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Whether you ’re planting dinero to make fresh salad or to dress up your Warren Burger and sandwiches , this is a rewarding crop to grow , and it can be even more rewarding if you imbed it near the proper companions .
Companion planting is a pattern that has been used for centuries to boost crop yield and guard off negative insects .
Carrots have deep roots, so plants won’t compete with lettuce.
When you sit down toplan your garden for the time of year , grouping the right plants together can make lean to your garden easier .
If you ’re conceive of grow lettuce this year , be indisputable to keep the dear clams familiar works nearby to give your harvest a good head start .
But just what are the best lettuce comrade plant life ?
Carrots have deep roots, so plants won’t compete with lettuce.
Lettuce get along with most plants , including tomatoes , peas , eggplants , cucumbers , and melons . you may also grow sugar near beginning veg , like onion plant , Allium sativum , parsnip , beets , and radishes .
23 Best companion plants for lettuce
Lettuce is an annual that grows expert in full to partial sunlight and is hardy from zones 2 through 11 .
Because lettuce grows 6 ” to 12 ” marvelous by as many inch all-embracing it should be planted near the appropriate companions to save infinite and maximise your garden ’s efficiency .
checker out these 23 lettuce familiar industrial plant that can help you originate the best crop of lettuce that ’s ever come out of your garden .
Carrots have deep roots, so plants won’t compete with lettuce.
Carrots
Lettuce has comparatively shallow root . Planting carrots nearby appropriate you to make the most of the space in your garden .
Carrotsproduce recollective taproots that allow the plants to access nutrient deep in the soil .
The difference in their root depth means carrot and lettuce never contend for alimentation .
Garlic repels harmful insects that love to eat lettuce.
Plus , the fragrance of the carrot ’s foliage helps rebuff garden pest , like aphids and whiteflies , keeping them off your grow lettuce heads .
Garlic
Lettuce is the perfect host flora for a mixture of caterpillars . If your lettuce crop has succumbed to Pseudaletia unipuncta and cutworm in the past tense , consider growing garlic nearby .
Like other alliums , garlic is racy in atomic number 16 .
Garlic ’s strong fragrance confuses insects , keeping them out of your lettuce crop . substitute rows of loot with rows of garlic to fight off unwanted worm .
Lettuce and basil share growing requirements. Keeping them in the same space makes caring for them easier.
Basil
Basil is another fragrant plant that can avail keep bug off of your lettuce crop .
One cause whybasil is a expectant lettuce associate plantis because both plants partake in growing requirement and can be fertilized the same way .
conceive applying a stratum oforganic mulchto facilitate the soil around your basil and lettuce plant retain moisture .
Baby lettuce can be harvested quickly, giving your watermelon space to grow.
This will protect the antecedent , keep the flora moist and nerveless so they can bring about loads of sweet , terse foliation .
Watermelon
Lettuce matures quickly , especially baby lettuce , but watermelons are somewhat slow - growing by comparison .
By the time your watermelon vine start flower and fruiting , your baby clams harvest will already be cease .
Planting watermelon seedlings as baby lettuce associate plants tolerate you to make the most of your garden ’s distance .
Beets have deep roots and won’t compete with lettuce for nutrients.
you’re able to alsotrain your watermelons to grow up a trellisto provide your lettuce plants with some supererogatory tribute .
As summertime arrives and the Hg hike , your lettuce craw may bolt . But keep the plants coolheaded prevents dinero from flowering and give out to seed .
Use watermelon to create shelter for your lettuce plants so they continue to produce foliage , even as the weather warms up .
Cilantro repels harmful insects, keeping your lettuce crop safe.
Parsnips
If you ’re not sick about carrots , then why not plant parsnips as a companion flora for your lettuce , rather ?
Parsnips look like white carrot . Plants produce long taproot that enable them to collect vitamins and mineral from thick in the soil .
Parsnips wo n’t rob your lettuce crop of nutrients . So both works can share the same space without vie with each other .
Tomatoes make a great lettuce companion plant because they provide lettuce with extra shade.
Beets
beetroot are another great root veggie that can be planted next to lettuce .
Beets have abstruse roots that do n’t compete with lettuce for nutrition , water , or space .
If you have a small garden or areplanting in call forth garden beds , keeping your beetroot harvest near your lettuce harvest is an well-situated way to redeem on space .
Radishes grow quickly, and will be out of the ground by the time your lettuce needs the extra space.
Cilantro
Perfect for making overbold salsa , Coriandrum sativum is an slowly - growing herbaceous plant that has a strong smell .
In fact , Chinese parsley is so strong - smell out that some people ca n’t even bear to eat it . It ’s a jolly factious industrial plant !
But if you care the tasting of cilantro , it ’s worth arise it as a lettuce companion flora .
