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Strawberries are nutritious fruit loaded with vitamin C and powerful antioxidants. They are a reliable source of vitamin C and manganese and also contain considerable amounts of folate (vitamin B9) and potassium.
Time to mix some strawberries to your garden or plant around an existing strawberry patch? They are a match for companion planting as they can be specifically fussy about what’s planted nearby.
What are bad companion plants for strawberries?
Do not plant brassicas like kale, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choi, and cabbage near your strawberries. When trying to grow members of the Brassicas family with strawberries, you will find this is a poor combination because they will contest for nutrients and not allow either to thrive to their full potential.
Planting potatoes, tomatoes, or eggplants with your strawberries can also be a not-so-good idea because these nightshades tend to be prone to pests and disease. Growing them next to each other can result in a higher chance of fungal disease spreading.
Fennel can be great for repelling pests, however, it can inhibit growth—making it less than perfect for strawberries you want to grow with plenty of nutrients, vitamins, and sweet, juicy flavor. If you’re keen on fennel you’ll want to plant it separately from your nearest and dearest.
As there are perfect companions for your beloved strawberries, there are bad buddies. These plants are very harmful, and could lead to fewer berries, flavorless fruit, and, in other cases, dead strawberry plants.
Nutrients found in the soil are important for strawberry root, leaf, and overall fruit development. Anomalies are usually fixed by a well-timed application of fertilizer and compost.
However, no amount of fertilizing can help if the nutrients your strawberries need are being snatched by bad neighbors.
Should You Grow Anything Around Strawberries?
Companion plants can serve as a pest resistant to safeguard higher-value crops. Some plants act well as ground cover which assists with soil condition and water retention.
Still, other plants can provide vital nutrients and different kinds of support to fellow plants.
The other good reason to companion plants is for an increased yield in crops. By using all the space you have by choosing plants that will help each other and can grow well alongside one another, your garden becomes much more productive.
You don’t have to plant anything with your strawberries, but in a true permaculture sense, it will become a more productive space if you do.
Many crops make excellent strawberry companion plants to grow alongside them, whether you are growing strawberries in raised garden beds, in containers, or in the vegetable patch.
Try growing rhubarb, which is technically a vegetable, as well as asparagus, beans, peas, spinach, lettuce, garlic, and horseradish. All thrive when planted next to strawberries. When planting onions, strawberries are a fantastic companion crop.
Grown next to strawberries, legumes like beans and peas will enhance the soil by fixing nitrogen and feeding the strawberry plants.
Strawberries and asparagus are good neighbors because their roots extend in various directions, preventing competition for nutrients or space.
What are the benefits of companion planting strawberries?
Enhancing strawberry sweetness or boosting their resilience to pests like slugs are two benefits of companion planting strawberries. Occasionally, the strawberry companion plant will carry out both tasks.
By choosing the appropriate companion plants, you can increase soil nutrients and pollination.
If you want to establish a sustainable garden that doesn’t rely heavily on chemical pesticides and requires a lot of soil upkeep, these are all fantastic results for permaculture gardening.
Particularly susceptible to a variety of pests are strawberries. Additionally offering shelter in the midday sun are strawberry companion plants.
According to Claire Ransom, strawberry plants provide mulch, suppress weed growth, and maintain cool, moist soil.
What are the reasons you should avoid growing some plants around strawberries?
There are four problems you are trying to avoid when choosing what to plant beside your strawberries. Shading, nutrient requirements, pH requirement differences, introduction of possible issues like fungi or disease.
Never grow strawberries next to cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, fennel, potatoes, melons, peppers, or mint.
Brassica plants, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, would compete with strawberry plants for nutrition.
Strawberry plants may get a fungus from plants in the Nightshade family, such as tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant or aubergine.
What are the poor strawberry companion plants?
Tomatoes, Peppers, Potatoes, Eggplant, Red Clover, Fennel, Melons, Okra, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Roses, Mint, Collard Greens, Kale, Brussel Sprouts, Kohlrabi, Collard Greens, Raspberries.
What is strawberry pest pressure?
Your summer berry crops may suffer significantly from strawberry pests such fruit flies, bud weevils, thrips, snails, tarnished plant bugs, mice, and birds.
Keep in mind that companion plants are among the finest preventative measures for keeping these pests away before you turn to insecticides.
The following are the major reasons that companion plants reduce pest pressure and the need for pesticides:
- releasing pest-repelling aromatic chemicals.
- Pests are made confused so they can’t locate their hosts.
- luring helpful predators to consume bugs.
Companion planting produces a polyculture (poly = many, culture = cultivation), which is why this works.
Polyculture plantings, as opposed to monoculture (growing numerous plants of one species in a small area), have been shown to lessen pest pressure by making it more difficult for pests to locate strawberry plants.
Research shows that several species of companion plants simultaneously draw the pests’ natural enemies, acting as an effective built-in control.
In essence, you establish a system of checks and balances to defend your priceless strawberries from a variety of perspectives.
Conclusion
Companion planting can be a huge way to magnify the health and productivity of strawberries but remember that knowing what not to be a companion with strawberries is just as vital as knowing what to companion with strawberries.
