What to plant next to garlic

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When planting garlic, you must adhere to some basic rules, which are related to the specific planting location, soil preparation and selection of material. New gardeners make a common mistake by planting garlic next to plants that are absolutely not suitable. In this article we will give advice on how to choose a place and plan the landing correctly.

Crop rotation and its importance

Whenever planting garden crops, it is necessary to follow the rules of crop rotation; this significantly increases the chances of a positive harvest. Experts plan in advance what and where they will grow. It is important to consider what crops were used in the garden last year and where exactly they grew. Planning is also carried out based on the positive community of plants. If crops are not suitable, then they can inhibit each other's growth. If the correct proximity is not observed, then many diseases will spread in such an imbalance. Quite often, plants simply die.

The importance of crop rotation

All plants, while developing, consume nutrients from the lower or upper layer of soil that are necessary specifically for them. Growing the same crop in one place, we risk getting a poor harvest, as the soil is depleted. To prevent this from happening, crop rotation is important.

Crop rotation is the alternate planting of different plants to restore soil fertility.

It is needed for a number of reasons:

Correct rotation not only prevents the soil from becoming depleted, but also enriches it.
Prevents the development of diseases in plants and their infection by pests.
Helps in the fight against weeds.
Saves time and money, as it allows you to avoid applying a large amount of fertilizing and sanitary treatments.

Predecessors of garlic

You cannot plant garlic in the same place where it grew last year, as well as in the place where onions were planted last year, because these are relatives.

It is better to choose places where grains and legumes grew. They saturate the soil with all the necessary nutrients for garlic. Due to this, it is possible to achieve a high yield, and the fruits themselves will be very large.

Crops that are not desirable as a precursor to garlic are carrots, turnips, radishes, mint and coriander. Also, you shouldn’t plant lettuce after garlic, although if you plant it next to lettuce, it’s a wonderful neighborhood.

Garlic will be large if you plant it after vegetables such as potatoes, cucumbers, squash, cabbage and pumpkin have grown in the garden.

After what crops can garlic not be planted?

There are a number of garden crops after which it is extremely undesirable to plant garlic, since a vegetable grown in depleted soil, susceptible to disease and suffering from pests, will grow weakened and ultimately produce a poor harvest.

Bad precursors for garlic are:

Radish.
Pepper.
Cucumbers.
Celery.
Root vegetables that extract almost all nutrients from the soil. Carrots deplete the soil the most. After it, the land should rest properly, so growing vegetables in this place for some time is impractical. The soil in the area where beets and potatoes were grown may be contaminated with a severe fungal disease - fusarium (dry rot), which can affect garlic plantings.
Spicy herbs (melissa, coriander, basil, peppermint).
All varieties of leafy salad greens, which are an excellent companion to garlic when grown in the same bed, but are strictly contraindicated for it as a previous crop.
All types of onions attract a large number of parasites (primarily nematodes) that remain in the soil for a long time. It takes several years for the earth to free itself from them. In addition, the short roots of plants of the onion family pull from the ground most of the useful substances (especially calcium) necessary for the full development of other garden crops. As a result, by the end of the first season, the soil in the onion beds is severely depleted. It is for this reason that it is possible to grow garlic in the beds where onions were cultivated only after 3-4 years.
All varieties of salad greens.

Next to which plants it is useful to plant garlic, and also next to which ones it is strictly forbidden. Garlic contains many biologically active substances. In your garden bed, this crop plays the role of a fungicide, which allows you to eliminate fungal diseases.

If you plant potatoes nearby, garlic will help them to suffer less from diseases associated with late blight during the growth process.
If you plant garlic between strawberry bushes, you can scare off a lot of pests.
Garlic mixed with lettuce and carrots helps eliminate pests such as carrot flies.

Garlic perfectly protects berry bushes. This proximity will be especially useful for raspberries, currants, strawberries and roses.

Is it possible to plant onions and garlic?

Previously, we outlined the fact that planting garlic after onions is strictly prohibited, but how do these cultures perceive each other in the neighborhood? There is no exact answer. The two crops belong to the same family and have the same pests. If the area is small and there is no other way out, then you just need to step back about 30 cm and you can plant it nearby. If the site allows, then it is better to plant plants in different places.

Garlic with strawberries

The most suitable neighbor for garlic is strawberries. Both plants benefit each other. Garlic protects strawberries from all their pests, as well as from many possible diseases.

Combination with legumes

Planting garlic after legumes is a good idea. But, planting garlic next to legumes, that is, together with beans and peas, is strictly prohibited. Garlic becomes more susceptible to diseases, which significantly reduces yield.

What crops are best to plant after garlic?

Garlic, which disinfects and heals the soil, belongs to the category of rare garden plants, after which flower, green, and vegetable crops grow well. And yet, many gardeners often cannot decide what to plant in the area where garlic previously grew.

