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What is a good companion plant for strawberries


Strawberry companion plants: what to grow with strawberries

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By growing strawberry companion plants alongside your fruit bushes you can help to boost the crop of these delicious soft fruits. 

Try taking a lesson from nature and grow plants alongside your strawberries that will be beneficial for a great harvest. Companion planting is a great way of ensuring a bumper strawberry crop and has been used by gardeners and farmers for many years.

Companion planting strawberries is just one of the elements worth trying if you're learning how to grow strawberries and a way to achieve the best results from your vegetable garden ideas.

Read on for more details of the best strawberry companion plants to grow. 

Why grow strawberry companion plants?

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When you are planning a kitchen garden, companion planting is one of the factors to consider.

'Companion planting strawberries can enhance growing conditions, attract pollinators, control pests, and make good use of available space,' says Claire Ransom from Lazy Flora .

The benefits of companion planting strawberries can include improving their flavor, or increasing their resistance to pests, such as slugs. Sometimes the strawberry companion plant will do both. Select the right companion plants and you may also improve pollination and boost the nutrients in the soil. These are all excellent results for permaculture gardening and if you want to create a sustainable garden with less reliance on chemical pesticides and lots of soil maintenance.

'Strawberries, in particular, are prone to a number of pests. Strawberry companion plants will also provide shade in the afternoon light. In return, strawberry plants serve as a mulch, keep weeds at bay and keep the soil cool and moist,' adds Claire Ransom.  

Strawberry companion plants include everything from vegetables to other fruits, and herbs, and can be used whether you are growing strawberries under cover in a greenhouse, as vegetable garden container ideas, or in a small vegetable garden. These are the best to grow side-by-side.

Strawberry companion plants – herbs

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There are many herbs that can be grown as herb garden ideas that make useful strawberry companion plants.

If you grow thyme, chives, mint and borage, they are all excellent companion plants for strawberries. 

Borage, in particular, is a long-established and much valued strawberry companion plant. The deep blue flowers of this plant for pollinators attract pollinating insects, which then draw in insects that prey upon them, such as predatory wasps. The predators also prey on insects that can damage the strawberry plants. 

Borage adds trace minerals to the soil, which help strawberry growth. Some people also claim that borage improves the strawberries' flavor. 

Vegetable companion plants for strawberries

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Whether you are growing strawberries in raised garden beds, in containers or in the vegetable patch, there are many crops that make good strawberry companion plants to grow alongside them.

Try growing asparagus, beans, peas, spinach, lettuce, garlic, horseradish, and rhubarb – yes, strictly speaking, rhubarb is a vegetable. All work well planted alongside strawberries. Strawberries are good for onion companion planting.

Legumes – beans and peas – grown next to strawberries will improve the soil, fixing nitrogen and thus feeding the strawberry plants.

Asparagus and strawberries are compatible neighbors as their roots spread in different ways, so they don't compete for space or nutrients. 

Flower companion plants for strawberries

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Growing ornamentals among your edible crops not only looks lovely, adding color and scent, but also brings a number of benefits.

The humble marigold (tagetes) is valued by gardeners just as much for its pest repellant properties as for its cheery blooms. Strawberries and marigolds are a classic combination in many mixed garden planting schemes.  

You'll often find marigolds used as cucumber companion plants, for tomato companion planting, with beans, lettuce and many other popular vegetables. Many gardeners swear by the marigold's ability to keep pests, bugs, and even invasive weeds at bay. 

'Although there is limited scientific research surrounding companion gardening, many gardeners find it extremely beneficial,' says Sue Sanderson of Thompson & Morgan .

Indeed, Sarah Raven has written about the success she's had in her own garden with Tagetes minuta, the Mexican marigold, which she says 'is effective against perennial weeds such as bindweed, couch grass and ground elder as it gives out a chemical from its roots that is toxic to them. It sounds far-fetched,' she continues, 'but I can vouch for its efficacy: it cleared ground elder from my rose garden and yet had no effect on my roses. They’ve gone from strength to strength, yet the ground beneath them is now clean.'

Marigolds are just one of the flowers useful as strawberry companion plants, with others including borage, lupins and white clover.

