It's still a bit too chilly outside to start Spring plantings, but the gardening season is drawing nearer and nearer each day. I thought I would share the following poster (source: Afristar Foundation, see bottom of poster) as a quick reference for companion planting.
If you are not familiar with companion planting, this is the practice of grouping certain crops together in order to cultivate a mutually beneficial interaction. Garlic, for instance, is a beneficial neighbor for many plants due to its scent. Many insects avoid the scent of garlic, so this can be used as a low maintenance form of pest control. One famous example of companion planting is the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash grown together. The corn provides a trellis for the beans, while the beans add nitrogen to the soil to nurture the corn and squash; the squash provides ground cover to prevent the growth of weeds as well as evaporation of moisture from the soil (essentially, a mulch).
If you choose to incorporate the principle of companion planting into your gardening strategy, there are many additional resources online. Wikipedia has a useful entry on companion planting which discusses the rationale for certain pairings.
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