How can you plant peppers in one bed in a greenhouse or open ground?

Supporters of joint planting of vegetables, as well as those who want to save space in the garden, will probably be interested in learning about the best companions for peppers. In this article I will tell you which vegetables, flowers and herbs will create a harmonious combination with sweet and hot peppers. At the same time, successful neighbors will protect the pepper from diseases and increase its productivity. And, of course, we will also consider those garden crops with which pepper must be avoided.

What can and cannot be planted next to peppers?

Advantages of combined plantings

Growing vegetable crops, in particular hot and sweet peppers, together with herbs, flowers and other vegetables is a method that is widely used by adherents of organic farming. This method of growing plants is called joint or combined planting.

Growing peppers with the right neighbors has numerous benefits. First of all, it is the attraction of beneficial insects and the repelling of pests from the pepper by its companions. Secondly, maximum use of garden bed space. And, according to some gardeners, a good neighborhood enhances the taste and aroma of pepper.

Planting the right companion plants with your peppers is also a good way to avoid using powerful chemicals and large doses of mineral fertilizers to keep insects out or feed your plants.

We usually plant plants that require similar growing conditions next to each other. Namely: similar temperature conditions, air humidity, types and frequency of fertilizing, as well as watering regime. As a rule, we place bell and hot peppers where they can receive quite a lot of sun. This means that numerous vegetable and herb crops, which also require a large amount of light, can be successfully grown next to it.

To implement joint planting, the technique of alternating companion plants in one row is usually used, or the accompanying crop is planted between the rows. Some plants are suitable companions simply because they do not harm their neighbors. Others can indeed have one or another positive influence on each other, establishing a symbiotic relationship. And still others will harm the mainstream culture.

Pros and cons of co-location

In conditions of limited area of ​​a summer cottage, it is necessary to compactly plant different plants. To get a bountiful harvest, you need to properly rotate crops.

A well-thought-out garden layout has several advantages:

• Thanks to the diversity of root systems, plants consume nutrition from different layers of soil. The proximity of pepper next to compatible crops (carrots, parsley) will ensure uniform consumption of useful elements from the soil;
• site area is saved;
• small vegetables (onions, carrots) do not shade the pepper bushes;
• planting herbs, onions or garlic near sweet peppers will reduce the overgrowth of the garden with weeds and prevent the damage to neighbors in the area by diseases and pests;
• time is saved in caring for plants that require the same conditions of cultivation and irrigation.

The main problem with dense planting of several crops is the lack of space for comfortable maintenance of the plants. Densely planted beds are more difficult to water and weed. And harvesting can cause problems.

What plants can be grown next to sweet peppers?

The best vegetable neighbors for peppers

Bell peppers and tomatoes are very good companions: they belong to the same family and require the same growing conditions and the use of the same products to protect against diseases and pests. In this case, tomatoes and peppers are often successfully combined in a greenhouse. True, tomatoes require more fresh air and need more frequent ventilation than peppers. However, this does not have a particular impact on the overall yield of these crops when planted together.

Eggplants also grow well with sweet peppers. In addition, peppers can be grown together with onions, carrots and cucumbers.

Sometimes in the literature you can find recommendations that bell peppers are also good to grow next to pumpkin. But in such cases, one should take into account the scale of the pumpkin bushes with long vines and huge leaves. They are able to shield the pepper from the light. Therefore, it is important to maintain the required distance between plants, and also to move the vines away from the pepper bushes as they grow.

Bell peppers and tomatoes are very good companions for growing in the same bed. © iFartWhenILaughh

Spicy herbs to grow next to peppers

According to the observations of experienced gardeners, basil, dill and coriander will become the best companions for peppers in the garden. There are over 50 different varieties of basil that can be grown with peppers. Among them there are sweet varieties (lemon, caramel, mint, cinnamon) and vegetable varieties (classic, clove, large-leaf). And they will all grow equally well next to the pepper. And varieties with bright purple foliage will also give the garden a decorative look.

Growing basil next to peppers is highly desirable. It has been noticed that its presence makes the taste and aroma of hot or sweet pepper more intense. It is believed that thrips, flies and mosquitoes do not like the smell of basil.

Dill and coriander planted next to peppers help repel aphids from the plants and attract beneficial insects to the garden bed, including the ladybug and the common lacewing.

Marjoram, oregano (oregano), chives and parsley are also good companions for pepper bushes and can be grown with bell peppers without any negative effects.

Flowers that can be planted next to sweet peppers

Some flowers are also valuable pepper companions. Roman chamomile (chamomile) increases the resistance of pepper to various diseases, however, when planted at close distances.

It is very good to plant marigolds next to peppers, as their roots secrete a substance that protects the soil from nematodes and kills fungi that harm peppers and other vegetable plants.

