Companion Planting: Mixed Cultivation in the Vegetable Patch

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!

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:

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!

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Mixed 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.

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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.