(Image credit: Faba Photography/GettyImages)

What should not be planted with strawberries

There a various crops you should not plant with strawberries. These include: cauliflower, cabbages, broccoli, fennel, potatoes, melons, peppers and mint. 

Plants from the brassica family – cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli – would compete with the strawberry plants for nutrients. 

Plants from the Nightshade family, including tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant, or aubergine, may spread fungal disease to strawberry plants. 

What is good to plant with strawberries? 

Onions are a great companion plant for strawberries. Their smell creates an unappealing deterrent to many garden pests, especially slugs and snails.

Bob Lawson from Kellogg Garden advises: 'These pungent vegetables make great strawberry companion plants. Their unappealing odor is a natural deterrent of many garden pests that feed on the leaves and fruits of the strawberry plant. '

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Do tomatoes and strawberries grow well together?

Tomatoes are not the most productive companion plant you can choose for your strawberries.

According to Lawson, strawberry plants are prone to a disease called verticillum. 'Plants like tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, melons, peppers, roses and okra may actually contribute to this deadly disease in strawberry plants. It is essential to note that strawberries should not even be planted in beds that have recently housed those plants on this list,' he explains.

Does basil grow well with strawberries?

It is a great choice to grow basil alongside strawberries. The plants work really well side by side. They also taste great together in a salad and are definitely something worth trying.

Karen is the houses editor for homesandgardens.com and homes editor for the brand’s sister titles, Period Living and Country Homes & Interiors, and an experienced writer on interiors and gardens. She loves visiting historic houses for Period Living and writing about rural properties for Country Homes & Interiors, and working with photographers to capture all shapes and sizes of properties. Karen began her career as a sub editor at Hi-Fi News and Record Review magazine. Her move to women’s magazines came soon after, in the shape of Living magazine, which covered cookery, fashion, beauty, homes and gardening. From Living Karen moved to Ideal Home magazine, where as deputy chief sub, then chief sub, she started to really take an interest in properties, architecture, interior design and gardening. 

13 Companion Plants For Strawberries (And What Not To Plant Nearby) 🪴 Learn how to grow things 👩‍🌾 Fruit plants

Time to add some strawberries to your garden or plant around an existing strawberry patch? Strawberries are perfect for companion planting as they can be particularly fussy about what’s planted nearby.

Good companion plants for strawberries include spinach, lettuce, peas, beans, onions, clovers, thyme, garlic, and borage. Avoid planting brassicas like kale, cauliflower, and broccoli near your strawberries, as well as all types of fennel.

Read on to learn all about companion plants for strawberries!

Strawberry Companion Plants: The Basics

1. White Clover

2. Crimson Clover

3. Spinach

4. Lettuce

5. Peas

6. Beans

7. Onions

8. Chives

9. Garlic

10. Thyme

11. Borage

12. Marigold

13. Asparagus

Bad Companions To Avoid Planting Nearby Strawberries

Resources

Strawberry Companion Plants: The Basics

Strawberries are a widely grown hybrid species of the genus Fragaria (flowering plants in the rose family). They are a popular fruit because of their bright, red color and sweet, juicy taste. Give your strawberries the best chance to become sweeter and brighter by companion planting them with their most Strawberry-friendly plant friends.

1. White Clover

White clover can be an excellent mulch plant around a strawberry bed. This is because the white clover draws nitrogen in from the air and down into the soil. It also helps keep weeds at bay and attracts beneficial insects as it flowers (just don’t let it grow too many seeds). The plants are usually (or should be) mowed down before they get to the point of growing seeds. 

It’s best to plant around the strawberry patch rather than between the strawberry plants so that the strong roots of the white clover don’t create too much competition for the strawberry plants. 

2. Crimson Clover

Crimson Clover is a good host plant for minute pirate bugs which are beneficial insects that feed on thrips—ideally drawing unwanted bugs away from your strawberry garden bed. These pirate bugs love crimson clover because it gives them nectar and habitat. Crimson clover also attracts and supports other beneficial insects like lacewings and parasitic wasps.

Crimson clover not only attracts pollinators but also naturally fix nitrogen—allowing it to help itself and other plants around it that may need or benefit from it—like strawberries.