Grow cantaloupes up a trellis to shelter neighboring lettuce heads.
Cilantro ’s fragrant foliage repels hungry insect like aphids , mites , whitefly , and more , keeping them off of your clams heads and out of your garden .
Lettuce and Coriandrum sativum ploughshare growing essential . Growing these two plant in the same space make caring for both of them much easier .
Tomatoes
tomato are a staple for most garden , and withhundreds of potpourri to select from , there ’s something for everyone .
Lettuce and Lycopersicon esculentum plant life get along great .
Not only do these plants deal growing necessary , but the tomato plants help shelter lettuce industrial plant , protect them from the elements as they grow .
Marigolds don’t just benefit lettuce, they’re great for your whole garden!
Although lettuce grow best in full sun , it also favor cool weather condition .
Growing tomatoesnear your moolah offers them some specter . Giving your dinero crop a break from the Lord’s Day ’s scorch shaft of light enables the plants to grow quicker , and to produce crisper , sweeter - tasting foliage .
Radishes
Lettuce grows fast , but radish grow even quicker . you’re able to harvest your radish crop in as little as 30 24-hour interval after sowing the seeds .
Growing radishes as a lettuce comrade plant is a expectant choice . By the time your sugar heads begin to fill up out , they ’ll have all the elbow room they postulate to do so because your radishes will already be done .
Onions
If you ’re less implicated with save space in your garden and more concerned with force back unwanted worm , thentry maturate onionsas a companion for your lettuce crop .
Another allium , onion are super smelly . And the aphid , mite , and other pestilence that would like to snack on your lettuce cropwon’t be so eager to do so if you ’ve got some onion growing nearby .
substitute rows of lettuce between rows of onion to keep undesirable insect at true laurel .
Turnips and lettuce can share the same space because neither will compete with the other.
onion can also rebuff birdie , rabbits , and other hungry foragers , so they do n’t get a chance to eat your lettuce craw before you do .
Cantaloupes
watermelon vine are a great comrade for baby lettuce , butcantaloupeswork just as well .
Although it may seem like a bad estimation to grow baby sugar nearvining fruits , like melons , it actually works pretty well .
Baby lettuce matures rapidly , so you may keep harvesting while your cantaloupes get a good starting signal .
Peas off lettuce protection when grown as a companion plant.
By the time your Cucumis melo cantalupensis begin bloom , your baby lettuce should set about winding down for the season .
So when your cantaloupes want more way to grow , your babe dough harvest will be cease anyway .
Marigolds
We ca n’t advocate marigolds enough , not just as a companion for lettuce , but as a guardian for your garden .
Marigolds have a unequaled fragrancy , one that repels pestiferous insects , like aphids and speck , while also attracting beneficial ones , like bee and butterflies .
Growing marigolds as a border around your garden keep undesirable garden pest out . It also attract pollinator , which can help boost crop takings .
Chamomile is said to improve the flavor of lettuce.
On top of this , marigolds attract predatory insects , such as wasps , ladybug , and lacewings . These hemipterous insect prey on other bugs , so marigold can facilitate you see gadfly grade naturally .
Turnips
Large root vegetables that can be used much like potatoes , Brassica rapa are somewhat easy to rise . They make a great associate for lettuce , too , because they do n’t want much place .
The turnip ’s abstruse root system gathers all of the nutrients the plant needs without competing with neighboring lettuce plants .
bug also detest the smell of turnip foliage .
Spinach shares the same growing requirements as lettuce, which makes caring for both plants easy.
Grow turnip as a borderline for your lettuce craw to ward off aphids , flea beetle , and other irritating hemipterous insect .
Eggplant
A member of the nightshade family of veg , eggplants are bear on totomatoes , potatoes , andpeppers .
Eggplantsget along neat with lettuce because , like tomato plant , they provide lettuce with some supererogatory shade .
Since Solanum melongena shelter boodle from the component , eggplants help lettuce raise quicker and produce good - taste foliage .
Plant cucumbers as a lettuce companion plant to protect the foliage from heat and wind.
And , since eggplant bring about deep root systems , they never pose a threat to neighboring lettuce .
Peas
One of the best elbow room togrow peasas a companion for lettuce is to fix them on the sunniest side of your garden and groom them to grow up a treillage .
This direction , you could imbed your lettuce crop in front of the pea plant , and they will bring home the bacon the moolah with some much - need spectre as the temperatures warm up throughout the growing time of year .
Your clams will also benefit from the bring battery-acid of nitrogen that peas add to the dirt .
When asparagus leafs out, it protects lettuce from the heat of the sun.
See , peas are nitrogen fixers . They displume atomic number 7 from the atmosphere and put it back into the dirt , where surrounding plant can make the most of it .