The popular colorful nasturtium flower, with its edible flowers and seeds, is also a good companion plant to grow with peppers, and its foliage rotting in the fall will enrich the soil.

Because they belong to the same family, petunias are successfully grown together with peppers. Geraniums (pelargoniums), planted together with peppers, repel Japanese beetles (beetles) with their essential oils. These are very dangerous insect pests that damage a huge number of garden and vegetable crops, including peppers.

Culture with character

This is a heat-loving and whimsical plant. The achievements of modern selection make it possible to grow it in the conditions of the Urals and Siberia in open ground, but more often in these regions sweet peppers are planted in a greenhouse.

The soil for growing peppers should be loose and fertile and retain moisture well. Fertilizing is carried out six times per season with organic and mineral fertilizers. Frequent watering, but without stagnation of water, allows the bush to form correctly.

Most often it is necessary to sow seedlings in boxes, since the growing season is long. After the onset of warm weather, the seedlings are planted in the garden. If frost is still possible, it is covered with film or special non-woven material. Even in the summer months, you don't have to remove the shelter if the weather is below 25 degrees. In such cases, it is preferable to choose self-pollinating varieties, which will produce an ovary even under the film.

It is important to ensure that there is enough fresh air and that the bushes are not infected with blackleg - the most dangerous disease for this crop.

The plant, especially in the first months, is fragile, so support is desirable. To obtain a larger number of shoots, the top of the bush is pruned at a height of twenty-five centimeters. Harvesting takes place 80–90 days after germination.

What to plant next to hot peppers?

Hot peppers produce a chemical from their roots that prevents root rot and fungal diseases on nearby plants, such as eggplants. For the same purpose, you can sprinkle pumpkin, chard, tomatoes and cucumbers with ground hot pepper.

Spinach, lettuce, basil, dill, thyme and cilantro go well with hot peppers. It has been noticed that they have a positive effect on the taste of hot pepper. The most important thing to consider is that companion plants do not cast too much shadow on the peppers. And there should be many more bushes of the burning vegetable than the neighboring greenery.

Joint planting of vegetables in a greenhouse: what to plant with what

When growing vegetables together in a greenhouse, you can get double and early harvests. To do this, you need to know which crops are suitable for compaction plantings, with what you can plant tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and eggplants in a greenhouse. The experience of summer residents shows that tomatoes with beets, peppers with watermelons, cucumbers with radishes, as well as greens, onions, salads and herbs successfully coexist in one greenhouse.

At what temperature should you plant vegetables in a greenhouse?

If the soil temperature is lower than the plant requires, but it has already been planted, stress from the unfavorable conditions in which it finds itself can delay development for a long time.

Of course, there are no universal numbers. A number of factors are taken into account - weather conditions, planting location, plant requirements for soil and air temperature, folk signs.

1. Eggplants : the soil for planting eggplants should warm up to +18°C, and the air - to +20°C. And the soil temperature should not fall below +15°C.
2. Tomatoes : the soil must be warmed to +15°C for full plant growth.
3. Cucumbers : they can be safely planted when the soil warms up to +16°C at night and +18°C during the day. Cooling the soil to +15°C will negatively affect their development; at +10°C, growth will slow down significantly.
4. Onions : to force onions to grow, wait until the soil temperature at a depth of about 10 cm is +10°C.
5. Celery : warming the soil to +12°C will be sufficient.
6. Pepper : to plant it, it will be enough for the soil to warm up to +15°C.

Neighborhood of vegetables in a greenhouse

To prevent joint planting of vegetables in a greenhouse from becoming competitive, you need to select the right neighbors for each crop. And then “cohabitation” will only benefit the greenhouse settlers.

What to use to plant tomatoes in a greenhouse?

1. Beans

• Along with tomatoes, you can plant green beans : in a greenhouse this crop brings a much larger harvest than in open ground.
• This proximity will not harm tomatoes, but will only help increase soil fertility, because beans tend to accumulate nitrogen in nodules on the roots.
• It is better to plant beans between tomatoes in all areas of the greenhouse.

2. Beetroot

• A greenhouse where tomatoes grow can be used to grow early beets.
• The small roots and tops of this plant are used in botvinya or summer green soups.
• The soaked seeds of this plant are planted in a greenhouse along the side of the greenhouse in 2 rows.

3. Watermelons and melons

Watermelons and melons can be good neighbors for tomatoes.

• However, these plants are not suitable for every greenhouse, since tomatoes require active ventilation, and drafts are contraindicated for melons.
• If in the greenhouse where there are tomatoes there is a place protected from drafts, watermelons and melons will feel great.

What to use to plant peppers and eggplants in a greenhouse?

