COMPANION PLANTING

By mixing up your edibles and ornamentals you are also helping to confuse the enemy. As well as attracting beneficial insects, certain flowering plants give off odours or chemicals that act as a deterrent to particular pests. Note that none of these planting schemes is infallible: sometimes they work well and at others they are less effective, but any method that gives you a greater chance of harvesting a blemish-free crop is worth trying. Here are a few to try:

in the same soil or compost as tomatoes. The same effect may be achieved with basil.

attract blackfly and may well harbour the lion’s share of this pest rather than allowing it to concentrate on your beans.

such as lavender, thyme, chervil and chives have a strong fragrance and can distract pests from the crops they are grown alongside.

planted in between rows of carrots will mask the scent of the carrots and reduce attacks by carrot fly, whose larvae burrow into the roots.

can be interplanted with our old friend the French marigold, whose root exudates in this instance will help to deter eelworm.