Companion planting is not limited to traditional choices like nasturtiums, marigolds, and pyrethrum. Many herbs also serve as ideal garden companions, attracting beneficial insects while deterring pests. If you want a natural way to maximize your garden's potential, companion planting is the answer. It involves grouping plants that mutually benefit each other, from pest repulsion to pollinator attraction and soil improvement. This practice can optimize your garden space, allowing plants with different needs to coexist. If you're new to companion planting, don't worry; we've created a quick guide to help you get started.

Veggies Companion Planting

• Celery: Plant celery alongside brassicas and beans to deter the white cabbage butterfly, as they dislike its scent. One celery plant for every six neighbouring plants is ideal.
• Carrots and Leeks: These two strong-scented crops can be grown together, as their aromas help keep each other's pests at bay.
• Tomatoes: Asparagus, basil, carrots, celery, and parsley make excellent companions for tomatoes, aiding their growth. 
• Peas and Beans: Nitrogen-fixing peas and beans enhance soil fertility.
• Plant brassicas and sweetcorn in areas where beans previously grew.
• Cucumber: plant with nasturtiums for pest control. do not plant near potatoes.

Flower Companion Planting

• Roses: Plant garlic among roses to deter aphids.
• Nasturtium: Attract caterpillars, aphids, and whiteflies, can protect nearby vegetables like lettuces, cabbages, beans, and tomatoes. Adult insects lay their eggs on nasturtium leaves, making it easier to remove them at an early stage
• Marigolds: Plant marigolds near crops susceptible to aphids and greenfly, as their scent repels these pests and attracts hoverflies, natural aphid predators.
• Marigolds can also help with soil nematode control if grown over an entire season.
• Lavender, marigold, and rosemary: produce a scent that effectively repel mosquitoes, flies, fleas, and ticks.
• Pollinator Attractors or Bee-friendly plants include calendula, marigolds, sunflowers, poppies, clover, nasturtiums, Queen Anne’s Lace, echinacea, and borage. 

Herb Companion Planting

• Sage: Plant sage around celery crops to repel aphids.
• Hyssop: Deters white cabbage butterfly from brassicas like broccoli, cabbages, and Brussels sprouts.
• Basil: Enhances the flavor of tomatoes when planted nearby and can also be paired with capsicums. The bee’s also love it, but the aphids, fruit fly and white fly hate it.
• Fly Deterrents: Basil, mint, and spearmint, help deter flies, mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks.
• Borage: Attracts pollinators when in bloom and serves as a natural source of potassium, calcium, and minerals. Plant it alongside strawberries.
• Marjoram: repels all kinds bad of insects.
• Soil Enhancers: Companion herbs like comfrey can improve soil structure and fertility. Comfrey's deep tap-root opens up the soil, enhances drainage, and provides potassium. You can make a comfrey tea from steeped leaves to use as a liquid feed for garden plants.
• Coriander and Tansy attract hoverflies, which are an important natural defence against aphids. Tansy also deters fruit fly as does basil, making them especially beneficial among peaches and apricots.
• Dill attracts bees and deters white butterfly.
• Fennel has yellow flowers that attract hoverflies, which prey on aphids.
• Garlic keeps plants free of aphids and if planted under peach trees it will help protect from leaf curl. It also deters mosquitoes and protects tomatoes from spider mites.
• Garlic Chives are brilliant when in flower, because the strong scent deters carrot root fly.
• Lavender is used to attract huge numbers of bees and butterflies. The strong scent can deter aphids and is ideal incorporated with carrots and leeks.
• Mint confuses pests that often affect carrots, tomatoes, onions and brassicas. Remember mint is invasive however, so plant into a large container.
• Marjoram repels all kinds bad of insects.
• Parsley deters aphids, especially when planted with roses, asparagus and tomatoes.
• Rosemary deters mosquitoes, cabbage moth, bean beetles and carrot fly, as well as increasing the flavour of vegetables planted nearby.
• Rue is hated by almost all bad insects including slugs.
• Sage should be planted alongside brassicas to attract bees, for crop pollination and to confuse pests with the smell. It will also deter carrot fly and cabbage moth.
• Thyme should be incorporated with roses, because the strong fragrance deters blackfly. You can also steep the leaves to make a tea, then spray over the leaves of the cabbage to prevent whitefly.
• Wormwood is ideal for deterring aphids and beetles. It also attracts hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds with their lovely yellow flowers. Did you know one ladybird can eat more than 50 aphids in one day?