They might want to try one of our tips:

To heal the soil and enrich it with microelements and nutrients before winter, you can sow green manure plants. If you plan to grow cruciferous crops in this area in the spring, it is advisable to sow oats, rye or phacelia. If you plan to plant pumpkins or tomatoes, it is better to sow rapeseed, mustard or radish: these crops will effectively cleanse the soil of rot.
After garlic, you can plant potatoes, legumes, and cucumbers.
With great success, strawberries can be grown in place of garlic plantings. The bushes of this berry crop will be especially strong, healthy, and the harvest will be unusually generous.
Planting and growing beets, tomatoes and cabbage is completely acceptable.

Mixed planting

In science, mixed planting can also be called allelopathy. If you correctly combine the plants being planted, then each type of crop will fulfill its role and will not harm each other. The most popular crops in combined planting are peas, corn and pumpkin. The actions of peas are aimed at saturating the soil with nitrogen, corn is a good support, and pumpkin eliminates weeds. There are even options when a plant growing nearby significantly improves the overall taste of another crop.

Garlic often gives back more than it takes in. In any neighborhood, it is often from garlic that positive elements are obtained, and it itself simply grows in the garden. Under no circumstances should you plant lentils or peanuts next to garlic in the garden. They completely stop bearing fruit.

"Friends" of garlic

With the onset of sunny days in spring, many plants need shade from direct sunlight.

For example, beets and strawberries will be ideal neighbors for garlic. Garlic will repel aphids.

The garlic aroma scares the Colorado potato beetle, so you can plant it next to potatoes.

You can plant garlic next to flowers: roses, carnations, gladioli, asters. This will prevent black spotting, powdery mildew, and gray rot. Garlic itself is protected from onion flies by calendula and chicory.

It is good to plant the future garlic crop in adjacent horseradish beds, as they mutually increase the concentration of vitamin C in the leaves.

The best neighbor you can imagine for garlic is the strawberry. Garlic protects strawberries from diseases caused by fungi, as well as from underground pests, and repels slugs and mole crickets. Strawberries, in turn, contribute to the formation of a large head with many cloves.

The antiseptic properties of garlic and carrots can be no worse. The phytoncides released by it protect carrots from carrot flies. The enzymes that carrots secrete into the soil help the neighbor maintain the green color of the above-ground part longer and contribute to the ripening of a larger bulb. In addition, it significantly saves space on the beds and also improves the quality of fruit storage.

How to plant

You can use different planting patterns: in a checkerboard pattern, alternating plants in one bed, planting between rows, etc.

Let's consider the most profitable schemes for planting garlic:

Linear meter. The seedlings are located in spots per square meter of land.
Chess board. Alternating seedlings of several plants that are friendly to each other.
Row spacing. You can plant garlic between beds of other plants. It pairs especially well with strawberries.

Garlic with strawberries

Let's look at productive cohabitation using strawberries as an example.

In the fall, when the beds are disinfected, cleaned and fertilized, plant winter garlic on the strawberry beds and then mulch both crops. You can use rotted organic fertilizer with ash, hay, tops, and sawdust.

In early spring, when the snow melts and strawberries and garlic begin to grow, the mulch is removed, and the beds are watered with a solution of potassium permanganate, and then the soil is fluffed up. Just be careful not to damage the sprouted garlic cloves and roots!

When the garlic shoots form, break them as well as the strawberry tendrils so that both plants concentrate on producing healthy, large fruits.

Garlic and carrots

Let's consider another neighborhood option. Like winter garlic, carrots are planted for the winter in pre-fertilized soil. Fertilizer needs to be applied one and a half to two times more to give a good start to the growth of carrots.

At the end of September, both crops are sown, mulched and well watered. It is best to alternate rows, leaving a space of 15-20 centimeters between them. Leave a gap of about 10-13 centimeters between the cloves. This is necessary so that in spring and summer, when the aboveground part of the carrots grows, the garlic does not weaken in the shade.

As soon as the snow melts from your beds, they should be covered with polyethylene to stimulate greening and active fruit growth. Plants live under the cover of the film until May. It is in May that the carrot fly looks for a place to lay eggs. By removing film from the beds, you thus stimulate the spread of phytoncides that repel it, which has a positive effect on the growth and development of carrots.

Although winter varieties usually ripen in mid-July, proximity to carrots prolongs ripening. Therefore, both crops are harvested at the same time. This growing method has a positive effect on the shelf life of both garlic and carrots.

Even the friendliest plants require a mandatory annual crop rotation. It is not enough to simply rearrange the beds; it is necessary to radically change the planting location.

In addition to microelements, each crop releases a certain amount of toxins into the soil and attracts harmful insects and fungal microflora. All this can easily lead to sad consequences, resulting in loss of crops and seeds.