Peas Companion Planting Guide: 10 Plants to Pair With Peas

Companion planting is a time-tested gardening method that enriches the soil and protects vulnerable crops. Farmers and gardeners plant specific crops near each other in order to deter pests, attract beneficial insects, and stimulate growth.

Companion plants will either help a specific crop grow or will grow better beside a specific crop, and can do many support jobs in the garden:

1. 1. Pest control. Cabbage worms, cucumber beetles, Mexican bean beetles, carrot flies, cabbage moths, Japanese beetles, maggots, squash bugs—all kinds of pests can plague vegetable gardens. Many companion plants (like marigold flowers, catnip, and rue) repel specific pests and should be planted near certain crops to keep them pest-free.
2. 2. Attract beneficial insects. Pollinators like bees and ladybugs can use a little encouragement to visit vegetable gardens and pollinate the crops. Gardeners often plant attractive plants like borage flowers to encourage pollinators to visit.
3. 3. Improve soil nutrients. When crops grow, they take up valuable nutrients from the soil—leaving the gardener to do a lot of work at the end of the season to renew the soil’s nutrients. However, there are many companion plants (like bush beans and pole beans) that add nutrients like nitrogen back into the soil, helping keep other plants healthy.
4. 4. Encourage faster growth and better taste. Many companion plants (like marjoram, chamomile, and summer savory) release specific chemicals that encourage faster growth or better taste in the plants around them.
5. 5. Provide ground cover. Plants that spread low across the ground (like oregano) serve as a blanket over the soil, protecting it from the sun and keeping it cooler for plants that benefit from lower temperatures.
6. 6. Provide necessary shade. Plants that grow tall and leafy (like zucchini and asparagus) can provide welcome shade for sun-sensitive plants beneath them.
7. 7. Serve as markers. When growing slow-growing plants, it can be difficult to tell where the rows will be while you’re waiting for the seeds to sprout. Gardeners often use fast-growing plants (like radishes) interspersed with the slow growers in their rows to delineate where the slow growers will be.

Pea plants naturally add nitrogen—the element responsible for lush green plant growth—to the soil. Bacteria that live on the roots of pea plants and other legumes convert nitrogen from the air into a soluble form that roots readily absorb. This process is known as nitrogen fixation, and it is the main reason why peas are beneficial to many garden vegetables. There are plenty of reliable companion plants to grow with peas.

1. 1. Sweet corn: Cornstalks make a perfect natural trellis for pea tendrils.
2. 2. Green beans: Peas and green beans require similar growing conditions, making them good companions to plant together.
3. 3. Turnips: Peas and turnips have a symbiotic relationship, as peas enrich the soil around turnips with beneficial nitrogen, and turnips act as a natural repellent to harmful aphids.
4. 4. Radishes: The slow growth rate of peas allows radishes—a fast-growing root vegetable—to develop without being disturbed.
5. 5. Carrots: Peas and carrots are ideal companions when you plant them in late summer for fall harvest; both crops thrive in cool, moist conditions, tolerate a light frost, and mature in around 70 to 80 days.
6. 6. Basil: The aromatic oils in basil deter pesky insects called thrips. Thrips live in pea plant flowers and damage developing pea pods.
7. 7. Lettuce and spinach: Peas and these leafy greens are both cool-weather vegetables that grow well in the same type of rich, fertile soil. Lettuce and spinach also require lots of nitrogen, which is conveniently supplied by pea plants.
8. 8. Cucumbers: Peas and cucumbers both thrive in the same growing conditions.
9. 9. Cauliflower: The nitrogen that peas add to the soil improves the growth and yield of cauliflower.
10. 10. Nasturtiums: This flowering plant is so appealing to aphid pests that when you plant nasturtiums near peas, aphids will ignore the peas to instead feast on the nasturtiums.

Just as there are good companion plants to grow with peas, there are also plants that will inhibit your peas from growing properly. Alliums like onions, garlic, and chives stunt the growth of peas. Avoid planting peas and alliums in the same garden beds.

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