3. Spinach

Spinach is sometimes planted in strawberry patches between strawberry plants. The spinach plants leave a substance called saponin which can improve the soil for the strawberries by lessening fungal and bacterial plant disease from affecting the strawberry plants—making them ideal companions if you plant them strategically amongst your garden layout.

4. Lettuce

Lettuce is another cool-season crop that works well with strawberries. The beauty of growing spinach or lettuce with your strawberry plants is that their larger leaves can help shield the bright red berries from the hungry sight of birds or other unwanted pests. These leafy greens, both lettuce and spinach, are said to be especially beneficial when grown together so creating a garden space for these three friends is likely a good idea!

5. Peas

Peas are a great companion plant to grow near your strawberry plants because they will help improve the surrounding soil due to their nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Creating ideal soil conditions for your strawberry crop will enhance the flavor of strawberries.

6. Beans

Beans are also good companion plants to grow near your strawberries because they help improve the soil and are natural nitrogen fixers as well—allowing it to give the strawberry plants what it needs to healthily grow to their fullest potential.

7. Onions 

Onions are one of those extremely useful ingredients in the kitchen but an even more useful ingredient in the garden because their strong scent will deter birds and pests that will typically want to consume your juicy berries before you get a chance to pick them from your own garden.

8. Chives

Chives also have a strong scent that will cover the sweet scent of your desirable berries and therefore tricks pests who typically want to dine from the strawberry plant.

9. Garlic

Garlic’s strong smell makes it a good neighbor for strawberry plants. As mentioned prior, this is a great way to dissuade birds and other unwanted pests from devouring your beautiful berries. While the pungent smell of garlic is great for the kitchen, it’s even greater for your strawberry beds!

10. Thyme

Thyme is a great addition to include between your strawberry plants as they will help prevent weed growth, deter unwanted worms, and help your soil hold onto its moisture. Overly dry soil is a quick way to ensure your strawberries won’t grow into their prime and produce a nice harvest of juicy berries. A popular variety to consider, is Red Creeping thyme, which is known for its affinity for attracting pollinators. This will be great for your strawberry plants as it will encourage pollination and stronger growth.

11. Borage

Borage is said to be one of the best companion plants for strawberries because this herb attracts both pollinators and pest predators. These predatory insects will then prey on the harmful pests that can do major damage to your beautiful strawberry plants—making them the best, natural pest control you can find.

12. Marigold

Marigolds are beautiful—and they also make excellent companions for the strawberry plant. Planting marigolds are a great way to keep unwanted insects and pests away from your beloved strawberries. They may also help deter harmful soil nematodes.

13. Asparagus

Asparagus is said to be an excellent companion plant to pair with strawberry plants because their roots both grow differently and don’t interfere with one another—allowing each to thrive as needed for an optimal growing season (and the best strawberries).

Bad Companions To Avoid Planting Nearby Strawberries

Avoid planting brassicas like kale, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choi, and cabbage near your strawberries. When attempting to grow members of the Brassicas family with strawberries, you will find this is an awful combination because they will compete for nutrients and not allow either to thrive to their full potential.

Planting potatoes, tomatoes, or eggplants with your strawberries can also be a bad idea because these nightshades tend to be prone to pests and disease. Growing them nearby may lead to a higher chance of fungal disease spreading.

Fennel can be great for repelling pests, however, it can potentially inhibit growth—making it less than ideal for strawberries you want to grow with plenty of nutrients, vitamins, and sweet, juicy flavor. If you’re keen on fennel you’ll want to plant it entirely separate from your nearest and dearest (and from most food crops in general).

Resources

MORE STRAWBERRY ARTICLES

Mary Jane Duford

Mary Jane Duford is a gardening expert and founder of Home for the Harvest. She's also an engineer and certified permaculture garden designer. Mary Jane has been featured by publications such as Real Simple, Mother Earth News, Homes & Gardens, Heirloom Gardener, and Family Handyman.

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Just like people, plants have friends. With whom does strawberry build mutually beneficial relationships, she is garden strawberries? Here are the top most popular companion plants for this sweet berry

First, let's remember what is planting companion plants? It is an agricultural practice adopted in permaculture to allow neighboring plants to support each other for maximum productivity.

