Companion Planting
TLC for Your Garden

Going organic for the Planet
and for a better harvest

Companion planting is a clever way to increase crop productivity. The idea is to plant different crops in proximity so that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, and pollination, thus producing a better harvest. This system is considered to be a form of polyculture, which uses multiple crops in the same space in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems.

Many of its principles were present many centuries ago and are now integrated in many of our current gardening systems.

Native Americans also practiced this form of gardening in various forms prior to the arrival of Europeans.

One common system was the planting of corn (maize) and pole beans together. The cornstalk would serve as a trellis (support) so that the beans could climb.

This gardening technique is also frequently used in:

permaculture (a system mimicking a natural ecosystem),

polyculture (which uses multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems), and

intercropping (to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land).

The following systems are integrating these techniques for a more sustainable form of gardening:

Square foot gardening, for example, attempts to protect plants from many normal gardening problems by packing them as closely together as possible, which is facilitated by using companion plants, which can be closer together than normal.

Forest Garden is yet another system where companion plants are intermingled to create an actual ecosystem, emulating the interaction of up to seven levels of plants.

Organic gardening often depends on this type of gardening for a best performance, since so many synthetic means of fertilizing, weed reduction, pest control, and other garden needs are forbidden.

Protective shelter where one type of plant may serve as a wind break or shade for another

Go green, emulate nature, and achieve better results at the same time. This is the way of the future if you really want to do your best to help the planet.