Organic Pest Control with Companion Planting

Companion planting is an easy, inexpensive way to control pests in your garden organically.

A central tenet of organic gardening is: "imitate nature." There are no garden rows in nature - everything appears to be in disorder. Yet each plant, fungus, insect, animal fit into the natural balance. Encourage a good balance of insects in your garden by choosing the right plants, and by interplanting.

Onions: Instead of planting your onions in a row by themselves, intersperse them with your other plants. They will keep some insects away. Don't plant them near your beans, though!

Garlic: Do the same with garlic, another pungent bulb. It repels Japanese Beetles, which like to eat just about everything.

Mint: A nice herb, it is also a good companion plant to protect cabbage. It attracts beetles and other predators that will protect your veggies for you! It is very invasive, so plant it in a container and keep a close eye on it!

Anise: this licorice flavored herb repels aphids. Anise hyssop repels cabbage moths.

Asparagus: plant asparagus among your tomatoes.

Fennel, yarrow, and other plants with small flowers attract tiny wasps, good predators to have around.

Marigolds are great flowers for your garden - they help potatos and tomatoes, and also repel asparagus beetles and bean beetles.

Other methods: Trap the pests. Plant mustard around your plants. Pests will gather on the mustard instead of your veggies - all you have to do is pull the collards and throw them out. Nasturtiums attract aphids, collards attack cabbage moths, and mustards are just a good all around trap plant.

Poison them: Larkspur and 4 O'Clocks will attract Japanese beetles and kill them. Use caution with this method - you might attract Japanese beetles who wouldn't otherwise come to your garden.

How does this work? Interplanting helps confuse insects. In a long row of cabbages, the cabbage moths know exactly where to go. When you plant the traditional garden row, you create a superhighway for pests and disease. By mimicking nature, however, you create less opportunity for bugs to spread to their favorite plants.

Evolution also plays a role. Some plants have developed defenses against predators. Other plants have features that attract certain bugs or birds which prey on the bugs that prey on your garden. The plants benefit from this in the form of pollination, seed distribution, or protection from predators.

Different plants also have beneficial properties for each other - but that is a topic for a later hub.

Photo Credits:

Nasturtiums and Marigolds, by Shiny Things. Used under creative commons license.

Yellow mustard and collards by cproppe used under a creative commons license.

Companion plants by Taifighta, used under creative commons license.