By placing certain flora in the neighborhood, you optimize usable area, improve crop quality and provide preventive measures for protection using the integrated pest management method. Some types of plants work well to attract beneficial insects, others scare away uninvited guests, and still others act as a phytotrap.

In the case of strawberries, it is important to remember that this crop can be relatively aggressive. Most varieties quickly form a thick canopy of strawberry shoots if left unthinned.

Therefore, you need to select neighbors who will not be suffocated or crowded out by overgrown strawberries when you have not gotten around to tending the garden.

Strawberries love full sunlight, so make sure you don't plant plants that are too tall to block the garden's sun.

If you plant plants just above the strawberry bushes, position them towards the north so as not to block the sunlight. The same is true vice versa; if planting a small groundcover next to a strawberry, place the strawberry to the north of it.

Finally, when planting strawberries, remember to need well-drained loam, choosing companions with similar soil requirements, alternatively, if the soil is clayey and heavy, then plants with a strong root system are needed to break up the compacted layer and improve drainage.

Something really strange happened when people became obsessed with manicured lawns and monoculture, wiping out weeds, which turned out to be useful ones. An example of this is borage, aka borage and bee bush, a favorite of strawberries.

The small blue flowers of borage (which are edible, by the way) attract bees and insect-eating insects, and in addition, the plant enhances the sweetness of strawberries and increases their number, as many gardeners claim.

Borage is known for extracting minerals from the depths of the soil with its strong roots, "sucking" these nutrients into large leaves, which make valuable and nitrogen-rich green manure. The leaves can be ground into the soil in crushed form for almost the entire season, especially since they appear in early spring.

Remember that borage can grow quite large, so you need to plant it north of the strawberries.

This is an annual plant, but it is so adept at self-seeding that once borage has appeared in your garden, you probably won't have to worry about its propagation, just timely weeding.

Onion

Sulfur compounds in onions are not tolerated by most harmful insects, so planting strawberries next to this crop is very favorable.

As you know, you can make an organic strawberry protection spray from a fresh onion by chopping the onion in a blender, adding water and a little liquid soap. But onion feather mulch is useful as a fertilizer with potassium and calcium.

Grow onions directly in the strawberry patch, then after flowering collect the seeds (next year), cut and leave as mulch around the strawberry plants.

Alternatively, simply cut off the feather of the onion and cover the strawberry patch while the strawberries are fruiting.

Harvest trio

Lettuce and spinach. Many gardeners find that combining lettuce and spinach with strawberries increases the productivity of all three plants. Leafy plants can also hide ripe berries from hungry birds and excess sun, resulting in dry and bitter fruits.

Beans

As a legume, beans are a nitrogen fixing plant and also lower soil pH somewhat, which is good for strawberries.

Green beans and fresh berries are used to prepare a very tasty and healthy seasonal dish.

Here is the recipe.

Strawberries are sliced ​​and marinated with balsamic vinegar, lime, olive oil and parsley. Green beans are boiled in salted water until cooked, and then allowed to cool to room temperature, the ingredients are mixed and served.

Ingredients:

6 to 8 large strawberries, sliced ​​

1 cup every day balsamic vinegar

Juice of one lime

2 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup of chopped parsley

approximately 2 cups of green pits of fresh beans

Preparation

In a small bowl, mix the marinade, consisting of vinegar, lime and lime and lime and lime and lime and vine olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper

Place the strawberry slices and chopped parsley in the marinade and let stand at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes.

Bring salted water to a boil in a 4 liter saucepan. Add green beans to boiling water and cook for 3-5 minutes until the pods start to become soft but slightly firm - "tender crispy". Let cool to room temperature.

Before serving, arrange ingredients on a plate and top with 2 or 3 tablespoons of marinade.

Cumin and marigolds

Planting cumin attracts parasitoid flies and wasps, tiny beneficial insects that are harmless to humans but are voracious hunters of aphids, grubs, caterpillars and other pests.

The combination of French marigolds with garden strawberries will serve to prevent root nematodes, which cause significant damage to the roots of strawberry plants.

Strawberries can also be a companion, acting as a weed protector around horseradish, rhubarb and asparagus.

