Next to composting, I'm entranced by companion plants. These are plants that when sowed together keep away pests that are harmful to one or the other of the companion plants. They are indispensable to the organic gardener. One of the best known pairings is marigolds and tomatoes. Marigolds keep away those monstrous horned, green worms that so love tomatoes. When you use companion planting, you never have to worry about whether the plant got entirely coated with pesticide or was washed off in the last rain. Companion plants work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No worries about getting poison your harvest either. They work in a variety of ways from smell to chemistry to having mutually beneficial waste products or impacts on the soil. Here are some other common combinations for a companionable garden:
A shared adventure in organic backyard gardening and composting