Square Foot Gardening Printable Companion Planting Chart (2024)

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Garden Planner for Vegetables, Herbs, and Flowers

Whether you want to create a square-foot garden for vegetables, a kitchen garden for herbs, or a beautiful flower garden, our Garden Planner will help you find the best layout for your space- plus provide all your planting and harvesting dates!

The tradition of the three sisters

One of the most well-known examples of companion planting is that of the "Three Sisters" method, used widely by Native American farming societies. Corn, pole beans, and squash are together for the mutual benefit of all three.

With the square-foot gardening method, you plant in 4x4-foot blocks instead of traditional rows. Different crops are planted in different blocks according to their size; for example, 16 radishes in one square foot, or just one cabbage per square foot.

Drawbacks of Square Foot Gardening

Some crops, like large, indeterminate tomatoes, need more space than a single square foot—otherwise they'll start stealing nutrients and water from other plants. Plus, plants can deplete moisture and nutrients quickly in a square foot garden due to the intensive planting technique.

In general, plants with known positive relationships should be planted within two or three rows of each other. Plants that have negative or detrimental relationships, should be planted at least two to three rows apart.

There's really no evidence that certain plants will somehow affect pepper growth, but you may want to avoid planting peppers near cabbage and other brassicas such as broccoli and cauliflower (because peppers prefer slightly different soil acidity levels) and fennel (which some gardeners say inhibits pepper development) ...

Marigold companion planting enhances the growth of basil, broccoli, cabbage, cucumbers, eggplant, gourds, kale, potatoes, squash and tomatoes. Marigold also makes a good companion plant to melons because it deters beetles. Beans and cabbage are listed as bad companion plants for marigolds.

As a general rule, put tall veggies toward the back of the bed, mid-sized ones in the middle, and smaller plants in the front or as a border. Consider adding pollinator plants to attract beneficial insects that can not only help you get a better harvest, but will also prey on garden pests.

You can comfortably grow two cucumber plants, spaced 6 inches apart, within a square foot. You may think that's not much, but take into consideration that cucumber plants are vigorous vines that can produce approximately five pounds of fruit per plant.

If the Seed Packet Recommends Plant Spacing Of: 3 inches, you can fit 16 plants in each square foot. 4 inches, you can fit 9 plants in each square foot.

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iScape is the No. 1 app for landscape design.

For a square bed, multiply the length of the bed by its width to determine how many plants per square foot. For a circular planting bed, you can calculate how many plants per square foot is ideal by multiplying 3.14 by the distance from the center to the edge of the bed.

As a general rule, put tall veggies toward the back of the bed, mid-sized ones in the middle, and smaller plants in the front or as a border. Consider adding pollinator plants to attract beneficial insects that can not only help you get a better harvest, but will also prey on garden pests.