Growing & Gardening Tips

Backyard raised bed with leaf lettuce, radishes and staked tomato plants growing in summer sun

Vegetable Seeds to Grow at Home: 7 Easy Picks

A packet of vegetable seeds costs less than a single grocery run, and a handful of them will feed you for months. The trick is picking crops that forgive mistakes. Some vegetables need a long indoor start, bottom heat and...

Cabbage heads growing in a garden bed interplanted with dill, onions, and nasturtiums

Cabbage Companion Plants: What to Grow and Avoid

The best companion plants for cabbage are strongly aromatic herbs like dill, chamomile, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint, and oregano, along with onions and garlic, nasturtiums, marigolds, beets, and celery. Cabbage is a favorite target of cabbage moths, cabbage worms, and...

Eggplant with purple fruit growing among bush beans, basil and marigolds - Organo Republic

Eggplant Companion Plants: What to Grow and Avoid

The best companion plants for eggplant are bush beans, peppers and tomatoes, marigolds, nasturtiums, basil, spinach and lettuce, amaranth, and thyme. Eggplant is a heat-loving nightshade that draws its share of pests, from the Colorado potato beetle to flea beetles...

Rows of carrots growing beside onions and lettuce in a tidy garden bed

Carrot Companion Plants: What to Grow and Avoid

Carrots are one of the most rewarding root crops you can grow, but they have one persistent enemy, and the plants you set beside them can decide how clean your harvest is. The best carrot companion plants mask the scent...

Basil plants interplanted with tomatoes and peppers in a sunny garden bed

Basil Companion Plants: What to Grow and Avoid

The best companion plants for basil are tomatoes, peppers, oregano, chamomile, asparagus, and root crops like beets and carrots. Basil is mostly a giver in the garden: its aromatic oils mask and repel aphids, whiteflies, thrips, and even tomato hornworm,...

Rows of green and red lettuce interplanted with carrots and radishes in a garden bed

Lettuce Companion Plants: What to Grow and What to Avoid

Lettuce is a cool-season, shallow-rooted leafy green, and the plants you set beside it can decide whether it stays sweet and tender or turns bitter and bolts. The best lettuce companion plants share the bed without competing for the same...

Broccoli plants growing in a garden bed interplanted with onions, nasturtiums and marigolds

Broccoli Companion Plants: What to Grow and What to Avoid

Broccoli is one of the most pest-prone crops in the garden, and the plants you set beside it can decide how clean your heads come in. The best broccoli companion plants repel the cabbage moths and cabbage worms that shred...

Squash companion plants growing in a Three Sisters garden bed with corn, beans, and nasturtiums - Organo Republic

Squash Companion Plants: What to Grow and What to Avoid

Squash are big, sprawling, hungry plants, and the neighbors you set beside them can decide how well the whole patch grows. The best squash companion plants pull in the bees your squash needs to set fruit, lure pests like squash...

Bell and chili pepper plants growing in a garden bed interplanted with basil and marigolds

Pepper Companion Plants: What to Grow & Avoid

The best companion plants for peppers are basil, alliums like onions and chives, carrots, marigolds, nasturtiums, and borage. These pepper companion plants deter aphids, thrips, and spider mites, pull in pollinators, shade the soil, and share the same warm, sunny...