Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is a leafy green vegetable that is commonly grown for its tender, edible leaves. There are so many uses for spinach in cooking, making it a wonderful addition to any vegetable garden. With all of that said, one of the best ways to ensure a successful crop is to understand the best companion plants to ensure you get a great yield.
Spinach is a cool-season vegetable, meaning it prefers to grow in cooler temperatures. It can tolerate frost, which makes it the perfect plant to grow in northern climates.
Spinach is incredibly fast-growing, with some varieties able to be harvested within 30 days of planting. It’s a great versatile veggie that can be grown in a variety of ways. This includes raised garden beds, in-ground, or within containers (great for a small space!)
What are Companion Plants?
Companion plants are plants that are grown in close proximity to each other in order to provide mutual benefit.
These benefits can include everything from pest control, and improved soil health, and can act as beneficial pollinators to increase your yield. Basically, a win, win.
When growing new vegetables in your garden it can be extremely helpful to understand what sort of plants will help increase your success. Using companion plants in gardening can help give your crops a much-needed boost!
Gardening Tools We Recommend
If you planning on growing a garden, you need a pair of great garden shears! We recommend the Fiskars. With its all-steel blade, they will stay sharp longer. It also has a rust-resistant, low-friction coating that helps glide through different types of wood. Works for pruning anything from bonsai trees to cutting flowers.
Garden sticks can come in handy when you have plants that grow quite tall. Take it from us, one strong wind storm and your beautiful delphiniums for example can be broken! That’s where bamboo sticks can come in handy. We like the natural look of them and they offer great support to keep your blooms upright!
Tips for Successful Spinach Growth
To start, spinach needs a spot in your garden that will receive full sun to partial shade. A great way to provide your plants with the partial shade it needs is with companion planting. Some companion plants listed below grow quite tall and can provide your spinach will a nice break from the sun throughout the day.
Spinach also likes well-draining soil with organic matter (like compost). We like to use 100% organic and natural fertilizer on all of our crops to give the soil an extra boost. Here’s what we recommend:
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Spinach likes the soil to be moist, therefore arid, and, or dry conditions are not ideal. During long stretches of drought, it’s important to water spinach regularly in the morning or at night to keep the soil moist.
Why Spinach needs Companion Plants
Having companion plants growing near your spinach can help in a variety of different ways!
1) Harmful Pests
Spinach can be prone to pests such as aphids, flea beetles, spider mites, thrips, cutworms, and whiteflies (among others). Planting companion plants can help repel these pests from your spinach plants to help ensure healthy growth. In addition, some companion plants attract these various pests to themselves so your spinach can thrive in peace.
2) Additional Nutrients
Spinach can benefit from additional nitrogen among other nutrients in the soil which is why growing spinach with nitrogen-fixing plants such as beans and peas, can help make the soil more fertile and better suited to growing spinach.
3) Extra Shade
Spinach thrives in cooler climates and can be pretty sensitive to heat. That’s why planting spinach with taller plants that can provide shade can keep spinach cool.
4) Deterring weeds
Various companion plants can deter weeds helping spinach thrive.
The Best Companion Plants For Spinach
Before planting anything in your garden, including spinach, it’s important to understand what you should pair with it.
1) Aromatic herbs
Dill
Dill works great to repel spider mites from your spinach plants which can cause a lot of damage. Similar to basil, it can improve the flavor while not depleting nutrients.
Additionally, dill can be planted alongside spinach since it grows taller, therefore shading the spinach from the hot sun and thus protecting the spinach plants from getting wilted.
Garlic
Garlic makes excellent companions to spinach because it can help to repel pests that might harm the spinach plants. It also has a very strong aroma (that we can all confirm) that can mask the scent of spinach, making it less attractive to pests.
Furthermore, it is known to have natural fungicidal properties, it can repel fungal diseases and pests that might attack your crops.
2) Vegetables
Lettuce (and leafy greens)
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Lettuce is a good companion plant to spinach because it helps to shade the soil and keep it cool, which can also help to prevent the spinach from bolting (going to seed prematurely) in hot weather.
It can also help to deter pests that may be attracted to spinach, such as aphids. Finally, lettuce and spinach have similar water and nutrient requirements, making them well-suited to being planted together.
Beans & Peas
Peas and beans are good companion plants to spinach because they can help to improve the overall health and productivity of the spinach plants.
Peas and beans are nitrogen-fixing plants, which means they have the ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be used by other plants. This can help to improve soil fertility and provide extra nitrogen to the spinach plants, which can improve their growth and productivity.
Eggplant
Eggplant is a good companion plant for spinach because it can help to deter pests that may be attracted to spinach, such as aphids, due to the strong smell of the eggplant leaves. It is also a good companion plant for spinach because it requires similar growing conditions as spinach such as water, sunlight, and soil fertility.
Eggplants are heavy feeders and they can help to improve the soil fertility for spinach plants. Another benefit of growing eggplant with spinach is that they have different growing seasons, so you can have a longer harvest period for both of the plants.
3) Brassica family
Members of the brassica family include brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, kale, turnips, bok choy, and swiss chard.
