Companion planting - marigolds and nasturtiums

[newbietogardening]

I tried putting marigolds in next to my runner beans last year, seemed to work pretty well by distracting the slugs away from from the beans - the marigolds were absolutely butchered!

[multiveg]

I remember reading about companion planting as a teenager. My dad complained of blackfly on the french beans, so one year, sowed nasturtiums, near which Dad planted/sowed the french beans. Not a single blackfly on the beans, but the nasturtiums had some on them instead.

[valmarg]

We tried both marigold and nasturtium last year. Both flowered long after the veg we were trying to protect.

We use french marigolds as companion plants in pots of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergines,etc. We usually plant two or three marigolds in the pots.

It has nothing to do with the flowering time of the marigolds. The crop plants take up 'something' from the marigolds that whitefly do not like, and leave the plants alone. I know it is completely unscientific, but since we have been using this planting we have been whitefly (and for that matter, greenfly) free on these particular crops.

valmarg

[cottage garden]

I plant a teepee of climbing nasturtiums in the middle of my brassica bed so the caterpillars land there rather than on my cabbages. I eat them in salads and they look stunning.