Vegetable Gardening the Companion Planting Way

There are several methods of successful gardening and while companion planting is one that is though of as a "newer" method, developed in the last 100 years or so, it seems to be the most logical, resourceful, productive method to be found. Companion planting is a method in which gardeners use all the available space in their garden to create what some think of as a messy garden (Priensnitz, 2006). This "messy" garden utilizes spaces in between crops such as corn, tomatoes, lettuce, cauliflower, potatoes, okra, strawberries, and countless others, to plant smaller plants that either add to the growth and health of the larger crops or do not effect the large crops at all. What this method does, is allows a gardener to plant the same amount of vegetables and fruits without using the vast amount of land that other methods tend to use. This method in fact, saves the gardener time, energy, resources, and land while producing the same, if not larger, yield in an environment in which the fruits and vegetables thrive.

Companion planting utilizes all the space available in the selected area which saves both time and space in one's garden. When planting corn and beans, for example, in the same space corn alone would occupy in a traditional garden, one will notice the space needed for a productive garden decreases substantially. For instance, instead of planting a patch of onions, which is commonly done in traditional gardening, one may plant a few onion bulbs among beets. One may also plant a few bulbs among their, cabbage, celery, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and even strawberries (Author Unknown, 1997-2007). In planting one's onions among some or even all of the suggested vegetables and fruits, one saves more space in their garden. One could plant carrots among tomatoes, radishes among squash, spinach among cauliflower, oregano among cabbage and countless other combinations that save a vast amount of space while benefiting the plants and deterring pests (Author Unknown, 1997-2007).