These vegetables can make wonderful companion plants to spinach as they won’t compete for the nutrients in your soil. Since they have root systems, that grow at different depths, they won’t be stealing nutrients from each other.
Radishes
Radishes and spinach are considered good companion plants for a variety of reasons. Firstly, radishes grow quickly and can be harvested before the spinach is ready to be picked. Thus, they do not compete for light, water, and nutrients.
Additionally, Radishes are said to repel some common insect pests, such as aphids, which can also affect spinach. This can help keep both plants healthy. Radishes also improve soil structure by breaking up heavy clay soils and by adding organic matter to sandy soils. This is wonderful if you are trying to grow vegetables in poor soil conditions!
Cabbage
One of the best spinach companion plants is Cabbage. Cabbage and spinach are considered good companion plants for a few reasons. Firstly, they have different growth habits, with cabbage being a larger, slower-growing plant and spinach having smaller and faster-growing leaves. This means they do not compete for the same resources, such as water and nutrients.
Additionally, Cabbage can provide shade for spinach which can help the spinach to grow better in hot weather. Cabbage is known to release chemicals called allelochemicals, which can inhibit the growth of weeds around spinach, which can help to keep the spinach area clean.
3) Fruits
Strawberries
Strawberries are good companions to spinach and are often planted together because they have a symbiotic relationship. They act as living mulch, keeping the soil moist and cool, which benefits spinach.
Strawberries are perennials, meaning they come back year after year, whereas spinach is an annual plant, so they can be planted together to save space in the garden.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are great companions to spinach because they can provide shade for the spinach, which can help to protect it from the hot sun. They are typically taller plants (make sure you provide them with the proper support they need), and their leaves can provide shade for your spinach. This can help to prevent the spinach from getting too much direct sunlight.
Additionally, tomatoes and spinach have a symbiotic relationship. Tomatoes help improve the health of your spinach. They release certain compounds into the soil, called root exudates, which can help to improve the fertility and structure of the soil. This can help to provide spinach with the necessary nutrients and moisture it needs to grow.
4) Companion Flowers
Nasturtium
Nasturtium is a good companion plant to spinach because it can act as a trap crop for pests that may harm your spinach growth.
What is a trap crop
A trap crop is a specific crop that is planted in close proximity to the main crop in order to attract pests away from the main crop. This can help to reduce pest damage to the main crop and increase overall crop yield.
Nasturtium attracts aphids and other pests away from your spinach and other plants in the garden. Nasturtiums are also good trap plants for whiteflies, cucumber beetles, and other pests. That’s why we highly recommend Nasturtium in your garden no matter what you’re planting.
Additionally, Nasturtiums can also help to improve the health and growth of spinach by adding beneficial microorganisms to the soil through their root systems.
Sweet Alyssum
A good idea to ensure your spinach thrives is to plant it with Sweet Alyssum! This stunning flower is a good companion plant to spinach because it can attract beneficial insects that help control pests in your garden.
The flowers of sweet alyssum produce nectar that attracts pollinators like bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. These helpful insects can assist in controlling pests that might harm your spinach plants.
Sweet alyssum also releases a pheromone that can repel some pests like aphids and whiteflies, which can heavily damage your spinach plants. Additionally, the Sweet Alyssum flowers also have a strong aroma that can mask the scent of the spinach, making it less attractive to these pests.
Additional Tips
Parasitic wasps
Parasitic Wasps are beneficial insects that can actually help control pests on a variety of crops, including spinach. They are not interested in the spinach plant itself, but rather in the pests that can damage it.
Some species of parasitic wasps specifically target pests such as aphids, whiteflies, and thrips, which cause damage to spinach plants.
Plants that should always be avoided with spinach
Mint
Mint is not a good companion plant to spinach because it usually becomes extremely invasive and will take over the entire garden space. It has a tendency to spread rapidly and aggressively, potentially crowding out other plants and taking over the area.
This will cause a lack of space and sunlight for spinach to grow. Furthermore, Mint also requires consistent moisture, which can make it difficult to grow with other plants that have different water requirements, like spinach.
Potatoes
Potatoes do not make great companion plants for spinach because they have similar nutrient requirements, and therefore will compete with each other for resources. They are heavy feeders and require a lot of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from the soil.
Spinach requires all of the above nutrients to thrive and therefore can have difficulty growing as they become nutrient deficient. If the soil is not fertile enough, spinach will not be able to absorb enough nutrients.
Additionally, both plants are also susceptible to similar pests and diseases, such as the Colorado potato beetle, which can spread between the two plants and cause damage. For these reasons, it’s best to avoid planting potatoes and spinach in close proximity to each other.
Fennel
Fennel is not a good companion plant for spinach because it can inhibit the growth of other plants. It produces allelopathic chemicals that can suppress the growth and germination of nearby plants, including spinach. Additionally, fennel can also attract pests and diseases that can harm spinach.
Fennel’s root system also tends to be quite invasive. This can compete with spinach for water and nutrients and can spread throughout the garden. For these reasons, it’s best to avoid planting fennel near spinach.
We hope all of this information on the best plants to grow with spinach will be helpful when you’re trying to plan your garden this year. Having a plan will always help when deciding what to grow in the coming season, which will ensure you have a fruitful year!
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