Spinach Companion Plants: Companion planting, also known as intercropping, is a planting technique that aims to use companion plants for a crop’s mutual benefit.
Although it may seem like a simple-living fantasy, having access to freshly grown spinach all season long may not be as far off as you would imagine. When you choose the correct plants to grow beside your spinach, your plants, neighborhood pollinators, and you, of course, will all benefit. Companion plants for spinach are much more than just something to assist your spinach grow more easily; they can also enhance your area with a variety of distinct aromas and colors in addition to being beneficial in the kitchen.
Spinach Companion Planting Advantages
Any plant, including spinach, can benefit from companion planting, which also makes plant maintenance simpler for the gardener. These advantages include:
- Pest deterrent: a companion plant that serves as a barrier by either luring pests to it or luring them away from the target plant.
- Attracting pollinators: it is a good thing for the diversity and health of your garden.
- Giving vegetation shade.
- Weed Suppressing: Depending on the plant selected, weed suppression refers to the action of suppressing weeds.
Great Spinach Companion Plants
What else thrives with spinach, you ask? Spinach-friendly plants are surprisingly simple to find, and you may already have them on your summer garden list. Think about including these beneficial and nutritious plants in your spinach garden:
Herbs
- Borage
The potent herb known as borage has blue, star-shaped blooms. It is an effective pest deterrent that can also draw the proper predators to your garden so they can fight any pests eating your spinach. Plant borage anywhere from full sun to light shade.
- Cilantro
Don’t only use this fresh herb as a garnish. Ladybugs and parasitoid wasps, which are easily able to eradicate any pest populations you may have in your garden, are attracted to cilantro. Harvest cilantro frequently to maintain its growth and attract helpful insects to your crop.
Vegetable
- Radish
Near spinach, radish, a peppery root vegetable, grows readily. It will serve as a trap crop for flea beetles and leaf-mining insects rather than competing with the green vegetable for nutrition. To prevent the leaf miner from affecting the radish, be sure to harvest it in a timely manner.
- Legumes
Beans, peas, and peanuts are examples of legumes. Since these plants fix nitrogen in the soil, your spinach plant has access to more of the available nitrogen as a result. Having a pea or bean plant close by your spinach could boost your output because nitrogen is a crucial component for foliage growth. For your peas or beans to climb, you might need a trellis.
Flower
- Nasturtium
Nasturtiums yield colorful, edible blooms that work well as a floral filler and a spinach partner! Nasturtium serves as a companion plant that deters pests like aphids and beetles, but adding any flowering plant would increase the variety of plants available to the local pollinators.
- Marigolds
While the color of these cheerful blooms can provide a splash of vibrancy to your landscape, it also draws in helpful insects. The more of these beneficial insects you have in your garden, the less likely you are to experience pest-related issues throughout the growing season because they feed on the pests that like to munch on your garden plants.
- Tansy
Tansy has delicate, fern-like leaves and a soft, bright yellow bloom. Aside from its adorable appearance, it also imparts insect-repellent properties to your garden, which can aid with roving bug swarms searching for your spinach. Plant it in a location with well-draining soil and full sun to moderate shade.
Other plants
- Strawberries
Both as companion plants and in salads, spinach and strawberries pair well. Because spinach dislikes it when it gets too hot, strawberries are useful in providing shade for the soil around. Spinach emits substances called “saponins” that can serve as an additional line of defense against illnesses that frequently affect strawberries, so your strawberries will also benefit from this.
- Crimson Clover
Due to its tendency to grow as a ground cover, crimson clover, a nitrogen-fixing plant, may be able to shade the spinach to some extent. Additionally, it may make more nitrogen easily accessible for the spinach to employ in the growth of healthy leaves. Put it in soil that drains properly and is sunny.
Additional Leafy Greens
Leafy greens that work well as companion plants with spinach include lettuces, mustard greens, chard, and watercress. These mostly serve to shade the plant and control weed growth. To keep your leafy greens from drying out throughout the growth season, make sure to water them thoroughly.
What to Grow with Spinach
There are many plants you can place next to your spinach that are more suited to particular planting techniques or uses than others. These are some spinach-friendly plants:
To fend off insects
Garlic
A potent allium, garlic has a potent, pungent odor that can be utilized to deter pests. It will assist in preventing pests like slugs, aphids, and even beetles.
Leeks
Leeks employ their strong stench to deter pests since odor is a potent weapon against them. This guarantees that your spinach is secure because bugs won’t venture near the offending allium.
Tomatoes
When growing tomatoes with spinach in a raised bed, you can conserve space by combining the spinach between tomato crops. Tomatoes are simple to cultivate in containers or raised beds.
Kale
The brassica family, which also includes well-known vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, includes kale. Due to its powerful flavor when chewed, kale also aids in weed suppression and serves as an insect deterrent.
Mistakes to Avoid When Planting a Companion
Spinach is rather simple to companion plant, but that doesn’t imply nothing may go wrong. To make your life and the lives of your plants a little simpler, stay away from the following mistakes:
Plant the right plants separately; examine the soil type, pH, watering/fertilizer requirements.
Remember to give crops enough room to grow; too many plants placed too close together might increase humidity and moisture retention.
Planting at the right depth will prevent plants that wouldn’t typically compete for nutrients from drawing from the same soil level. Be sure to plant your companion plants at the proper depth.
Spinach Companion Plants Guide
Some knowledge must be acquired by trial and error, while other knowledge can be shared. To make spinach companion gardening simpler and more satisfying, plant the following knowledge seeds in your garden:
Make sure there is adequate space between plants for air movement to ensure ventilation. Fungi and other pathogens won’t be able to infect your plant as a result of this.
Keep diseases in mind when gardening and avoid planting sensitive plants close together. Don’t, for instance, plant brassicas in your companion garden too closely together. It is likely that if one crop becomes infected, it will spread to nearby crops that belong to the same family.
Crop diversification helps you prevent potential insect catastrophes and gives your plants access to a wider range of advantages.
Spinach Companion Plants: Conclusion
In general, companion planting provides several advantages for the garden. It can lure beneficial pollinators and ward against pests. Companion plants can support other crops, much as the traditional “Three Sisters” planting of corn, beans, and squash. The large squash leaves provide shade and protect the roots of all three plants from the sun’s harsh rays, while the corn acts as a support for the beans, which fix nitrogen into the soil.
12 Amazing Wasp Repellant Plants