One gardening expert shared their companion combo that doubled their garlic harvest and fended off pesky pests completely naturally.
The scoop
This companion planting combo uses garlic and lettuce to fully optimize a garden bed.
TikToker Lou in the Garden (@louinthegarden) shared the best way to combine the two and utilize their natural properties, such as the pungent smell of garlic and the shallow roots of lettuce, to maximize and protect your garden.
@louinthegarden Companion planting can boost your garden’s growth and keep pests at bay. #companionplanting #garlic #lettuce #gardening #organicgardening #growyourownfood #gardencompanions #plantingtips #gardentips #squarefootgardening ♬ original sound – Lou in the Garden
“Companion planting offers numerous benefits, including pest control, improved soil health, enhanced pollination, and space optimization,” Lou said.
How it’s helping
The hack works in three parts to help you save time and money growing your own food.
First, it acts as a pest deterrent by leveraging garlic’s strong odor to repel aphids, which love to munch on green leaves. This naturally keeps the lettuce safe from its number one pest. This means no wasted money on commercial fertilizers or costly pest control methods.
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The next advantage is space optimization in your garden by utilizing the companion plants’ natural differences. Lou said it allowed her to double her harvest in the same amount of space. Lettuce has shallow roots, while garlic has deeper roots, allowing them to coexist without competing for nutrients or moisture underground.
The third advantage is that lettuce acts as ground cover for your garden, helping the soil retain more moisture for the garlic.
This umbrella-like coverage can also help suppress weeds without chemicals, meaning less time spent cleaning out garden beds and investing in other weed control methods.
This allows you to save money on better-tasting food while promoting your physical and mental health.
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All of this also helps the planet, too. Companion planting fosters a healthier ecosystem with increased biodiversity, improved soil fertility through nutrient cycling and nitrogen fixation, and natural pest control that reduces the need for synthetic pesticides.
It also optimizes resource use and manages heat to create more resilient and productive gardens.
What everyone’s saying
Reactions from TikTok commenters were excited and eager to implement the companion planting hack.
“This is a game changer when strategizing what to put where,” one user commented. “Especially with limited space like a lot of us experience.”
“I’ll take any help I can get,” another said. “Glad I saw this video because I was about to plant my green beans and peas along with five garlic bulbs in a very small bed.”
“I honestly think you’re so cool,” one added. “I wanna try this.”
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