Plants

Companion Planting Guide


IDEP’s Companion Planting Guide
Click here for full PDF

Sometimes you end up wishing you had a resource at hand to make it easier to apply Permaculture principles. This was the case for myself when it came time to start thinking about beneficial groupings of plants and those groupings that do not go well together.

This is what I often find lacking with the current publications on offer from PRI and from those in the community. There is a lot of good knowledge locked up that could benefit so many of us in applying permaculture principles.

A simple A3 or A4 information sheet or booklet of a small number of pages is easy to mentally digest and take in and very handy to have as a reference, either printed out and hung up on the wall or on the computer when we sit down and start thinking about designing our gardens or food systems.

That is why I was so happy to learn about the IDEP Foundation, a non-profit non-government organisation in Indonesia. IDEP maintains a host of produced small documents on permaculture from free training guides and tools to teach the very basic of permaculture principles to students to information on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), gardening, composting, waste management, health and nutrition, seed saving, seed propagating, and community based disaster management. Best of all, they offer their materials free of charge to the wider community in English and Indonesian languages.

I would like to call out special attention to the A3 poster on companion planting. This chart is just fantastic. It communicates so much, so easily and is a tool of great benefit to many.

More important we should make more of these brochures even more expanded in coverage by adding listing items for E (edible) N (nitrogen fixing) and G (green manure). We can break these down by climate zones so that anyone who needs help getting started can find the lists of plant resources to get them started on the right footing in their move to a more sustainable and permanent way of living.

64 Comments

  1. This resource and website is exactly what a network of gardeners like us need. Does anybody know where there are more documents and resources like this available online?

  2. Charts like this don’t change my planting practice whatsoever. I’m sure there’s truth in there, possibly even more truth than falsehoods. Nevertheless, I would need to see A LOT of references cited for these claims to believe them.

  3. I was searching on the web for this kind of chart these days and found just a small one. This will be a big help in the design of my garden for next year…
    Thanks a lot for sharing this chart!

  4. Hi Peter, I can’t view the poster in PDF – it comes with an error message to contact the author. I love the idea of a poster. We have just started a veggie garden for the first time and need all the help we can get. Many thanks Maggie

  5. That is realy a good stuff!

    I ony have a small problem while reading it, lets take an example of Asparagus and Chivers. The cell of Asparagus row and Chives column is empty, but the cell of Chives row and Asparagus column has a smiley. Does this mean Chives do not help Asparagus, but Asparagus help Chives or vice vase?

    1. I agree Jeff. I was mystified when I saw that the tomato-potato ref’ was blank…. even veg’ gardeners who don’t believe in companion planting know you don’t plant these solanacae together (or even within cooee of each other).
      Am I reading the cross references incorrectly?

  6. I really appreciate you sharing of your knowledge so that we can avoid making time-consuming/ poor production mistakes. Thank you.

  7. This chart is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for, and the fact that there is no charge makes it even sweeter…thanks.

  8. Namaste and thank you from hills of Nepal!
    (Your climate (altitude?!) suggestion would be a wonderful thing)

  9. I’ve also been compiling a spreadsheet like this based on all the sources, books and online, I could find on the subject. It grew to an enormous size and became too unwieldy to use easily. I also came across a lot of conflicting information – one source would say x and y are great companions, another would say inimical – so the whole thing got put on hold and I went back to the commonest combinations and avoids and left the rest to suck-it-and-see. There are a lot of other factors determining whether a plant does well aside from what it’s growing next to and it would be helpful to have access to that information when evaluating companion planting recommendations. If some bright geek were to put together an online database that anyone could contribute their own experience to, that might end up being a really useful resource for the permaculture community …?

  10. Thank you for such a useful chart. I have used rosemary to keep ants out of my kitchen cupboards with great success.

  11. I’m unable to access the PDF file for this chart now. I’d love to be able to download this again. My old copy has faded in the sun :(

  12. When I click full pdf file it is blank. Too small for me to read otherwise. Can you e-mail it to me. Maybe then I can see it or inlarge it. Thank-you.

  13. What about Peppers???? or HOT PEPPERS?

    nothing there… i want to know what woudl be the companion of my 40 different varieties!

  14. While this looks awesome and is so accessible, really awesome! I see already an indication I’ve heard isn’t comptaible: Dill and Carrots/ tomatoes I’ve heard should be avoided near another. Yet, this says they are compatible. Any suggestions as to what is accurate?

    1. I have personally grown tomato next to carrot an have found the carrot’s growth is stunted but the flavor of the carrots are fantastic

  15. Cool. Now where is the 3D version for perennial food forest plant companions? Geoff, the world is looking to you for this ;-)

  16. This chart is exactly what I was hoping to find. Thank you very much for making it available. Sincerely, Jeff

  17. I don’t agree with all of the companions suggested. For instance, I’d never plant dill and fennel near each other. The cross pollination issues might cause one or the other not to grow true to the type of plant it is. Of course, everyone has their own opinion and I’m sure you’ve had a lot of input when making this form. So I do want to add thank you for creating. It’s a great jump off point of things to consider when planting one’s groceries.

  18. This info is invaluable for a student farmer like me. If more people learnt about Permaculture (in all different climate conditions), we will be able to change the world – by what we grow, what we eat, our health, less pollution, less adverse climate change.
    Thank you very much!

  19. Rod Collins wrote on February 24, 2015 at 12:02 am
    “Cool. Now where is the 3D version for perennial food forest plant companions? Geoff, the world is looking to you for this ;-)” I whole heartedly Agree! I have 1 acre for a food forest – would absolutely LOVE this kind of info. N Texas, Zone 8 (sometimes 7…lol) Thank you for your work, still relevant and appreciated! ~ Bree

    1. Ditto, would love to see companion info’ on food forests, guilds etc for warm-temperate to arid area. (I’m in Southern Australia, 12” annual rainfall.)

  20. Thank you! Great chart!

    No mention of peppers (capsicum) or marigolds. Any thoughts on these two? What to plant with peppers and when to use marigold to ward off pests?

  21. I’m just researching this stuff now, and I find that there is a difference of opinion. Other charts, such as from the Farmer’s Almanac, are in direct conflict with this one as to some companions. I don’t know what to do. It’s starting to be too complicated.

    1. Hi Kellie,

      Thanks for letting us know that the link was broken. This has now been fixed. We hope you find the PDF useful.

  22. Hi, I checked table for consistency row wise and column wise and found following conflicts. Request to resolve the conflicts and update the table and let us know.
    bean – grape vine
    cabbage – tomato
    carrot – marigold
    carrot – fruit tree
    carrot – rosemary
    carrot – rue
    carrot – sage
    yarrow – cherry
    yarrow – chervii
    sunflower – garlic
    strawberry – garlic
    rosemary – parsley
    rosemary – potato
    parsley – chervii
    parsley – chives
    garlic – cherry
    garlic – chervii
    fennel – coriander
    Thanks

  23. Hi, re-sending… I checked table for consistency row wise and column wise and found following conflicts. Request to resolve the conflicts and update the table and let us know. bean – grape vine, cabbage – tomato, carrot – marigold, carrot – fruit tree, carrot – rosemary, carrot – rue, carrot – sage, yarrow – cherry, yarrow – chervii, sunflower – garlic, strawberry – garlic, rosemary – parsley, rosemary – potato, parsley – chervii, parsley – chives, garlic – cherry, garlic – chervii, fennel – coriander. Thanks

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