• Peppers and eggplants should not be planted together.
• Plant eggplants on one side of the entrance to the greenhouse, peppers on the other, and occupy the remaining area with cucumbers.

What to use to plant cucumbers in a greenhouse?

1. Next to cucumbers, you can plant corn (this is advisable in the northern regions, where this plant does not produce a harvest in open ground), watermelons and melons.
2. Eggplants and peppers can easily coexist with cucumbers. However, given the shorter height of these plants, they must be planted separately in the greenhouse so that the cucumber vines do not shade them.

Feeding vegetables when planting together in a greenhouse

All green crops extract enormous amounts of nutrition from the soil.

• When planting together, be sure to add an additional dose of fertilizer.
• On a starvation diet, it is impossible to grow a significant crop of sealing plants. And the main vegetable will not have enough nutrition.

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MIXED PLANTING FOR PROTECTION AGAINST PESTS

Compacting plantings in a greenhouse

Growing vegetables in a greenhouse with compaction crops will be an excellent help in obtaining an early harvest. Preparing seedlings begins long before the snow melts. But greenhouse inhabitants (peppers, eggplants and tomatoes) take quite a long time to grow before fruiting. Therefore, the optimal solution would be to compact these crops and harvest additional crops.

1. A good polycarbonate greenhouse is ready to receive vegetable seedlings at the beginning of May , and in years with a warm, friendly spring - at the end of April .
2. A second sowing of the compacting crop in the greenhouse is possible, but only from the sunny side .

Vegetables for compacting plantings in a greenhouse

After planting vegetable seedlings in the rows, sow:

• Chinese cabbage,
• spinach,
• salad,
• radish and early May radish,
• dill and other greens.

Basil works well as a compacting edge crop. _____________________________________________________

COMPACTED CROWDING AND MIXED BEDS ON A SMALL PLOT _____________________________________________________

Parsley and celery in a greenhouse

You can even sow slow-growing crops such as parsley and celery.

1. They will sprout earlier than in open ground, and overgrown tomatoes and eggplants will not interfere with them.
2. Conversely, parsley and celery will not interfere with the main crop.
3. And the vitamin greens will ripen almost a month earlier than usual.

Just sow parsley and celery not between the rows, but from the most illuminated edge of the bed.

Beijing cabbage in a greenhouse

Sowing Chinese cabbage as a compacting crop gives very good results.

• You just need to sow it very early (late April - early May) or use seedlings.
• The temperature in the greenhouse is suitable, there is practically no cruciferous flea beetle, and the cabbage sprouts quickly.
• Immediately thin out the seedlings, do not let the Chinese cabbage grow. Otherwise, you won’t get high-quality heads of cabbage.
• After 1–1.5 months, Chinese cabbage is ready for harvesting. During this period, it is not prone to flowering, so good, large heads of cabbage are formed.

If the flea does cause significant damage, use tobacco dust, Extraflor or Fitoverm. These are biological drugs and will not cause harm to health.

Spinach and lettuce in a greenhouse

Spinach and lettuce are the earliest living vitamins on our table. Spinach is a leader in the content of easily digestible iron. Eat spinach regularly in the summer, and you will not be afraid of iron deficiency anemia.

1. The sooner you start eating spinach, the better.
2. Late sowings of this crop are bolted and do not produce significant greenery.
3. Therefore, it is good to sow spinach with a compacting crop early.

Salad is not only an early vitamin green, but also a good substitute for cabbage in early summer. It can be used not only in salads, but also in cabbage soup instead of cabbage, and also for preparing tender cabbage rolls.

Experience of joint planting of vegetables in a greenhouse

T. Shchedrina, a regular author and reader of the “Dachny Club” magazine, shares her experience of growing vegetables together.

Combined planting of vegetables in greenhouses gives excellent results! I have several greenhouses on my site, and in all of them I practice combined planting of vegetables. I’ll tell you what vegetables grew in two greenhouses on my site.

How are my greenhouses equipped?

• The width of the greenhouses on my site is 3 m.
• In each greenhouse we have 3 beds 60 cm wide - two beds on the sides and one in the center.
• There are, respectively, 2 passages between the beds.
• These are box beds that my husband made with his own hands.
• There are also barrels for irrigation here - the water in them is always warm.

Joint planting in my greenhouse No. 1

This greenhouse is illuminated by the sun all day - the earliest plantings are located here.

Bed on the left

• Peppers, sown as seedlings in mid-March, grew in this bed.
• May was warm, so everything began to bear fruit early - the peppers were already picked in June at the stage of technical ripeness.

