A Closer Look at Companion Planting
Companion planting is an old gardening technique that is not always supported by scientific research, but is often backed by many skilled and expert gardeners. The only support science is willing to give towards companion planting is that the growth of a variety of plants in a garden does reduce the amount of problems the garden encounters. This could be because the garden reaches a kind of equilibrium all around, and the plants benefit from this natural balance.
The companion planting gardening method involves planting two or more plants of a certain type next to another two or more plants of a separate type. For example, plant three rosemary plants next to three sage plants. The belief is that the plants will be mutually beneficial towards each other. Benefits include better growth, sweeter flavors, repelling garden pests, as well as attracting the predators for garden pests both plants may share.
Some plants are beneficial towards each other, while other plants are not. Sometimes plants seem to not mind what grows next to them and they don't affect any of their neighbors or their neighbors don't affect them. There are some plants that benefit from being planted next to a certain type of plant, but the other plant will suffer.
For example, anise germinates and grows well next to coriander, but the coriander will be poor in both growth and flavor. In this case it is only the anise that benefits. Other plants are mutually beneficial (the best kind of companion planting), like the sage and rosemary example. These plants help each other out or they both benefit from being next to each other.
Yet there are other plants that seem to not like being planted next to any plant at all. This plant can stunt the growth and flavor of any plant it is next to, or sometimes kill the neighboring plant if the neighboring plant is weak. An example of this bad neighbor is fennel, which is better grown in a pot or if it's grown in the ground, should be grown far away from all other plants because of this characteristic.
Following the rules of companion planting can affect your herb garden design. You may not be able to plant certain plants next to each other because of how they will react or affect the other plant. You may have to rethink your herb garden design if you had a color scheme or leaf scheme you were trying to follow. If this is the case, remember that plants come in many different varieties, as well as flower colors and you can still save your design with a bit of research. This isn't too much of a problem for those with container gardens though. If you have a container garden, you can always separate the “mean” plants into individual containers.
