GardenZeus Quick Tips: Garlic and Companion Planting
For many reasons, garlic makes an excellent choice for interplanting with other herbs and vegetables. Garlic is a compact, upright plant that consumes minimal garden space. As an upright plant with thin leaves, it does not block the sun from other plants in a cool season garden. In addition, its watering need of moist but not wet soil is similar to many other cool season vegetables.
GardenZeus recommends making the most of your garden space by planting quick maturing crops among your garlic plants, such as lettuce, cilantro, chamomile and summer savory. As an allium, garlic can generally be interplanted with the same plants as onion, including beets, strawberries, tomatoes, and leeks. GardenZeus recommends against planting garlic with peas and beans.
One word of caution: be careful not to disturb the shallow roots of your garlic plants when planting other herbs and vegetables nearby.
Beyond theirs intense flavor and culinary uses, the sulfur compounds in garlic are thought to act as a garden insect repellent. Many claim that garlic repels rabbits and moles. However, GardenZeus generally believes hungry animals will still eat garlic. And gophers are generally attracted to bulbs of allium plants.
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