Companion Planting: Mixed Cultivation in the Vegetable Patch
Mixed cultivation refers to the cultivation of different plant species that have a positive influence on each other. This is the opposite of monoculture. Great harvests can be achieved through targeted planting, especially in the garden. You can find out how it all works in this article.
This Article Contains:
Quick Overview
What Is a Mixed Culture?
When growing in a mixed crop, plants are combined that have a positive effect on each other. This has many advantages and solves many of the problems associated with monoculture cultivation.
Advantages of Companion Planting at a Glance
- Protection against diseases & pests
- Optimal nutrient utilization
- Growth improvement through suitable companion plants
- improved space utilization (several levels)
- ecological balance - creation of habitats
What Is a Mixed Culture?
Like humans, plants have different characteristics. Some species get along particularly well with each other and can even have a positive influence each other. They grow better in the presence of certain plants or protect themselves against diseases and pests. Other species, however, form unfavorable partnerships and tend to weaken each other. The result is stunted growth or disease. Mixed cultivation ensures that suitable companion plants are combined with each other to form strong and resilient communities.
Advantages of Mixed Cropping
- Supports the entire ecosystem: Beyond the positive effects on individual plants, the whole garden benefits.
- Promoting biodiversity: A diverse selection of plants creates food and habitats for many beneficial animals and insects.
- Encourages ecological balance: An interplay of various organisms emerges, naturally regulating one another.
- Preventive crop protection: Pests and diseases cannot spread as easily. Furthermore, strongly scented companion plants (such as herbs) "confuse" the senses of potential pests.
- Optimal nutrient utilization: Combining heavy and light feeders prevents the soil from becoming one-sidedly depleted.
- Improved soil structure: Deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants complement each other perfectly, loosening the soil at different levels and promoting aeration.
- Principles of organic gardening: Planning with mixed cultures protects the environment, increases yields in small spaces, and contributes to species conservation. You can find more tips on Environmentally Conscious and Organic Gardening in the article on this topic.
How Do I Plan Companion Planting for My Vegetable Patch?
We have put together some criteria here to make it easier for you to create a cultivation plan for mixed cultivation in your garden. If you follow these points, you can make optimum use of your garden resources. The plants will not steal space, nutrients or light from each other and the available space will be fully utilized.
Growth Shapes
An important criterion when planning a mixed crop is to consider the different growth forms. If this is taken into account, the available space in the vegetable patch can be used much more efficiently. For example, a corn plant can serve as a climbing aid for a bean. Ground-covering underplanting, such as pumpkin, ensures that the soil is always protected by a plant cover. This suppresses unwanted weeds and protects the soil from erosion.
Root Zone
Root space is also taken into account. There are shallow-rooted plants that only keep their roots in the uppermost soil layers. Only in this area do they have access to the surrounding nutrients. If only shallow-rooted plants are grown on an area, nutrients are leached from deeper soil layers. To avoid this loss, shallow-rooted plants are combined with deep-rooted plants. This root group reaches soil depths of up to over 1 m. As the roots of the plants grow in different areas of the soil, there is no competition for nutrients. So don't forget to include the roots of the plants in your cultivation plan!
| Shallow-Rooted Plants | Deep-Rooted Plants |
|---|---|
| Corn | Asparagus |
| Cucumber | Beetroot |
| Kohlrabi | Bell pepper |
| Lambs Lettuce | Black salsify |
| Onions | Brussels sprouts |
| Pea | Beans |
| Potatoes | Carrot |
| Pumpkin | Cabbage |
| Radish | Parsnips |
| Salad | Horseradish |
| Spinach | Swiss Chard |
| Zucchini | Tomatoes |
Plant Families
Plants from the same family often need the same nutrients and steal them from each other as they grow. They also attract the same pests. The rule of thumb is therefore to avoid having plants from the same genus next to each other. We have listed the best-known plant families here:
| Plant Families | Related Crops |
|---|---|
| Amaranth family (Amaranthaceae) | Beetroot, Swiss chard, spinach, sugar beet, quinoa |
| Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae) | Onion, garlic, leek, chives, shallot, Welsh onion |
| Daisy family (Asteraceae) | Lettuce, iceberg lettuce, endive, chicory, radicchio, sugarloaf, black salsify, Jerusalem artichoke, artichoke, sunflower |
| Gourd family (Cucurbitaceae) | Pumpkin/Squash, zucchini, cucumber, honeydew melon, watermelon |
| Legumes (Fabaceae) | Peas (garden, shelling, and sugar snap peas), beans (bush, pole, and runner beans), broad beans (fava beans), lentils, chickpeas, soybeans |
| Mustard family (Brassicaceae) | White cabbage, red cabbage, savoy cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, radish, daikon radish, horseradish, mustard, arugula, Chinese cabbage, pak choi |
| Nightshade family (Solanaceae) | Potato, tomato, bell pepper, chili, eggplant, Physalis (Cape gooseberry) |
| Valerian family (Valerianoideae) | Lamb's lettuce |
| Umbellifers (Apiaceae) | Carrot, fennel, celeriac, celery, parsnip, root parsley, dill, coriander, caraway, lovage |
Nutrient Requirements: Heavy and Light Feeder Crops
Some types of vegetables need a lot of nutrients, others are satisfied with just a few. By combining plants with similar nutrient requirements, many of the nutrients are removed from the soil and a deficiency can occur. To prevent this from happening, mixed cultivation ensures that plants with different nutrient requirements are distributed and alternated in the bed. The vegetable species are divided into three different categories: heavy, medium and light feeders. There should not be any heavy feeders next to each other, but rather plants with low nutrient requirements. You can find an overview of the nutrient requirements of the most important vegetable crops in our article on Heavy and Light Feeders.
