A guide to companion planting for a healthy garden
Give vegetables a suitable companion and reap the rewards.
Words: Kath Irvine
Vegetable plants need their companions to entice bees and beneficial insects. Plus, their flowers are a pretty addition to the garden.
Annual flowers
Direct sow enthusiastic self-seeders such as calendula, cosmos, cornflower, borage, love in a mist, phacelia, buckwheat, poppy, nasturtium and marigold at the base of tall crops and throughout your veggies.
Calendula.
For constant flowering, sow some each month from spring through late summer.
Mediterranean herbs
Thyme, sage, oregano, lavender and rosemary are highly productive and grow well in dry places, under eaves and also do well in pots. Bees love their nectar-rich flowers.
Chives and garlic chives bring a lovely onion flavour without the work of growing onions. Chive flowers are another bee favourite and a pretty addition to salads. They are an easy plant as long as they don’t dry out.
Direct sow from when the soil warms in spring through to autumn. Ready to eat in 7 weeks.
Borage.
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