but this doesn't damage your radishes.

Potatoes and sweet alyssum

Sweet alyssum has small, sweet-smelling flowers that attract predatory wasps to keep pests away from your potatoes and also arching plants like broccoli.

Cauliflower and dwarf zinnias

Dwarf zinnias have sweet nectar that lures ladybugs to protect your cauliflower from pests.

Broccoli and catnip

Planting catnip alongside broccoli keeps hungry flea beetles away.

Marigolds and melons

Marigolds can help control worms that eat the roots of melon.

Asparagus and parsley

You can naturally improve the flavor of asparagus and even tomatoes by growing it together with parsley.

Peas and sweet corn

Sweet Corn is traditionally used as “living stakes” for your peas.

Tomatoes and basil

Basil helps protect your tomatoes by repelling flies and mosquitoes.

Apricots and basil

The odour of basil can help keep the insects away from your apricots.

Cabbage and chamomile

Chamomile deters flies and mosquitoes and strengthens neighbouring cabbage.

Cherries and garlic

Garlic keeps aphids away from cherries and also repels cabbage butterflies.