Companion planting herb can keep pests away while attracting pollinator .
Carson Downing
With their fragrant leave and compact sizing , culinary herbsare some of the best companion plant to grow for instinctive pesterer control , larger harvest home output , and healthier gardens . But strategies for companion planting herbs can depend on your gardening goals and the size of it of your grow space . Try some of thesecompanion planting tipsfor herbs and discover how these redolent , edible plants can benefit your vegetable , flower , or pocket-size quad garden .
Credit:Carson Downing
1. Choose the right herbs.
Herbs are relatively adaptable plants , but if you want to keep your garden as low - maintenance as potential , choice edible plants that are well - suited for your growing quad . Lavenderandrosemary , for example , develop best in full sun and juiceless and sandlike soils , whilebasilanddillcrave water and rich globe . You may also want to companion plant life yearly herbs with yearly vegetable crops so you wo n’t need to concern about working around perennial herbs when applying mulch or compost .
2. Research plant pairings.
Before set herb in your culinary garden , do a second of enquiry to verify the herbs you plan to grow will thrive beside the plants you require to pair them with . The best associate plant life pairing lean to involve plant with exchangeable growing needs , but you ’ll also need to consider how you ’d like companion planting herbs to process for you . For instance , if you need tokeep hornworms off your tomato plants , try growingthymeor dillnear your tomato .
3. Interplant herbs with vegetable crops.
One of the most popular way to use herbs as fellow traveler plant is to originate herbs near plants that need insect pollination to boost harvest payoff . In the absence seizure of pollinators , plants like squeeze and cucumberswill often produce bloom , but they wo n’t set fruit . However , if you grow flowering herbs like dill orchivesnear these crop , you should see more pollinators in your garden and your harvest yields will increase .
4. Grow perennial herbs as ornamentals.
herb like tricolorsageand lemon thyme have tons of aesthetical appealingness and their colorful flowers and variegated parting count aright at home in ornamental beds . But these plants are n’t just attractive to the eye ; they can also keep blighter from nibbling on nearby roses and other flowering plants . Selecting perennial , rather than annual , herb for this determination will make your flower bed easy to maintain since you wo n’t require to replace your repeated herbs every yr .
5. Let herbs flower for beneficial insects.
good insects , like hoverflies , ladybeetle , and lacewings , feed on plant pests . If you want to see more of these “ good guy ” insects in your garden , examine get some of your herb plant flower near the plants you ’d like toprotect from aphids , shekels loopers , and other “ creepy crawlies . ” The flowers of herbs in the carrot phratry , such asparsleyand dill , are particularly attractive to good insects , but these bugs will visit lots of other flowering herbs as well .
6. Use the scent of herbs to repel pests.
Garden blighter and plant life disease control is an crucial factor to consider when it come to constitutional horticulture . Attracting beneficial insects with efflorescence herbs is one way to keep pests from damaging bloom and vegetables in culinary gardens . But you may also foreclose plague by growing strongly scentedherbs , like chives , oregano , and thyme , near the crops you ’d like to keep safe . These pungent plants are known to repel a kind of different insects , but theymay also dissuade rabbitsand cervid .
7. Plant low herbs as groundcovers.
Rather thanmulching your gardenevery year , prove using low - growing herbs as a living mulch instead . Creeping thyme , for representative , makes a fantastic raw mulch and its spreading maturation wont can by nature suppress weeds and isolate the soil so it does n’t dry out too fast . On top of that , creeping thyme is eatable and it bring about a profusion of pinkish - royal flowers from late outpouring to early summertime , which are highly attractive to pollinator and other beneficial louse .
8. Experiment with potted herbs.
Most herb can be flat engraft in in - ground herb gardens , erect beds , or container . But if you want to expatiate your develop space or grow herbaceous plant that have dissimilar care demand from your vegetable and flower , you may alsokeep herbaceous plant plants in small potsand set the potted herbs near the crops and ornamentals you ’d like to protect from pests . This planting method is in particular handy if you need to grow aggressive herbaceous plant , likefennelormint , which are best kept hold in a sens .
9. Create herb borders.
herb can be interplanted between veggie row and decorative plant , but you could also utilise herb as a pest - repellingborder plant life for garden beds . Growing fragrant herbs , like chives , around the border of your garden can assist to dissuade aphids , cucumber beetles , andJapanese beetlesfrom venturing further into your bed . Small quad growers can also use small herb plant around the border of container garden and roommate planters to appeal pollinators and repel pests .
10. Try succession planting.
Perennial herbscome back year after year with right care , but some fast - growing one-year herbs likecilantrodie away as soon as raging weather arrives . If you ’d care to keep on using these herbs as fellow plant life , you may want tosuccession plant seedsand sow a second crop of herb in late summertime for your fall garden .
Credit: Dean Schoeppner
