Growing and maintaining vegetables in a backyard garden is a great way to produce fresh food while also saving money on groceries each month. One of the best additions to your vegetable garden is garlic bulbs. Companion planting for garlic is simple, as garlic has many plants that grow well next to it.
Planting garlic alongside your other vegetables and fruits is an outstanding idea because garlic promotes quicker growth in other plants. Another benefit of garlic companion planting is that it repels most of the major insects that attempt to steal nutrients from your veggies.
Discover the correct plants to place near your garlic plants so you can monitor a thriving garden. As one of the best companion crops, garlic naturally deters insects and larger rodents that feast on vegetables and fruits.
- Advantages of Companion Planting
- Companion Planting for Garlic with Cabbage
- Chamomile and Garlic Companion Planting
- What to Plant with Garlic to Repel Aphids
- Tomatoes and Garlic are Amazing Companion Plants
- Marigolds are a Beautiful Way to Repel Insects
- Grow Bush Beans for Healthier Soil
- Combine Chives and Garlic for an Effortless Insect Repellent
- How do Radishes Help Garlic?
- Promote Garlic Growth with Summer Savory
- What Plants to Avoid When Planting Garlic
Advantages of Companion Planting
A common misconception is that the more plants you have in your garden, the more work is required to manage all your vegetables successfully. However, when you take the time to learn what plants work well together, gardening is easier.
Companion planting comes with several perks. It boosts the plants’ overall growth, naturally repels pests without chemicals, and improves your food’s flavors. Companion plants are suitable for pollinators, wildlife, and your soil’s health.
An additional advantage of planting garlic is that the plant takes up very little space compared to other vegetables. If you wonder what to plant with garlic, continue reading this article for the most beneficial plants that thrive alongside garlic bulbs.
Here’s what you need to know to grow garlic at home and what to plant with it for mutual benefit.
Companion Planting for Garlic with Cabbage
Cabbage is classified as a brassicas plant, and it makes a great companion plant for many different garlic varieties. Several pests try to invade your fruit when you are growing cabbage, including the cabbage looper, cabbage moths, and cabbage worms.
Not only does garlic repel small insects, but it also deters deer and squirrels. Garlic is the perfect all natural snake repellent. Plant your garlic next to any cabbage family member to eliminate the chances that unwanted pests steal your cabbage’s nutrients.
Using garlic companion planting as a pest deterrent negates the need for the harmful chemicals found in insecticides and pesticides some gardeners use to get rid of insects.
Use garlic cloves in a homemade rabbit deterrent spray that also works for a variety of critters.
Chamomile and Garlic Companion Planting
To promote a healthy growth pattern in your garlic, we recommend planting the sweet-smelling herb chamomile. Chamomile is a common addition to tea that reduces inflammation, helps relaxation, and lowers blood sugar.
Not only does this herb contain numerous health benefits, but it also improves the flavor of your garlic bulbs when it is time to harvest.
Understanding what to plant with garlic requires knowledge on which plants and herbs assist development instead of blocking it.
Other popular aromatic herbs that help increase garlic’s overall flavor include yarrow, oregano, marjoram, and dill. To grow the best tasting garlic possible, make sure you plant the proper herbs for a smoother gardening experience.
You may wonder about the difference between garlic bulbs and garlic heads. What is one head of garlic? A head is a bundle of cloves in one papery skin.
What to Plant with Garlic to Repel Aphids
Fruit trees are a prime source of fresh fruit that tastes far better than processed fruit. Although fruit trees are not particularly difficult to grow, many pests are attracted to the fruit’s sweet taste.
The most popular insects that feast on the fruit include aphids, Japanese beetles, and spider mites. These unwanted critters destroy your fruit tree’s life-giving vines while also damaging the actual fruit that develops on the tree.
Garlic companion planting alongside fruit trees is elementary and calls for minimal effort: plant garlic and rue at your fruit tree base. Not only does garlic scare off a natural pest, but it also acts as a natural fungicide. How deep to plant garlic cloves is about an inch or two with the pointed end up.
Alliums like garlic protect an apple tree from apple scab and leaf curl found in peach trees. To ensure that both your garlic and fruit tree are protected, we recommend setting up a wire fence around both plants.
Tomatoes and Garlic are Amazing Companion Plants
One common type of vegetable grown in any garden is the tomato plant. Tomato plants produce a bountiful harvest for several seasons when taken care of properly.
To make harvesting easier, incorporate garlic companion planting—plant garlic in between your tomato plants to make harvesting simpler and to deter spider mites.
