How to Plant Companion Vegetables with Broccoli
The list of problems known to assault broccoli plants is sufficient to give even experienced gardeners pause. Cabbage worms and cabbage moths are particular enemies of broccoli, while thrips, aphids and cutworms are notorious equal-opportunity destroyers. Rather than splitting from the chemical sprays, think about giving broccoli plants companions that result in disease- and pest-resistance, while also attracting beneficial insects as well as improving flavor. In Mediterranean areas, broccoli seedlings go into the ground in early spring and in late summer, if desired.
Set broccoli seedlings to your garden bed 24 inches apart from one another in rows which are 36 to 48 inches apart. Applying this maximum spacing permits you to interplant companions both involving individual broccoli plants and between rows of broccoli.
Seed nasturtium flowers at the bottom of the broccoli plants in each row. The low-growing, vining plants work as a living mulch for broccoli and its companions. Moreover, the plants are considered a “super companion” since they assist plants in many ways, such as flavor development and as a broad-spectrum pest pest repellent. In addition, it functions as a “trap crop” for insects like aphids, meaning that these pests feed to the nasturtiums while ignoring your valuable edibles. Harvest the flowers and leaves of nasturtiums to add to salads.
Plant onions involving the broccoli plants. Onions have narrow foliage and fit conveniently between spreading plants like broccoli. Onions improve the taste of broccoli while also masking the scent of neighboring plants against predatory pests.
Grow herbs and vegetables in alternate rows involving the broccoli rows. Fantastic vegetable companies include beets, bush beans, celery, potatoes and lettuce. Herb choices include thyme, basil, dill, rosemary and sage, which not only are culinary herbs but are also thought to repel pests like thrips, cabbage worms and cabbage moths. Dill also attracts beneficial insects.
Establish pots of peppermint, catnip or hyssop on paths close to the broccoli bed. Although these perennial mint-family herbs are too invasive to include in an annual vegetable garden, they are invaluable allies for both repelling broccoli insect insects and encouraging beneficial insects.
Fill spaces between plants or rows with Mexican marigolds, which are credited with controlling a number of problems, such as weeds, insect pests and even rabbits.