Planting garlic companion plants is an eco-friendly way to keep pests out of your garden without chemical pesticides. While garlic is a delicious food that adds rich flavor to your favorite recipes, this pungent plant can also repel an assortment of common garden pests, from aphids to deer. Pairing garlic with vulnerable plants in your garden can protect your produce from damage and help you harvest a blemish-free crop of veggies, herbs, and fruit right from your backyard. Here are the best garlic companion plants that have similar growing needs.
Beets
Beets and garlic have similar care requirements, so keeping them together in the garden makes sense. Beets are low-growing plants that won’t overshadow garlic companion plants, and garlic and beet roots grow at different depths in the soil, which limits competition for soil nutrients. Plus, beets and garlic both grow well in containers because they maintain a compact growth habit as they mature.
Brassicas
Brassicas such as broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts are usually hit hard by pests, including slugs, snails, and cabbage loopers. When these pests invade, they can riddle leaves with holes and leave behind slimy trails that no one wants to touch. All these pests are deterred by garlic companion plants' potent aroma.
Carrots
Carrots and garlic both need rich, loose soil to grow properly, but you might want to pair these plant partners together in your garden for other reasons. Like beets, carrots are low-growing plants that won’t shade garlic from the sun. Moreover, garlic’s pest-repellent properties keep the dreaded carrot root maggot away from your root veggies.
Chamomile
Companion planting with garlic usually involves using garlic to benefit other plants. However, if you want to help the garlic grow better and improve the flavor of the garlic bulbs, try planting garlic with chamomile. Roman and German chamomile enhance the flavor of nearby garlic plants, and chamomile and garlic have similar growing requirements.
Peppers
Peppers and garlic companion plants have similar growing needs, which makes them suitable for planting near each other in garden beds. More importantly, garlic is rich in sulfur, which can inhibit fungal diseases in pepper plants. Plus, aphids hate the scent of garlic, so growing garlic near your peppers can keep the pepper plants aphid-free.
Spinach
Garlic is a slow-growing and cold-hardy plant that’s usually planted in garden beds in autumn, long after the rest of the garden has been put to bed for the year. However, because spinach is also a cold-hardy vegetable, you can grow these two plants together in your autumn garden. When the garlic resprouts in spring, plant a new crop of spinach nearby to take full advantage of the garlic companion plants' pest-repelling abilities.
Strawberries
Some gardeners believe that garlic slows the growth of strawberries, but this has never been proven. What has been proven is that garlic can keep many pests off strawberry plants and help you get a larger harvest of perfect berries. As with brassicas, many pests target strawberries, but garlic’s aroma can keep rabbits, aphids, snails, and slugs at bay.
Tomatoes
Nothing says summer quite like picking the first ripe tomato straight from your garden. However, many pests adore tomatoes as much as we do, and if you’re not careful, aphids, slugs, and snails will spoil your harvest. The good news is that growing garlic companion plants near tomatoes can protect the harvest and keep pests from stunting the growth of your plants.
Fruit Trees
When it comes to companion planting, most gardeners think about using vegetables or flowers, but fruit trees can also benefit from this technique. Tree borers, aphids, spider mites, and Japanese beetles frequently target apple, peach, and other fruit trees. Planting a ring of garlic companion plants around a fruit tree can inhibit these pests and may also prevent fungal issues from cropping up in your trees.
Roses
Keeping roses safe from garden pests takes a lot of work, but you can simplify your gardening tasks by growing garlic near your rose bushes. Aromatic garlic deters many rose pests, including aphids, spider mites, Japanese beetles, and deer. Garlic plants take up so little space they won’t interfere with your rose garden.
Best Companion Plants for Vegetables
Choosing the right companion plants for healthy vegetable growth can increase your crop yield and, like garlic, keep pests away. Vegetable companion plants can help attract beneficial insects and keep vulnerable plants from getting too much sun. For example, if you plant radishes, add marigolds and calendula to keep pests away and add color. Beets will benefit if planted alongside brassicas and lettuce. Brighten up your cauliflower with nasturtium, which will attract ladybugs, and yarrow, which acts as a trap for predatory insects. Choosing the right companion plants is a big boost to gardening success.
