You Don't Need Restrictive Companion Planting Charts

Companion planting is all the rage these days, and I'm sure you can find about 2,000 companion planting charts on Pinterest and tons of companion planting tips on other gardening blogs. Maybe you've felt overwhelmed before by reading things like "don't grow fennel with anything else" or "never put beans near peppers."

Well, I'm here to tell you there aren't actually that many dos and don'ts when it comes to putting plants together. That is to say, I've ignored all the don'ts, and my garden always turns out beautiful and productive every season.

The key is just to understand a couple of basic things about the plants you want to grow so that you can figure out which plants will work best together. Here are the 6 steps I follow to create companion planting plans for my own garden and for clients' gardens.

Categorize Your Plants

I use four different categories to organize my plants: herbs, flowers, season, and size.

Herbs

The first question I ask about any plant I might want to grow is: Is it an herb? Herbs are plants that have leaves, seeds, or flowers that we use either medicinally or to add flavor in the kitchen. I like to think of herbs as something you grow as an addition to a dish, not the main component.

Some of my favorite herbs to grow in the kitchen garden are cilantro, dill, parsley, chives, rosemary, lavender, mint, oregano, thyme, sage, and basil.

Flowers

The next question I ask is: Is it a flower? Many different types of plants can flower, of course, but we're focusing on plants grown primarily for their blooms.

Growing Season

The main growing seasons for categorizing our vegetables are the cool season, warm season, and hot season. Cool season plants can handle frost and grow best when the average high temperature ranges from about 35 to 64°F. Warm season plants are frost intolerant and thrive in temps between 65 and 84°F. Hot season plants need temps above 85°F to grow and produce. You can learn more about plants that grow best in each of the different growing seasons in my first book, Kitchen Garden Revival.

Plant Size

I like to categorize plants into three sizes: small, medium, and large. Small plants include root crops like radishes and fast-growing leafy greens like looseleaf lettuces.

Medium-size plants include plants like celery, parsley, mustards, bush beans, kale, and Swiss chard. Now, Swiss chard and especially kale can actually grow to be quite large, but you can keep them smaller by harvesting from them frequently, which is the goal.

And then large plants would be things like cabbage and most fruiting plants. Large plants take up a much greater share of the garden.

Pick Herbs & Flowers for the Border of the Raised Beds

Start with the outside of your garden beds when you're creating your planting plan. I love to plant a mix of herbs and flowers around the border of the garden bed. There are two main reasons for this. One, herbs and even some flowers (like marigolds and nasturtiums) have scents that repel pests or block the scent of the plants they like to attack. In this way, each little herb planted around the edge is like a bodyguard there to protect your plants from pest pressure.

Two, flowers and flowering herbs also attract beneficial insects like butterflies, ladybugs, bees, and predatory wasps. These beneficial insects can help with pollination and take care of pest issues for you.

Make sure to pick low-growing flowers that won't block too much sunlight from your fruiting plants.

Pick Small, Medium, & Large Plants for the Season

Look up your average monthly temperatures and determine which growing season you're currently in: the cool, warm, or hot. If your garden is still covered under several feet of snow, you might be in your cold season, but you can plan ahead for your cool season. Or you might be in your cool season if you haven't yet passed your last frost date.

Our Garden Calendar is a free resource to help you know which season you're in and when the ideal time to plant certain crops in your climate is. You just download it and can start using it right away. Plug in your two frost dates, and then we do the rest of the work for you. Another great resource to help you label and plan your growing seasons is my book, Kitchen Garden Revival.

Whichever season you're in, try to figure out around how many days you have left in that season.

Once you know your current or upcoming season, pick a variety of plants that prefer to grow in that season. Focus on selecting your favorite small, medium, and large plants.

Place Large Plants

Now you've got your small, medium, and large plants figured out for your current season, so it's just a matter of laying them out in the interior of the garden, starting with your large plants.

Let's say I'm making a raised-bed planting plan for the cool season. My two large plants will be broccoli and sugar snap peas. Of course, these cabbages will look very small when I plant them, but I know they'll spread out because I took the time to categorize them. Sugar snap peas are also a large plant, though they'll grow tall instead of growing wide like the cabbages. I'll make sure to position them near a strong garden trellis that will support their vertical growth.

Add in Medium-Size Plants

Add a row or two of medium-size plants around your large plants, depending on the width of your raised bed.

Fill in with Small Plants

Small plants will go right alongside the herb and flower border. Small plants typically go into the garden by seed, and eventually, they'll fill in the space between existing plants beautifully.

This Companion Planting Method Really Works

This is a companion planting system that doesn't require a chart. All you have to do is understand the four different categories of plants to determine which types of plants will work together in your space. I created this system for my own garden and have since used it to plant hundreds of kitchen gardens for my clients.

So I know it works. It works for me, it works for them, and I know it's going to work for you.

If you haven't already, check out my book Kitchen Garden Revival. It really breaks down plants by size and season, and it'll help you make so much more sense of companion planting. I also recommend this blog post if you want to see sample planting plans I put together for you based on good companions. These plant combinations are full of colors and textures you're going to love.

Gardenary is the place to come to start your garden or take your gardening skills to the next level, so make sure to explore our blog, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and keep an eye out for our next gardening workshop.

All photos feature a client's garden and were taken by Victoria Quirk.