When gardening, it can be helpful to grow plants alongside each other, and one YouTuber gave a few of their favorite ideas to go with your lettuce.
The scoop
YouTuber Niya Brown Matthews (@niyabrownmatthews) is a gardening expert sharing her favorite tips and tricks for getting the most out of your backyard patch.
In a clip from the end of one growing season, she shares some tips for growing lettuce with the aid of companion planting. As the season winds down and the weather cools, it’s a good time to plant lettuce, since it can still do well into fall.
Niya suggests adding herbs like parsley, cilantro, chives, and oregano, and even flowering plants such as marigolds, to your lettuce garden or raised bed. She explains that planting herbs in the same bed as your lettuce can add some lovely smells, but it also deters pests and brings beneficial insects into the soil to make it healthy. In the clip, she clarifies: “This is what you call companion planting.”
How it’s helping
Companion gardening is one of many methods for growing your own food at home. Whether a seasoned home gardener or a novice, gardening improves your mental and physical health and likely improves your diet as well.
The Farmers’ Almanac explains that companion planting helps to “increase soil nutrients, chase away pests,” and “maximize the efficiency of your garden.” By planting numerous crops in the same bed, you can optimize space in your garden, especially for those with smaller garden footprints.
The University of Minnesota Extension explains that companion planting “can help with weed management and soil health by keeping living roots in the soil and a plant canopy above the soil surface.”
DTE Landscape & Irrigation in Florida tells its clients that companion plants “can help keep harmful insects at bay, reducing the need for chemical pesticides.” Utilizing nature is one easy, economical, and eco-friendly way to control pests without chemicals.
Not all bugs are harmful to your plants, as Niya mentions in her video. Almanac provides a list of beneficial garden insects, some of which your companion plants will help attract to your garden beds. Ladybugs, green lacewings, praying mantises, spiders, several beetles, flies, and wasps can all help in their own way. From pollinating flowers to eating harmful bugs and larvae, beneficial insects can ward off harmful insects and benefit your soil.
What everyone’s saying
While the post didn’t create a ton of chatter, Niya’s followers were happy with her advice.
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One person wrote: “Thank you so much.”
“You’re the best,” someone else added.
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