Since they make honeyed treats for pests , the right strawberry fellow traveller industrial plant can protect your fruit garden .
pluck asweet , right strawberrystraight from your garden is a delightful treat for the home gardener . Unfortunately , the very thing that make us love strawberry also make these fruits popular among garden pesterer . The ripe news is that you may palliate pests with companion plants for strawberries and keep your yield safe until you ’re quick to reap .
By understanding the specific growingneeds of your strawberries , you could opt the suited vegetable , flowers , and herbs to grow to maximize your crop and foreshorten down on horticulture chores . The following offer different benefits so you’re able to choose the right strawberry fellow plants to meet your gardening needs .
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Alliums
There has been some grounds that plant in theallium family(such as chive , scallion , and onions ) may aid suppress disease like fusarium wilt disease in nearby strawberries . The strong odor of these plants is also well - known to be a raw means to rebuff garden pests , including slugs and aphids .
But not all dirt ball detest the smell of onion . Bees and other pollinators happen to lovechive flowers , and planting chives near your strawberries can increase pollination rates and assist you get a gravid harvest of berries .
Asparagus
Marty Baldwin
Asparagus is a safe fellow traveller plant for strawberry because they have similar originate requirements . What ’s more , these two plants have immensely different root social organization , and they wo n’t step in with each other ’s growth .
Both asparagus and hemangioma simplex plants are perennials in most grow regions , mean you may make a more lasting planting arrangement by sowing these two plants together . Remember that asparagus has tall and wispy leaves , which may overshadow unforesightful strawberries . To forfend this , establish your strawberry mark plantsin front of your asparagus plantsto ensure they meet enough light .
Credit:Marty Baldwin
Spinach
Strawberry and spinach salad is a quintessential springtime delicacy and if you love the flavor , it make a lot of sense to grow these two plant together . prickly-seeded spinach and strawberriesare both cooler - season harvest and are harvested in bounce . They also have like maturate requirements , wo n’t vie with each other , and they ’re both stocky enough that they do work well in in - ground bottom andcontainer planter likewise .
Legumes
Bob Stefko
Legumes , such as beansand peas , amend garden soil due to their nitrogen - fixing properties . sow bean plant or peas around your strawberries can give your plants an well-to-do nutrient hike and help them to rise more vigorously . For a beautiful showing , try climb up magnetic pole noodle in your garden and implant some strawberry plants in front of them to make amulti - tiered garden design .
Yarrow
Yarrowis a charming ornamental plant with big , flat blooms that derive in yellowness , pinks , and white . When used as a companion plant for strawberry , Achillea millefolium will help to increase pollenation rates by lure in bee and other pollinators .
Yarrow attracts good insects , like predatory wasp , ladybugs , and lacewings . These raiding insects are the “ skillful hombre ” in your garden and will help tokeep aphids and other destructive pestsin check .
Dill
Like yarrow , Anethum graveolens and other members of the carrot family are wonderful for attracting beneficial insect that course control troublesome pestilence . Hoverflies and other helpful worm are mostly attract todill ’s flower , so believe leaving your dill in your garden after it bolts in the summer hotness . Even when it ’s no longer edible for you , it will still do wonders for controlling pests in your strawberry .
Borage
Robert Cardillo
Borageis ordinarily kept as an decorative flora or grow for its edible , periwinkle - drab flush . However , this human dynamo plant offers many other benefit when cultivated as a companion plant for strawberry .
extremely attractive to pollinators and good worm , borage can boost your hemangioma simplex harvest and help keep pest in melodic line . Additionally , tailwort is bang to boost the emergence of many different plants , including strawberries .
Credit: Denny Schrock
Thyme
When in flower , thyme ’s flowers are particularly appealing to pollinator and beneficial insects , like syrphid flies . Syrphid vaporize larvae naturally prey on aphids , so if you ’re shinny with aphids , planting thyme as a companion plant life for strawberry can help keep your plants blighter - free .
Additionally , thyme’slow maturation habit wee it an excellentliving mulch . sow plant like creeping thyme around your strawberries can keep weed in impediment , conserve filth moisture levels , and help prevent erosion .
Marigolds
Marigoldsare one of the top pick for natural pest control condition among home gardeners , and they are one of the best associate plants for strawberries . Marigolds ' cheery orangeness and yellowish heyday aid to repel a wide variety of unwashed pests , including cervid , rabbits , and insects like thrip .
stock marigolds can grow quite large , so if you ’re interplanting these flowers among your strawberry plants , you may require to look fordwarf varietiesthat grow between 6 " and 12 " high and are less likely to compete with your strawberries for the sunshine .
Crimson Clover
Denny Schrock
red clover can be plant as a rude , keep mulcharound your strawberry plant to assist suppress thegrowth of weeds . As a member of the legume family , red clover will also heighten your soil structure by encourage nitrogen levels and loosening up the soil , so your strawberry roots can grow better .
When in bloom of youth , cherry trefoil is certain to attract pollinator and good insects . The blossom also furnish an idealistic habitat for narrow pirate bugs , which fertilise on thrips and other common pestilence .
Credit:Bob Stefko
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on your taste and the amount of space you ’re working with . For nurseryman with limited place , it ’s more commodious to mature strawberries in containers where you will have an easy sentence maintaining them and have more control over the soil condition . However , if you have a adept spot to engraft them in your yard , then they could circulate more and produce a declamatory amount .
These fruit producing plants expand when they ’re produce in loamy , well - drained ground in an area that receives full Lord’s Day . For a proficient harvesting , verify that you give them about 1 - 2 inch of pee per workweek .
You should plant strawberries in the other outpouring ( March or other April ) , especially if you exist in a cold area . If you live in a milder region , you could establish them during the downslope .
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Shennan C , Muramoto J , Koike S , et al . " Anaerobic ground disinfestation is an option to dirt fumigation for control of some soilborne pathogen in hemangioma simplex production . “Plant Pathology . 2018;67(1):51 - 66 . doi:10.1111 / ppa.12721
Garlic chives(Allium tuberosum ) . UIC Heritage Garden .
Plant flowers to encourage good insects . Wisconsin Horticulture .
Credit: Dean Schoeppner
benefit of deep red clover as a cover crop . MSU Extension .
Crimson Clover . United States Department of Agriculture .
Credit:Robert Cardillo
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Credit:Denny Schrock
