The easiest companion plant is nasturtium without a doubt. The plant grows in poor soil and needs no fuss to thrive. New gardeners can drop seeds in the dirt and walk away. Nasturtium will do the rest for you all season long.
I bought one seed packet for three dollars back in my first year of gardening. Nasturtium took over the bed edge that summer and dropped seeds for the next year. Five years later I still have nasturtium pop up on its own. These beginner companion plants are a true gift that keeps giving.
Nasturtium wins for new gardeners for four good reasons. The plant thrives in poor soil where most crops would die off. No fertilizer is needed for big blooms. Bees and other pollinators love the bright orange and yellow flowers. The leaves and flowers act as a trap crop for many garden pests.
My first nasturtium patch surprised me by pulling aphids off my tomatoes. The bugs landed on the nasturtium leaves and stayed there. My tomatoes stayed clean all summer with zero sprays. I saw the same trick work for squash bugs on my cucumbers the next year.
Around Cucumber Vines
- Squash bug control: Nasturtium draws squash bugs away from cucumber stems where the pests do the most damage to your harvest.
- Spacing tip: Plant nasturtium seeds about 12 inches (30 centimeters) from each cucumber hill to give both plants room to grow.
- Bonus food: You can eat the peppery nasturtium leaves and flowers in salads while the plant works for you in the bed.
Beneath Tomato Plants
- Aphid trap: Aphids prefer nasturtium leaves over tomato leaves, so the bugs cluster on the trap crop instead of your fruit.
- Ground cover: Low-growing varieties shade soil under tomatoes and lock in moisture during hot dry weeks of summer.
- Easy removal: When nasturtium gets full of aphids, just clip those leaves off and toss them far from your beds.
Along Bed Edges
- Pollinator pull: A row of nasturtium along the edge of any bed brings in bees that boost fruit set on all your crops.
- Weed block: The dense leafy growth shades out weeds in the path zone next to your garden beds with no work needed.
- Self-seeding: Let some flowers go to seed in fall and you will have free low-maintenance companions pop up next spring.
Sow your nasturtium seeds right after the last frost in your area. Press each seed about half an inch (1.3 centimeters) into the soil with your finger. Water once and walk away. Most seeds will sprout within 7 to 10 days with no other care from you at all.
Skip the rich soil and the fertilizer when you plant nasturtium. Rich soil makes the plant grow huge leaves but very few flowers. Poor or average soil gives you the bright blooms that bring in bees and look nice in your beds. Less work means more flowers in this case.
These simple garden companions ask for almost nothing in return for the work they do. A small handful of nasturtium seeds costs less than a coffee. You get pest control, pollinator habitat, weed cover, and edible flowers all from one easy plant. No other companion plant gives you more for less effort.
Try nasturtium this season if you want a quick win in your beds. Buy one packet and scatter seeds along the edge of your tomato or cucumber patch. You will see flowers in about six weeks and start spotting the pest control benefits soon after that.
Read the full article: Companion Planting Guide for Vegetables