Don’t Waste Precious Space in Your Vegetable Garden!
With our bed planner, it’s easy to design a beautiful and productive companion planting layout. You’ll see which plants grow well together — and which don’t — along with tips for crop rotation and succession planting!
Plan Your Bed NowMixed Culture Table for Companion Plants: Which Plants Go Together?
As you have probably already noticed, there are a few things to consider when planning a mixed vegetable bed for your garden. As a beginner, it's easy to lose track. But don't worry, we've created a mixed crop table that gives you a good overview of good or bad companions for the most important crops.
Herbs as Companion Plants in a Mixed Crop
Mixed Vegetable and Herb Crops
Not only vegetable plants are suitable for mixed cultivation. Herbs are also valuable plant companions that can have a variety of effects. Combined with vegetables, they can repel so-called pests with their strong scent and attract beneficial insects at the same time. Some herbs also have a positive effect on the growth and taste of vegetables. You can find out more about Mixed Herb and Vegetable Crops in our article on the subject.
Mixed Herb Cultures
But you should also pay attention to the principles of mixed cultivation when planting a new herb garden. You can find out why you should plant a Mixed Herb Garden and Which Herbs Go Well Together in our article!
Examples of Your Mixed Crop Planting Plan
For inspiration, we have created 5 Examples for Your Mixed Cultivation. The possibilities for planting mixed crops are enormous. Get creative and plan your own beds! Not only is it fun, but it also adds value to nature and the ecosystem in the garden.
If you have any questions or comments, please write to us at [email protected].
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Cover picture by silviarita on pixabay.
Isabell
Isabell studies agricultural sciences and loves to be surprised by nature and its complexity again and again. Herbs - whether gathered wild or in the garden - are her passion.
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Here’s a quick update The purple kohlrabi is growing like crazy—Azur Blau. The white kohlrabi is growing great, too. The red Eichberg lettuce is coming along slowly but surely. I’ll need to thin out the carrots soon so they can grow better. The broccoli is growing slowly. The radishes aren’t cooperating at all this time. Leeks and Stuttgart Giants are growing along nicely. Yellow zucchini is also growing great. Outdoor peppers have been planted. And the first peppers and tomatoes have moved into the greenhouse. Outside, small watermelons and pickling cucumbers will be coming soon. And in the basement under the grow light, the next batch of kohlrabi is already waiting as soon as there’s room again. The Japanese plum tree has already produced its first fruits—sugar-sweet for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, my apple tree had to go, but it was dug up, roots and all, and replanted nearby where the other apple trees are. Gardening is fun🤣
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I planted my tomatoes in the greenhouse today. I’m keeping a close eye on the temperature and making sure it doesn’t drop below 5 degrees at night. This works really well with a few candles (they raise the temperature in the greenhouse by a good 3 to 4 degrees). In the third picture, you can see our herb bed. Behind it, I’m creating a cut flower bed... I’m really excited to see how it will develop over the course of the summer.
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Things are finally moving along quickly!! The first variety of potatoes already has a lot of foliage. I was a bit sloppy with the rows, so I had to re-hilling the ridges. The second bed, on the other hand, is laid out much more neatly. 😅 I replanted the four front rows of strawberries because the back ones grew rather poorly—despite fertilizing. The two currant bushes are doing really well now—one black, the other red. And in the cold frame (last picture), the lettuce and kohlrabi have grown like something out of a picture book. Now I’m leaving the glass cover off, a bit worried because it still gets pretty cold at night.
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FAQ
Mixed cultivation refers to the cultivation of different plant species that have a positive effect on each other in the same bed.
What are the advantages of mixed cultivation?
It offers protection against diseases and pests, optimises the use of nutrients, improves plant growth and promotes an ecological balance.
Consider growth forms, root spaces, plant families and the nutrient requirements of the plants.
Which plants go well together?
A detailed mixed crop table shows compatible plant neighbors (PDF in the article). For example, tomatoes go well with basil and cabbage with dill.