Companion planting in gardening and agriculture is planting of different crops in close physical proximity. It is a form of polyculture. Polyculture is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops, or monoculture. ...

Companion planting is used by farmers, and gardeners in both the industrialised world as well as the third world.

For farmers, techniques are already being used in IPM, and systems can be set up to allow the farmer to have more yield and/or reduce pesticides. IPM may refer to: Integrated Pest Management, a pest control strategy; Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, a research institute in Iran. ... the plane is spreading pesticide. ...

In the third world, tropical crops are used instead of temperate ones and provide NGO's, and other organizations a tool for allowing the poor to get out of poverty. As a lot of poor people (e.g. in Mali) are farmers (due to lack of schooling), its implementation is very successful.

For gardeners, the combinations of plants also make for a more varied, attractive vegetable garden. It can also be used to mitigate the decline of biodiversity. Many of the modern principles of companion planting were present many centuries ago in the cottage garden. Cottage gardens are attributed to English origin and are typically random and carefree in form. ...

In history

Companion planting was widely touted in the 1970s as part of the organic gardening movement. It was encouraged not for pragmatic reasons like trellising, but rather with the idea that different species of plant may thrive more when close together. It is also a technique frequently used in permaculture, together with mulching, polyculture, and changing of crops. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Organic horticulture. ... Permaculture Mandala summarising the ethics and principles of permaculture design. ... In agriculture and gardening, mulch is a protective cover placed over the soil, primarily to modify the effects of the local climate. ... Polyculture is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops, or monoculture. ... Intercropping is the farming practice of growing two or more crops in the same field at the same time. ...

One traditional practice was planting of corn (maize) and pole beans together. The cornstalk would serve as a trellis for the beans to climb. The inclusion of squash with these two plants completes the Three Sisters technique, pioneered by Native American peoples. A trellis is a frame-like structure on which vined plants can grow. ... The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of Native Americans in North America: squash, maize (or corn), and climbing beans. ... A Hupa man. ...

Examples

See also: List of companion plants

Nasturtium are well-known to attract caterpillars, so planting them alongside or around vegetables such as lettuce or cabbage will protect them, as the egg-laying insects will tend to prefer the nasturtium. This is a list of companion plant relationships. ... Species About 80 species, including: Full List of Tropaeolum species * In older traditional systems placed in the Geraniales Nasturtium (literally nose-twister), as a common name, is a genus of roughly 80 species of annual and perennial herbaceous flowering plants Tropaeolum, one of three genera in the family Tropaeolaceae. ... The striking caterpillar of the Emperor Gum Moth A caterpillar is the larval form of a lepidopteran (a member of the insect order comprised of butterflies and moths). ...

Crops which suffer from greenfly and other aphids may benefit from the proximity of marigolds: these attract hoverflies, a predator of aphids, and are also said to deter other pests. A more complete list of plants that deter insects is listed below. Families There are 10 families: Adelgidae - adelgids, conifer aphids Anoeciidae Aphididae Drepanosiphidae Homomasagymibutae Greenideidae Hormaphididae Lachnidae Mindaridae Pemphigidae Phloeomyzidae Phylloxeridae Thelaxidae Aphids, also known as greenfly/blackfly or plantlice, are minute plant-feeding insects in the superfamily Aphidoidea in the homopterous division of the order Hemiptera. ... Families Adelgidae Aphididae Pemphigidae Phylloxeridae and several more Aphids (superfamily Aphidoidea) are small plant-sucking insects. ... Species About 20, see text : also numerous garden hybrids and cultivars The marigolds, genus Calendula L., are a genus of about 20 species of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the daisy family Asteraceae, native to the Mediterranean region and Macaronesia. ... Genera many genera about 5,000 species The flower flies or hoverflies are a family of flies (Diptera), scientifically termed Syrphidae. ...

The use of plants that produce copious nectar and protein-rich pollen in a vegetable garden (insectary plants) is a good way to enhance the population of beneficial insects that control pests. Some insects in the adult form are nectar or pollen feeders, while in the larval form they are voracious predators of pest insects. SEM image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), hollyhock (Sidalcea malviflora), lily (Lilium auratum), primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis). ... Elderberry in Bloom Hover Fly Insectary plants is a term used by the organics farming movement to describe plants that attract insects. ... This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ...

Versions

There are a number of systems and ideas utilizing companion planting.

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. Square Foot Gardening is a type of intensive gardening popularized by Mel Bartholemew. ...

Another system utilizing companion planting is that of the forest garden, where companion plants are intermingled to create an actual ecosystem, emulating the interaction of up to seven levels of plants in a forest or woodland. Forest gardening (also known as 3-Dimensional Gardening) is a food production and land management system based on replicating woodland edge ecosystems, substituting trees (such as fruit or nut trees), bushes, shrubs, herbs and vegetables which have yields directly useful to humankind. ... Limber Pine woodland, Toiyabe Range, central Nevada Biologically, a woodland is a treed area differentiated from a forest. ...

Organic gardening often depends on companion planting for its best performance, since so many synthetic means of fertilizing, weed reduction, pest control, and other garden needs are forbidden. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Organic horticulture. ...

Good weeds

There are many beneficial weeds, which can be allowed to grow alongside plants, imparting the very same kinds of benefits as mixing cultivated crops. Beneficial weeds are various plants not necessarily considered domesticated, but which nonetheless have some companion plant effect, or else are edible, including a great many wildflowers, but also including many weeds which people are wont to generically kill or poison, without realizing the benefit of that plant. ...

Companion Plant Categories

Companion plants can benefit each other in a number of different ways, including:^[1]

• Flavor enhancement — some plants, especially herbs, seem to subtly change the flavor of other plants around them.
• Hedged investment — multiple plants in the same space increase the odds of some yield being given, even if one category encounters catastrophic issues
• Level interaction — plants which grow on different levels in the same space, perhaps providing ground cover or working as a trellis for another plant
• Nitrogen fixation — plants which fix nitrogen in the ground, making it available to other plants
• Pest suppression — plants which repel insects, plants, or other pests like nematodes or fungi, through chemical means
• Positive hosting — attracts or is inhabited by insects or other organisms which benefit plants, as with ladybugs or some "good nematodes"
• Protective shelter — one plant type of plant may serve as a wind break, or shade from noonday sun, for another
• Trap Cropping — plants which attract pests away from others

Biblical reference

Companion planting and use of nurse crops are proscribed in Leviticus 19:19 ("...thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed..."). In agriculture, a nurse crop is an annual crop used to assist in establishment of a perennial. ... Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, also the third book in the Torah (five books of Moses). ...

References

1. ^ Notes on Natural Pest Control for an Organic Garden on DigGood.com.

See also

• Aquaponics, The symbiosis of fish and plants.
• Intercropping
• List of beneficial weeds
• List of companion plants
• Monoculture
• Nurse crop
• Polyculture
• Three Sisters
• Insectary plants

Aquaponics is the integration of aquaculture and hydroponics. ... Intercropping is the farming practice of growing two or more crops in the same field at the same time. ... This is a list of undomesticated or feral plants, considered weeds, yet having some positive effects or uses, often being ideal as companion plants in gardens. ... This is a list of companion plant relationships. ... Monoculture describes systems that have very low diversity. ... In agriculture, a nurse crop is an annual crop used to assist in establishment of a perennial. ... Polyculture is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops, or monoculture. ... The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of Native Americans in North America: squash, maize (or corn), and climbing beans. ... Elderberry in Bloom Hover Fly Insectary plants is a term used by the organics farming movement to describe plants that attract insects. ...

External links

• A companion planting table