12 Sweet Potato Companion Plants to Plant in Your Garden

Companion planting is a time-tested gardening method that enriches and protects vulnerable crops. Farmers and gardeners plant specific crops near each other 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. Repel insect pests: Cabbage worms, cucumber beetles, Mexican bean beetles, carrot flies, cabbage moths—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.

Grow sweet potatoes near some of these plants for the best results in your garden.

1. 1. Spinach: Spinach acts as an effective cover plant, making for one of the best companion plants.
2. 2. Garlic: Garlic wards off pests with its potent aroma.
3. 3. Root vegetables: Horseradish is a root vegetable with pest-resistant qualities. Radishes boost pest resistance and repel flea beetles. Turnips, parsnips, and beets also operate similarly.
4. 4. Bush beans: Bush beans are legumes that may increase your sweet potato yield.
5. 5. Pole beans: Pole beans can help boost nitrogen absorption.
6. 6. Peas: Peas may help sweet potatoes absorb nitrogen.
7. 7. Basil: Basil repels damaging hornworms and flies.
8. 8. Herbs: Thyme is an herb that attracts hoverflies, which eat destructive aphids. Dill, chives, borage, summer savory, and oregano also make good companion plants for sweet potato vines. Plant these aromatic herbs nearby to ward off the destructive sweet potato weevil.
9. 9. Alyssum: Sweet alyssum flowers serve as a ground cover plant while also attracting beneficial insects like wasps.
10. 10. Yarrow: Yarrow attracts pollinators to your garden.
11. 11. Nasturtium: These bright orange flowers are excellent at repelling the Colorado potato beetle.
12. 12. Marigold: Marigolds are effective at repelling many sweet potato pests that can destroy the plant’s root system.

The following crops do not make great companion plants for sweet potatoes. Avoid planting these crops near your sweet potatoes.

1. 1. Squash: Squashes like pumpkins compete with sweet potatoes for space and nutrients.
2. 2. Sunflowers: These flowers may increase the risk of potato blight.
3. 3. Tomatoes: Planting tomatoes near sweet potatoes can increase the chances of your plants contracting harmful diseases.

Grow your own garden with Ron Finley, the self-described "Gangster Gardener." Get the MasterClass Annual Membership and learn how to cultivate fresh herbs and vegetables, keep your house plants alive, and use compost to make your community—and the world—a better place.