Central bed

1. Here I planted Lyubasha F1 hybrid tomatoes in 2 rows, 4 bushes in total. The fruits began to turn red at the end of June. I sown tomatoes for seedlings at the end of February.
2. Behind the tomatoes grew 10 cucumber plants of the hybrid Shosha F1. I sowed the seedlings at the end of March in rolled-up fruits and started bearing fruit on May 19th.

I always plant seedlings in the central bed as early as possible - here the earth warms up the fastest. These tomatoes and cucumbers were planted as seedlings on the 20th of April.

Bed on the right

• Here I planted tomatoes in 1 row.
• Beets grew along the edge - at the end of June the diameter of the root crops reached 6-7 cm, and we began to use them for food.

Joint planting in my greenhouse No. 2

Bed on the left

1. Peppers grew in this bed, followed by watermelons.
2. Along the edge, along the wooden wall of the box, basil bushes grew.
3. Then one tomato plant is being tested - a new super-determinate variety.
4. Next came the eggplants - in June they already had large fruits.
5. Early in the spring I planted radishes along the edge; after harvesting them, arugula took over this place.
6. I planted peppers and eggplants in one row.

Central bed

• Tomatoes grew here, planted in 2 rows.
• In the spring and early summer, there were tomatoes in pots here in the aisle. Stone Flower F1 - it can be grown all year round at home. Then she took these pots outside.

Bed on the right

• Here I planted cucumbers in one row in several stages.
• Radishes grew along the edge of the cucumbers in the spring.
• After harvesting it, I sowed carrots and onions.

Shifting harvests

Growing crops with different harvest dates in one bed is another option for joint planting. To make the most of the space of a small garden, increasing the yield per square meter, you can grow early-ripening and late-ripening crops together.

Pepper ripens quite late, and due to its heat-loving nature, it is planted in open ground in late spring and early summer. Therefore, in its garden bed, before planting seedlings, you can grow early ripening crops - green onions, radishes, peas or lettuce.

Growing crops with different harvest dates in one bed is another option for joint planting.

Correct placement in an open area

On an open plot of land, the “Bulgarian” takes root with many crops that have phytoncidal properties and a specific smell. The aroma provides protection from insects. Such a neighborhood is possible in the form of mixed beds. A certain number of plants are planted in the garden bed and simultaneously processed. Various plants are planted between the rows.

The culture needs support and protection from the wind. Spicy herbs will help with this. You can plant a little:

• thyme;
• basilica;
• dill.

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Carrots, eggplants and zucchini are similar in care. They interact with each other on an open piece of land. Caring for them will save the gardener's energy. Some ornamental plants stimulate the rapid ripening of fruits. For example, nettle and chamomile will allow pepper to develop faster. However, it is necessary to monitor the spread of these weeds and carry out weeding in a timely manner.

Is it possible to plant hot and sweet peppers next to each other?

It would seem that sweet and hot peppers are similar in many characteristics, which means they can successfully grow side by side. However, it is still impossible to grow them together. The biological characteristics of pepper are such that it belongs to the so-called “facultative self-pollinators”.

That is, in principle, peppers do not need pollination by pollen from other plants in order for them to form fruits. And if you grew a single pepper in a pot on the windowsill, you probably noticed that fruiting does not suffer from this.

However, at elevated air temperatures, cross-pollination can often occur in peppers. This usually occurs in the southern regions. And in the middle zone this happens in very hot weather or when grown in a greenhouse.

Usually, when the “mother” sweet pepper is pollinated with the pollen of the hot “father” pepper, nothing threatens the latter, but the fruits of the sweet pepper often become bitter. And if sweet pepper pollen pollinates hot pepper bushes, the latter may lose some of its pungency. Sometimes the shape may also change - the thickness of the walls and the size of the fetus.

Therefore, if you want the peppers to have the taste and shape in accordance with the variety, it is better not to plant sweet and hot peppers next to each other.

What plants should not be planted with peppers?

Some garden and spice crops should not be grown next to bell peppers, as they can harm each other. Often the negative impact is felt even if the unsuitable neighbor is in the next garden bed.

Members of the brassica (cruciferous) family, which includes cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mustard and other crops, should never be grown in the garden with sweet or hot peppers.

Beans and beans, including soybeans and lima beans, are also poor companions for bell peppers. A close relative of dill, fennel should not be planted next to any garden crops, including peppers, as it has a negative impact on all its neighbors.

Do not plant sweet peppers near apricots, as the fungal pathogen that affects peppers can spread to the apricot tree.

Sometimes the pepper itself can harm the taste of other vegetables that were grown together with it. In particular, pepper does not go well with potatoes and beets. And such a neighborhood can be called mutually harmful. For tuberous and root vegetables, it is better to find a place away from other vegetables. In addition, potatoes are “gluttonous” and absorb all the vitamins and minerals for their development and growth, depriving neighboring crops of them.