On my recent travels to garden centers I came across a sign from Oakdale Organics, explaining companion planting, with some ideas on what herbs and flowers to mix in your vegetable garden to attract beneficial insects and reduce pests.
And so I have planted the following:
Tansy: Attracts lady beetles and lacewings which eat lots of aphids. Deters flying insects, cucumber beetles, squash bugs and helps repel flies and ants. Great companion for cucumber, squash, roses, berries, grapes, fruit trees.
Hyssop: Flowers attract bees, hoverflies and butterflies throughout the summer. Plant near brassicas to deter white cabbage butterfly.
Shoo-Fly Plant: Effective in the veggie garden as a natural deterrent to whitefly.
Nasturtium: Good companion for radish, cabbage and cucumber. (You can also use the flowers in salads, they are edible.)
Marigold: Attracts hoverflies and parasitic wasps. Helps repel nematodes in the soil.
Borage: Bees love borage.
Calendula: Attracts beneficial insects, good companion for anything in the cabbage family.
Bee Balm: Improves the growth and flavor of tomatoes. Attracts bees, parasitic wasps, beneficials flies, loved by hummingbirds.
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