One expert gardener shared the key to growing an abundant harvest: companion planting.
The scoop
TikTok creator Maria (@GrowingJoyWithMaria) details the “professional gardening secret.” She explains the basic formula for remembering what kind of seeds to grow while companion planting. Gardeners need a root, a shoot, a fruit, an aromatic herb, and a flower in one plot or grow bag.
@growingjoywithmaria The key to a huge garvest: #companionplanting The basic formula: a root a shoot an aromatic herb a flower This pot has tomatoes, basil, marigolds and carrots! #gardening #tiktoklearningcampaign ♬ A Happy Farm – codemusic
“You want to plant different plants that attract and defend different types of pests and support each other,” Maria shares.
For example, Maria planted carrots as her root, lettuce as her shoot, tomatoes as her fruit, basil as her herb, and marigolds as her flower. The marigolds help attract critical pollinators that promote the harvest’s growth while deterring unwanted pests. This method of planting can also maintain soil health and improve garden space efficiency, according to the Spruce.
How it’s helping
Companion planting allows you to grow your own food more efficiently as well as create a diverse harvest. The crops often mature at different times, which means you can pull one vegetable without disturbing another. One gardener planted radishes alongside carrots. She found that pulling the quickly-growing radishes helps loosen the soil in preparation for the carrot harvest.
Hacks like this make it easy to maximize your garden space. Gardening is great for the environment because it provides food for pollinators and creates biodiversity. It also encourages people to grow their own produce, which helps combat the growing issue of food waste. Around one billion tons of food ends up in landfills each year, according to the United Nations. When people grow their own fruits and veggies, they tend to only pick what they need.
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As an added bonus, gardening saves you money on produce from the grocery store. Plus, you can avoid harmful chemicals in your food by employing natural solutions to combat weeds and pests. This, along with the satisfaction of knowing you grew your own ingredients, makes food taste even better.
What everyone’s saying
Viewers appreciated Maria’s tips for companion planting. Many of them praised the hack and exchanged their own gardening advice in the comments.
“This is great information,” one person said.
Some people described the seeds they prefer to plant using this method.
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“Cucumbers and dill is like tomatoes and basil,” a viewer shared, referring back to Maria’s tip for planting tomatoes and basil together.
“My cucumbers and sunflowers worked really well this year,” another commenter wrote.
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