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Goodbye Bugs! 14 Flowers to Companion Plant in Your Vegetable Garden

June 18, 2018

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Have you always wondered what flowers keep bugs away from the vegetables in your garden?  Today we’re talking about companion planting flowers and vegetables, and which flowers can keep the bugs at bay in your garden naturally.

Flowers and vegetables don’t have to have separate spots in your garden.  Flowers help you grow better vegetables by attracting pollinators, beneficial insects (the ones that kill the pests) and keeping pests away.  Any brightly coloured flower will do for pollination, but these 14 companion flowers are especially good at delivering benefits to your garden.

Bachelor’s Buttons

Bachelor’s buttons are wonderful for attracting pollinators and beneficial bugs to your garden.

Bee Balm

One of the few perennials on the list, bee balm attracts bees to your garden–as the name suggests.  It can become invasive, so plant it in an area you’re okay with it spreading.

Related: The 53 Best Perennials Flowers to Plant in your Garden

Borage

Borage is an edible blue flower that attracts beneficial bugs.  It can even improve the flavour of your squash and adds nutrients to the soil.

Calendula

Calendula is a pretty daisy-like flower that exudes a sticky sap that traps aphids and white flies.  It also attracts beneficial bugs who will make a lunch out of the pests.  Love it for it’s powers in the garden, then take it into the kitchen and dry some for tea.

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Chamomile

Chamomile attracts predatory insects, and can be dried and used for tea.

Cosmos

Attracts Predatory Insects.  Keep picking the blooms to encourage more to flower.

Related: 38 Cut Flowers for Flower Arrangements all Summer Long

Daisies

Daisies bloom practically all summer and are a good choice for beginner gardeners.  They attract predatory insects.

Lavender

The strong smell of lavender can deter deer and keep pests away.  It also smells beautiful as you walk by in your garden.

Marigold

Marigolds attract beneficial insects and deter pests.  They can also discourage cats from using your raised bed as a litterbox, and keep rabbits from munching your vegetables.  Bonus: Marigolds are very easy to grow and start from seed.

Related: How to Seed Start From Your Window

Nasturtiums

Aphids love nasturtiums!  Plant a few so they leave your vegetables alone.  Harvest a few nasturtiums for yourself for a peppery (and pretty!) take on your next salad.  There are climbing varieties for trellises, and compact varieties that work better in a garden.

Poppies

Plant poppies to attract beneficial insects, then collect the seeds for use in baked goods in the winter.

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Sunflowers

Sunflowers provide some much needed shade to crops that prefer cooler conditions, and can repel whiteflies and aphids.

Related: How to Begin Gardening When You Have No Clue

Sweet Alyssum

Sweet Alyssum attracts garden pests and can be used as a living mulch because of it’s shallow roots and short stature.

Zinna

Attracts pollinators like bees and monarch butterflies.  One year I planted zinnias by my tomatoes and had one of the best harvests I’ve ever had, while almost everyone else in the community had terrible tomatoes.  Coincidence? Maybe not. . .

Tips for Companion Planting Flowers and Vegetables

  • To reap the full benefits of companion planting flowers and vegetables, you need to have a lot of the flower planted.  For example, one lone marigold amongst your cabbage will do nothing, but a whole row of them nearby will help.
  • Alternate the rows or squares (for square foot gardening) that you plant your flowers and vegetables from year to year.  Planting the same crop in the same spot year after year will result in disease.
  • New to growing flowers? Marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers, and nasturtiums are all easy to start from seed.

Flowers and vegetables belong in the garden together.  I'll show you the best flowers for companion planing in your yard or raised bed, allowing you to create a layout that keeps the bugs at bay! #gardening #companionplanting #beginnergardening #gardeningtips #flowergardening #flowers #vegetablegardening #flowergardening

 

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

2 Comments
Filed Under: Flowers, Gardening, Outdoor Life Tagged: Companion Planting, Flowers, Vegetables

About Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

Comments

  1. Jenn says

    June 18, 2018 at 8:27 am

    I love all of this!! What about raspberries? I've noticed some of the leaves are being munched and the rabbits are coming to check things out. ?
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      June 18, 2018 at 4:47 pm

      Do you mean a flower that would attract the bugs away from your raspberries?
      Reply

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

P.S. First time gardener? You'll want to download the quick start gardening guide below!

