Gardening for beginners: combining plants (2024)

FAQs

How to combine plants in a garden? ›

By considering various attributes - plant type, size and habit; foliage shape; flower colour; season of interest - it's possible to create a harmonious, unified planting scheme. Contrasting, complementary and even, sometimes, clashing colours can all be harnessed to achieve particular effects.

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. Infestation of pests or disease can occur more quickly if you plant all the same crop close together.

Sometimes this is positive and sometimes negative. Companion planting is the art of growing plants near each other, because of their ability to enhance or complement each other.

Grafting and budding are horticultural techniques used to join parts from two or more plants so that they appear to grow as a single plant. In grafting, the upper part (scion) of one plant grows on the root system (rootstock) of another plant. In the budding process, a bud is taken from one plant and grown on another.

Three plants creates balance

If you have enough space, group them in an equilateral triangle. This looks particularly good with mounding or vertical plants. Be sure to leave some space between the plants, especially if they are three different kinds.

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.

Nasturtiums. If aphids are chewing up your garden, it's time to plant some nasturtiums. Easy to grow and pretty in bloom, nasturtiums repel aphids, squash bugs, striped pumpkin beetles, and whiteflies. Plant nasturtiums near beans, cabbages, and cucumbers to ensure an insect-free growing season.

What three plants can you plant together? ›

The intercropping method of planting corn, beans, and squash together, commonly called The Three Sisters has been studied and described by scholars in anthropology, history, agriculture, and food studies for many years.

Brassicas: Almanacs and home gardeners recommend avoiding planting brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, cauliflower) near peppers because they require different soil acidity levels and can deter pepper plant growth.

Creating Horizontal Layers with Plant Material

There are two basic rules when arranging plants in the beds: 1) space the individual plants so that they touch each other when they reach their mature size, and 2) overlap the masses of plants and connect them so that they flow without space between them.

3. Plants can be pollinated either using a paintbrush or in some cases by rubbing the two flowers together. You can sometimes tell when the stigma is at its most receptive by the presence of a sticky or shiny solution appearing on the tip. In some plant types the stigma can also swell or change shape when receptive.

The main rule of successful cohabitation of different plants in one pot is that you can plant them together only if they have similar subsistence requirements. Pay attention to lighting, watering, temperature, ground mixture, and growth factors; they must be similar.