Companion Planting: What Actually Worked

Companion planting advice is everywhere, and much of it is folklore. So this spring I ran my own small and very unscientific trial.

Worked

• French marigolds with tomatoes: noticeably fewer whitefly in the greenhouse compared to last year.
• Nasturtiums as a sacrificial crop: the blackfly went straight for them and left the broad beans alone.

No difference

• Carrots with onions against carrot fly. Fly damage was the same. Fleece remains the only thing that works for me.
• Basil with tomatoes. Lovely to pick together, but I could not tell any difference in the tomatoes.

Disaster

The Three Sisters (corn, beans, squash). The squash smothered everything and the beans pulled the corn over in the first storm. I need a much bigger plot or a lot more discipline.