Companion planting
Friendly neighbors and a few combinations to give extra space. Pairs with What can I grow? when you are sketching beds. For fallow gaps and soil recovery, see cover crops.
Type
Crop focus
Benefit
- Lettuce under tomatoes (spring)Pair
Lettuce / arugula · Tomatoes (young)
Early lettuce enjoys light shade from small tomato plants; remove or harvest lettuce before the tomato canopy closes and holds moisture on leaves overnight.
- Peppers & spinach (shoulder season)Pair
Peppers · Spinach
Spinach enjoys afternoon shade from pepper bushes in hot summers; pull spinach before it bolts into pepper fruiting season crowding.