You can create a companion planting plan in just five simple steps. Map your sun and water first. Group plants by family next. Pair each group with proven companions. Add trap crops to lure pests away. Layer in flowers that feed beneficial bugs.
I drew my first companion planting plan on graph paper with a pencil and eraser. Each square was one square foot. I sketched the beds and wrote in plant names. My plan looked rough but it worked. Five years later I still tweak the plan each spring based on what worked the year before.
Step one is to map the sun and water in your yard. Watch your beds for a full day. Mark which spots get 6 hours of sun and which stay shaded. Note where your hose reaches and where rain pools after a storm. This map tells you what crops fit where.
Step two groups your crops by plant family. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are all nightshades. Cabbage, kale, and broccoli are brassicas. Rotating these family groups each year stops pests from building up in one spot. The plan should never put the same family in the same bed two years running.
Step 1: Map Your Yard
- Sun check: Track sun hours for each bed across a full day to find spots with 6 or more hours of direct light.
- Water access: Mark where your hose reaches and where rain collects after a storm to plan thirsty and dry-loving crops.
- Soil notes: Test soil pH and texture in each bed so you can match crops to the right soil type for your yard.
Step 2: Group by Family
- Family rotation: Move each plant family to a new bed each year to break pest and disease cycles in your soil.
- Main families: Track nightshades, brassicas, legumes, alliums, and cucurbits as the five main groups for rotation.
- Three-year cycle: A three-year rotation per family is the basic minimum to keep your soil healthy and your plants strong.
Step 3: Add Companions
- Use a chart: Pull a chart from a state extension office and pair each crop with a research-backed companion plant.
- Pick top picks: Basil with tomato, beans with corn, and coriander with cabbage are easy winning pairs to start with.
- Skip the bad pairs: Cross-check your plan to avoid known bad neighbors like fennel near beans or potato near tomato.
Step 4: Add Trap Crops
- Pest decoys: Plant nasturtium and radish as trap crops that pull aphids and beetles away from your main harvest.
- Edge planting: Put trap crops at the bed edges so pests find them before they reach your prized vegetables in the center.
- Refresh often: Pull and replace trap crops once they fill with pests to keep the trap effect strong all season long.
Step 5: Layer Flowers
- Bug habitat: Add sweet alyssum, coriander, and yarrow to feed beneficial bugs like hoverflies and parasitic wasps.
- Continuous bloom: Pick flowers that bloom across the whole season so bugs have food from spring through fall.
- Border strategy: Plant flowers along bed edges and between rows for a steady supply of pollen and nectar in your beds.
Free apps make a garden planting plan much easier to draft than graph paper. Try Seedtime or GrowVeg for drag-and-drop bed planning. Both apps include companion chart data and warn you about bad pairs. Pair the app with a printed chart from your extension office for double-check power.
Keep a garden journal once your plan is set in spring. Take a photo of each bed once a week with your phone. Write quick notes about what you see for pests, blooms, and harvest weights. Your photos and notes will guide next year's plan with real data from your own soil.
I learned more from my journal than from any book I read on gardening. My notes showed me that beans planted on the west side did better than the east side. Your vegetable garden plan should change each year based on what your own beds tell you over time.
Start your plan today even if your garden is small. A single 4 by 8 foot bed can hold a full companion planting layout. Tomato in the center, basil around it, marigold at the corners, and nasturtium along one edge. One bed teaches you all the steps for bigger plans later.
Read the full article: Companion Planting Guide for Vegetables
