Yesterday I put together a small vegetable layout plan for my raised bed garden. It’s just one of many possibilities for companion planting and it only deals with a small number of plants. This plan features tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and marigolds in a 4 foot by 8 foot bed. All of these plants are listed in various companion planting guides as being compatible with each other. The cucumber will serve as a green mulch, which reduces water loss and helps to protect the soil. The onions will do well in the smaller spaces and the marigolds will help to repel unwanted insects and pests. I may substitute squash in place of the cucumbers. You could also replace the tomatoes with peppers.
A Few Good Tomato Companion Plants:
Asparagus, Onions, Basil, Marigold, Nasturtium, Beans, Celery, Carrots, Cucumber, Peas, and Parsley.
Designing a Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Layout: 11 Things to Think About
Common Raised Bed Garden Questions Answered
Raised beds are one of the absolute BEST ways to grow a garden but there can be challenges to growing in raised beds. Often gardeners have questions about the best methods to grow in a raised bed. In this post I’ve taken some common raised…
FAQ and Tips for Growing in Raised Bed Gardens
Since I posted the other day on my Metal Sided Raised Bed I’ve received several questions about raised beds in general as well as questions about the metal raised bed itself. For today’s post I’ll answer those questions as many other people may be wondering…
More Raised Bed Fun!
This week my daughter and I put together a couple more raised beds in the garden. They aren’t exactly what I planned to do in the vegetable garden layout that I made a couple months ago but the addition of the extra beds has definitely…
How Tall Should a Raised Bed Be? (5 More Raised Bed Design Tips)
Have you ever wondered exactly how tall a raised bed should be? Here’s the answer: 11 and 5/16ths. Yep that’s right, 11 and 5/16ths. Of course not! The real answer is that the height of a raised bed is dependent on a number of factors…
Where to Plant Your Seedlings (Seed Sowing 101)
Once you have your seedlings growing strong and you’ve properly hardened them off (more on that next week) it is time to plant your seedlings in the garden. But where should you plant them? It may seem like a given that you’ll just go out…
good post on companion planting.
You are educating me about companion planting. Are marigolds edible? A little arugula and other lettuces and there is a fabulous salad in your backyard.
gail
Looks good to me. I saw another version that is 10 x 10 with an X for walk ways. That way you have 4 different pie shaped beds easy to get to. Sure wish I knew more about companion planting. I knew some plants help others. Then there’s rotation planting. Makes my head spin.
Pierce holes in a large plastic cola bottle. Bury the bottle in the middle of your veg patch and top up the water in the bottle when needed. The plants get the water into the roots. Very successful.
I put up 3 4×8 boxes today.
What do you use to stake your tomatoes? I was planning on putting my tomatoes is separate self watering boxes.
I'll be back for more tips.
Hi Robin,
Last year I jury rigged a structure out of tomato stakes and bamboo. It held up but wasn't the best solution. Probably the best way to stake up tomatoes is to use concrete reinforcing wire or fence panels with 4" openings so that you can easily pick the fruits. Traditional tomato cages just don't cut it for indeterminant varieties!
A good use for stakes are old tension curtain rods and ripped up pantyhose. LOL the tension rods can 'grow' with the plants and re-using pantyhose works well for holding them to the 'stakes'. pantyhose are also great for holding melons such as cantaloupes up off the ground- they stretch to allow the melons to grow but keep them off the ground. also, human hair clippings around the edge of your garden will help to keep critters out- rabbits, etc.
Hope this helps someone! 🙂
Happy gardening!
Aislynn
Im about to plant my first veggie garden ever! I was interested in companion planting. I was wondering how close together the plants can be,i.e. planting carrots and onions to tomatos. My other concern is that I have to wait about a month longer to plant the tomatos due to frost. Will this be distrubing the crop I already have going. Any tips will help. Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Good questions! In general the guidelines on the seed packages work well. I try to give my tomatoes about 2 square feet each to start with. They will need pruning as you go to keep them tame. If you take a pot and turn it upside down in the bed where you want to plant the tomatoes then plant the other plants around it you should give yourself enough room to plant the tomato plant without disturbing its neighbors!