Did you know that onions can help your fruit trees grow?
Yes. Onions are not just good to eat and cook with, they are also great for gardening.
While you may know onions as a common ingredient in different recipes. There is far more to onions than the variety of pairings they can make with other foods to bring out the smell, flavor, or texture in a meal.
Onions can also be of assistance in gardening since their scent can actually drive away pests that would otherwise get to your plants. As a result, there are some plants that benefit from being in the same garden space as onions.
This process of mutual support amongst garden plants is known as companion planting onions. Let’s explore what it means to be a companion plant and how implementing this strategy can help you get more from your garden.
What To Plant With Onions?
If you have a garden, you know that your plants share similar soil, water, shade, sunlight, and more. This also results in sharing support and nutrients while growing.
Say, for example, you have two plants that are known to require a lot of space and water to grow. In the case that you plant these two plants near each other in a garden, they might end up competing for the space and water they need to thrive.
Taking this kind of information into account, you can actually place plants close together that are beneficial for each other as they grow. This also provides you with a diverse garden of herbs, flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
This is not to say that having similar plants together – like onions and other alliums like garlic, chives, etc. – is a bad idea. You see, growing similar plants can result in similar pests and problems occurring in your garden since the plants are so close.
This is why you really want to find companion plants for onions that are not only related but are complementary in the way that they benefit each other by being planted together.
Starting with onions is a simple way to apply this strategy in your cooking – especially since onions grow easily even without a lot of space.
Here are some onions companion plants that, when paired with onions in a garden space, can enhance their growth, production, and flavor while also avoiding disease and pests and drawing in more pollinators for multiplying your harvest.
BRASSICAS
Brassicas, the plant group that includes mustard plants, brussel sprouts, cabbages, kale, broccoli, and turnips, are great when paired with onions. Because of onion’s natural deterrent to pests, cabbage maggots, worms, loopers, and moths, are less likely to come along and ruin their growth.
CARROTS & ROOT CROPS
Carrots are often threatened by carrot flies. Onions help put off these pests and do not compete with the growth of carrots since they take up water at different levels in the soil. Root crops like parsnips and potatoes are also benefited from the pest control that onions provide.
BEETS
Beets are a plant that can gain a lot from being paired with onions. Since onions can deter insects like beetles or aphids and larger herbivores like rabbits and deer, they can help the beets grow without any organisms impeding their growth.
TOMATOES, PEPPERS, AND MORE
Peppers, strawberries, tomatoes, eggplants, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers share common enemies: spider mites and aphids. Using onions can help these warm to mild climate crops by warding off these bugs. In the case of tomatoes, they can apparently develop better flavor when planted with onion.
LETTUCE
Similar to cabbage, lettuce benefits from the pest deterrent properties of onions – especially against flea beetles and aphids. Since the lettuce have shallow roots, they do not compete either with onions for nutrients, so that makes planting them together easy.
MELONS
Fruits like cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew melon are also known to receive similar benefits to plants like cabbage and lettuce since the pests that often plague them are warded off by onions.
CHAMOMILE
Unlike other plants on this list that are benefited by onions being planted around them, chamomile, which often resemble daisies and are used in tea, actually benefit onions they are planted near. This is because this herb can prevent fungal growth that can sometimes threaten onions in humid climates.
Another advantage of planting chamomile near onions is because their flowers can attract pollinators like bees and ladybugs to aid your garden’s growth.
DILL, MINT, AND OTHER HERBS
Similar to chamomile, the dill herb can produce flowers that attract insects that help pollinate nearby crops and others that prey on pests that could negatively impact the growth of your onions. If that wasn’t enough of an argument, some cases state that onions planted near dill actually have improved flavor.
Mint, parsley, and summer savory herbs also share these beneficial traits with dill, but are known to grow more rapidly. So, if you plan to grow wither dill or mint, make sure that the mint is in a separate container that will keep it from competing with the onions for the same soil.
FLOWERS
Flowers can have a host of benefits for your garden crops.
Marigolds
Some flowers like Marigolds are known to support onion growth by lowering nematodes in the soil.
Pigweed
Pigweed or amaranth attract nutrients that onions can then use while growing.
Roses
Roses and ornamental flowers can also be helped through pest control brought on by onions.
What Shouldn’t Be Planted Near Onions?
Vegetables in the allium
As we mentioned earlier, planting onions with other like vegetables in the allium family (like bunching onions) can be a tricky idea since they suffer from similar diseases and pests. You want to be cautious whether you want to include bad companion plants for onions in your garden. Knowing this, there are pairings that can occur in gardening that we want to help you avoid:
Asparagus
Asparagus, for instance, can often compete with onions since they reach a similar depth in the ground and will try to use up the same nutrients in these areas. As a result your asparagus and/or onions will have stunted growth if planted together.
Legumes, or beans
Legumes, or beans – in simple terms – are known to release nitrogen as they grow. Onions, on the other hand, are known for eating up nitrogen in the soil they are planted in. This would make growing legumes and onions together like placing opposites in the same area. To avoid any complications with growing these crops, it is best to grow them separately.
Lastly, unlike other herbs we discussed in this article, sage can actually stunt your onion plants’ growth – so it is best to avoid growing them with onions.
Also check: When are onions ready to harvest?
CONCLUSION
We hope that you feel inspired to try out a few of these gardening combinations as a result of learning about companion planting and the benefit it can have on your crops.
Starting with onions is an easy foundation for this and this list can be a great starter for finding plants that can help your onions grow and for simply finding plants that are benefited by growing near onions.
With some experience, you will be able to develop your gardening skills to a science! Good luck and have fun with your new green thumb!