Bad Neighbors

Chrysanthemums, berry plants and, especially, from the nightshade family (from potatoes to tomatoes and eggplants), are undesirable companions, as they can be a carrier of pathogens of verticillium wilt.

Also, do not plant strawberries next to cabbage, melons, celery, dahlias. With crop rotation, they try to observe a time interval of about four to five years.

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What to plant next to strawberries: good and bad neighbors



  • 1 Rules for choosing neighbors for strawberries
  • 2 Good neighbors for strawberries
  • 3 Relations of strawberries with greens
  • 4 Beautiful and good strawberry neighbors
  • 5 plant next to strawberries

Strawberries are the queen of berries, they look beautiful, have a sweet taste with moderate sourness, and contain a lot of vitamins. It is difficult to find a summer resident who would not grow it on his site. This culture is unpretentious, however, if it chooses unsuitable neighbors, it may not produce a very rich harvest or even die. If you care about the fate of a sweet berry, you need to know what can be planted next to strawberries so as not to harm it and even help in the fight against diseases and pests.

Rules for choosing neighbors for strawberries

Experienced gardeners know that planting next to each other is not recommended for crops that:

  • will block the neighbors from the sun, unless they like shade;
  • need different watering, since the entry of excess moisture into the soil can contribute to the development of a number of fungal diseases;
  • have the same pests;
  • are most susceptible to the same diseases;
  • need the same nutrients.

Strawberries suffer from snails, slugs and wireworms, are highly susceptible to late blight, need a lot of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, regular but moderate watering, good lighting, but are afraid of direct sunlight. Based on these features of the sweet berry, companion plants are selected for it.

Good neighbors for strawberries

Good companions for strawberries can be found among garden crops, herbs, flowers.
"Friends" of strawberries from garden crops.

Good neighbors for strawberries are vegetables such as:

  • carrots;
  • beets;
  • radish;
  • radish;
  • bow;
  • garlic.

They will scare off the most common pests of garden strawberries, create a light partial shade, protecting the strawberries from direct sunlight. Some of the listed plants need the same substances as strawberries, but they consume them most actively at different times, so they will not harm each other much.

Legumes can provide nitrogen to strawberries. They will also protect the garden berry from the scorching sun. However, these neighbors can cause weeds to appear on strawberry beds and increase the acidity of the soil. If you decide to plant strawberries next to peas or beans, pay more attention to weeding, lime the soil.

Relationship of strawberries with greens

Strawberries are "friends" with all types of lettuce. Also, to save her from the "molestation" of insect pests will help:

  • parsley;
  • spinach;
  • sorrel;
  • basil;
  • tarragon;
  • thyme;
  • anise.

Gardeners have also noticed that garden strawberries tend to form better tendrils next to spicy herbs.
It is only necessary to remember: what is good for strawberries may turn out to be evil for its other neighbors. So, carrots do not tolerate the proximity of herbs, including dill, parsley.

Beautiful and kind strawberry neighbors

Many flowers are excellent companions for strawberries. She feels good around:

  • with peonies;
  • jasmine;
  • nasturtium;
  • rhododendron;
  • clematis;
  • delphinium;
  • marigolds.

Marigolds are able to protect not only strawberries, but also their neighbors from pests.

For all the accommodating nature of strawberries with other plants, there are crops with which they have not developed relationships.

What not to plant next to strawberries

Strawberries do not have many detractors among other garden and garden plants, but they do exist.

  • Plants of the nightshade family (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants) can share their problems with garden strawberries in the form of late blight and some insect pests.
  • Sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke and members of the clove family will not leave enough nutrients for strawberries.
  • Raspberries not only deplete the soil, but also shade beds with garden strawberries too much, because of which they grow poorly and may die.
  • Cabbage requires a lot of moisture, it will have to be watered often and abundantly, and strawberries can start to rot from this.

The list of plants next to which strawberries are not planted is small, so it will not be difficult to rid them of an undesirable neighborhood.

The question of what to plant next to strawberries is not an idle one. The health of garden strawberries and their productivity depend on this. She has more friends than enemies, so the grower has a choice.



Photo: pixabay.

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