Garlic is not the only beneficial companion plant for tomatoes. Plants like nasturtium, borage, coriander, and chives also deter unwanted critters naturally.
When companion planting for garlic and tomato plants, start growing your garlic about a month before planting tomato seeds. When you begin your garlic bulbs a little earlier, both plants are ready to harvest simultaneously.
Marigolds are a Beautiful Way to Repel Insects
Do you wish to know what to plant with garlic and want to add a pleasant-looking flower to your garden? Consider incorporating marigolds in or around your garden.
Marigolds contain a powerful scent that effectively deters insects like maggots, flea beetles, mosquitoes, and borers. Not only do marigolds repel harmful insects, but this beautiful plant also attracts beneficial insects to your garden.
Beneficial insects help pollinate your vegetables and flowers. Finding a companion for garlic does not need to be a complicated process. Grow garlic next to rhubarb plants and many other plant types for mutually beneficial properties.
Finding plants that grow well with garlic promotes healthy development while adding a pleasing aesthetic to your backyard garden. Include marigolds with your other vegetables to remove the risk of damaging pests.
Grow Bush Beans for Healthier Soil
One of the most critical elements in successful vegetable growth is healthy soil. The dirt helps a plant transfer water to the plant’s main stem while simultaneously assisting with much-needed oxygen flow.
Without healthy soil, a plant has difficulty securing its roots in the ground, thus negatively impacting its overall growth. Bush beans and pole beans maintain level nitrogen content in the soil.
With plenty of nitrogen in the ground, garlic can grow quicker the following season. Bush beans also help other plants like kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts. When the garlic in your garden has plenty of nitrogen in its soil, it does not take as long for the bulbs to sprout.
Combine Chives and Garlic for an Effortless Insect Repellent
Similar to garlic, chives grow well with a wide variety of plants and vegetables. When you incorporate chives into your garden, other plants flourish because chives promote their development without negatively impacting themselves.
When you team up chives and garlic, the two plants also deter carrot flies and codling moths. Some common fruits and vegetables thrive when planted next to chives.
With the long list of companion plants, adding chives to your garden is an extraordinary idea to ensure you harvest the tastiest fruit. Chives only take around three months to fully mature and do not take up that much space in the ground.
It’s a great way to protect strawberry plants from bugs while growing another helpful and delicious plant, too.
How do Radishes Help Garlic?
Radishes are precious plants when it comes to garlic companion planting. The radish plant promotes stable garlic growth, helping the garlic bulbs sprout quickly with a rich taste.
Garlic also helps radishes grow steadily, so both plants improve from being planted next to one another. Another familiar vegetable that grows well alongside radishes is cucumbers.
Cucumbers have a long growing season, meaning there is an extended period that insects like cucumber beetles have the opportunity to steal the plant’s nutrients. Another companion plant for radishes is leeks.
Promote Garlic Growth with Summer Savory
Summer savory is not a common herb that is included in many gardens. However, there are numerous pros to adding summer savory plants with your vegetables and garlic. Garlic grows faster and more robust when it is planted next to summer savory.
Other reasons to add summer savory to your garden are that the herb offers a diverse flavor, repels insects like aphids and whiteflies, and is excellent all-natural medicine. Summer savory leaves can be rubbed on insect stings to help relieve the pain.
What Plants to Avoid When Planting Garlic
A vital aspect of learning what to plant with garlic is understanding that some plants cause significant harm to garlic bulbs. When searching for garlic companion planting options, there are two main vegetables to avoid.
The first plant to stay away from is asparagus. Asparagus and garlic do not share the soil well, which leads to stunted growth. Another plant to refrain from planting next to garlic is fennel because it prevents the garlic from developing.
Before growing fennel, we suggest planting it in a secluded area away from other veggies because it stunts several different plants’ growth.
Additionally, the fennel is known as an insect magnet and usually attracts pests like hoverflies, parasitic wasps, and tachinid flies. Understanding the adverse effects of planting fennel next to other vegetables is essential to growing healthy vegetables.
Garlic is an excellent companion plant for numerous reasons. The garlic bulbs are tiny, allowing you to squeeze them into restricted areas to make the most of the space in your garden.
Another perk to planting garlic is that it deters unwanted pests and helps your other vegetables grow free from insects stealing their nutrients.
Garlic companion planting makes gardening more manageable, so there is almost no reason not to include garlic bulbs next to your fresh veggies.
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