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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Are you gardening in containers this year? When y Are you gardening in containers this year?  When you're shopping for vegetable seeds, look for varieties that have names with words like patio, tiny, small, etc.  While lots of vegetable varieties will do fine in a container, you'll have an easier time with ones that are specifically bred for that situation.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I'm living the pepper dream in this photo. While I'm living the pepper dream in this photo.  While these ones are a bit on the small side, who doesn't want ripe peppers in July in zone 3?!?! ⁠
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Over the years I've gotten better at growing peppers, and I promise I'll spill my secrets in February when it's actually time to start them.  Until then, get yourself all or one of my four favourite varieties: ⁠
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🌶️Carmen⁠
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Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
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Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately? It Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately?  It's so easy to get completely overwhelmed, especially if you're new to gardening.  Why are there so many varieties of everything and which ones do I choose?⁠
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Here's how I try to narrow it down.⁠
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🌤️ Short growing season like me?  Try and prioritize varieties that have short dates to maturity.⁠
🥗 What do you or your family actually eat?  While I think you should always try a couple of new things, there's no sense in planting a giant garden filled with vegetables that you're not going to cook with. ⁠
🥒 Do you care whether your vegetables are heirlooms or hybrids?  Heirlooms are the kind that have been around for 50+ years and you can save seeds from.  Believe it or not, this year we're prioritizing hybrids for some of our garden.  The Hermit @mgsraney is obsessed with production this year, so anything that's going in "his" greenhouse better be able to produce a lot.  I'm using more heirlooms in my "glamour garden" as we call it, because I want things that are pretty and I can save seeds from.⁠
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What do you prioritize when you're picking out seeds?⁠
Last week we started thinking about our plans for Last week we started thinking about our plans for cut flower gardening, now this week we start thinking about plans for our vegetable gardens.  Unlike cut flowers, there's not as many vegetables that need to be started ridiculously early.  However, it's still fun to plan and dream and get your thoughts sorted.⁠
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I'm curious--what size of garden do you have to work with?  Are you on an acreage or farm, city backyard, or do you have a couple of pots on an apartment patio?⁠
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As for me, I have quite a mix.  I have my container garden on my backyard deck, the small cut flower garden in my yard, then vegetables in raised beds.  We also garden at my Mother-in-law's acreage, so there's a giant garden over there where we're figuring out how to grow food on a larger scale.  Then finally, sometimes my Mom grows things for me in her garden if I'm nervous that I'll ruin them in my own garden--call it a backup garden if you will.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about the best flowers to plant in a cut flower garden.  There's so many options, these 5 that I talked about all week don't even come close.  If you need more help creating a small cut flower garden, I created this plan intended for a raised bed (but you can plant it in-ground too.⁠
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Head over to my insta links page on my profile, and you'll see the button to click on that will take you directly to it.⁠
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#cutflowergarden #cutflowers #raisedbedgarden #raisedbedgardening  #growyourown #greenthumb #raisedbeds #urbangarden #urbanfarm #squarefootgardening #slowflowers
Hey friends! There's a lot of new faces in this l Hey friends!  There's a lot of new faces in this little corner of IG, so I wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Kristen and I'm the gardener & content creator behind Shifting Roots.  I'm wife to @mgsraney and mom to 3 kids, ages 8, 23 months and 7 months.  Needless to say, our house is BUSY.  I garden in zone 3 in Saskatoon, SK, so if I can grow it in my short growing season and cold temperatures, you probably can too.⁠
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Here's a few fun facts, can you relate to any of these?⁠
🍅I don't like raw tomatoes, but I grow a ton of them because I like tomato sauce.⁠
💐I probably sound like every flower is my favourite flower, but my two favourites are peonies and zinnias.⁠
🌈I can't pick a favourite colour--I love so many of them in different circumstances.  If you force me to choose, I think I've got it narrowed down to coral and turquoise, but even then I still want to throw in yellow, emerald green, fuchsia. . . ⁠
🖤Even though I love colour to the moon and back, you'll often find me wearing black and white in real life, because it's just easier and I don't have to think about it going together.
When you think of rudbeckia, do you think of those When you think of rudbeckia, do you think of those maybe-slightly-boring flowers with yellow petals and a brown centre? (Please don't come at me with your pitchforks if that's your favourite flower!!)⁠
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Rudbeckias, like these orange and burgundy ones, can be so much more!  Pair them with sunflowers & amaranth for an especially striking late summer bouquet.⁠
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🤞I'll have amaranth and sunflowers this year to play around with.⁠
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Need help planning the cut flower garden of your dreams?  It doesn't have to be complicated.  Grab your copy of Cut Flowers Made Simple and have pails of flowers like this one at your fingertips.⁠
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