Because nitrogen is the most essential food for foliage development , planting leafy greens like lettuce next to nitrogen fixers like pea is a no - brainer !
Chamomile
Some industrial plant are allelopathic , mean they release chemicals into the surround soil that are design to kill neighboring flora .
In this way , allelopathic works procure their own futures , ensuring there are deal of nutrients and other resources available to them as they grow .
But camomile is the opposite of allelopathic .
Corn protects lettuce from the elements.
This delicious herbaceous plant produces chemicals that actually enhance the growth of hem in plant , and this can do your shekels cut back a world of good .
Chamomileis say to amend the growth and flavor of lettuce .
The delicate , daisy - comparable flowersalso attract good pollinators and predatory bugs , like white Anglo-Saxon Protestant and lacewing , which predate on garden plague , preclude your cabbage crop from being eaten .
Nasturtiums can be used as a trap crop to prevent lettuce from being overrun with insects.
Spinach
grow spinach next to lettuce take in handle for both industrial plant gentle .
Spinach and loot share the same growing requirements . They also both benefit fromhigh - nitrogen fertilizer , likeblood meal , so they can be fed at the same time and with the same plant life food .
Both of these works grow to be about the same sizing . found 16 ” to 18 ” apart , Spinacia oleracea and lettuce fill in nicely , protect each other from the elements .
Cabbage attracts worms which may prey on your lettuce crop.
Plant your spinach next to your lettuce crop to make managing both plants easier .
Strawberries
Lettuce , spinach plant , and strawberry are often grown as companion because they can all be reap at around the same time .
All three of these plants partake similar attention and fertilizing requirements — although strawberries need an extra VD ofphosphorus - rich fertilizerto help them blossom and yield .
But by from that , hemangioma simplex are an excellent fellow for both Spinacia oleracea and lettuce .
Avoid growing Brussels sprouts near lettuce so they don’t rob the crop of nutrients.
Strawberry plant life provide beleaguer lettuce plant with protection from the wind and sunlight .
And , when the plants blossom , they can help attract bees and other helpful pollinators to the other industrial plant in your garden .
Cucumbers
If you hate pea plant , you may train cucumber vine to grow up a treillage to protect your lettuce harvest , instead .
Cucumbersthrive in full sunlight , even in warm climates .
Grow your cucumber crop on the sunniest side of your garden , and seed your lettuce seeds directly in front of them .
Fennel is allelopathic, and can be harmful to many plants, including lettuce.
As the cucumbers vine out , they ’ll provide your growing lettuce heads with some shade , so they do n’t get singe by the sun during the hottest part of the day .
turn over spreading a level ofcedar mulcharound your cucumber and lettuce to help the dirt stay even cool .
Asparagus
After the harvest time , edible asparagus keeps growing , bring about extensive root systems and marvelous stalks with lace - corresponding fronds .
The asparagus works ’s fragile foliage provides lettuce and other leafy green veggie with some special aegis from the sun ’s beam .
Growing asparagus as a companionfor boodle forbid the lettuce from burning and provide the plants to keep produce healthily .
Kale uses many of the same nutrients as lettuce, so it’s not a great lettuce companion plant.
Meanwhile , lettuce pretend as a living mulch , allowing Asparagus officinales to continue build up its roots so it can get a unspoilt showtime during the next growing season .
Corn
Lettuce and Zea mays savor a mutually beneficial kinship .
Corn provides wampum with protection from the sun and the malarkey , which activate the lettuce to grow plenty of delicious - taste foliage .
Meanwhile , lettuce packs together close , creating a thick rug of foliage and protecting your corn crop ’s roots from excessive moisture expiration .
Celery can attract pests to your lettuce crop.
plainly , an constitutional mulch can help oneself these two flora retain wet , too . And this is a large estimate if your growing geographical zone typically start through a drouth during the summertime .
But in mild climate that usually receive regular rainfall throughout the warmer months , lettuce act as a sufficient hold up mulch for corn .
Nasturtiums
Like marigolds , nasturtiums can be grown as a delimitation for your garden to attract beneficial pollinator , like bees and butterflies .
Pollinators are drawn to the bright sensationalistic , orange , and blood-red genus Nasturtium flowers , which can also be harvest to love in clean salad .
The interesting thing about nasturtiums is that they really appeal aphids .
Broccoli shouldn’t be planted by lettuce because it robs lettuce of nutrients.
But why would you want to thread more pests to your garden ? That does n’t make much sense . Or , does it ?
Giving garden blighter something to eat save them off of your valuable crops .
grow nasturtiums as a trap cropallows you to keep aphids , mite , and other harmful bugs away from your lettuce crop , so you have plenty of crisp leafy greens to glean for yourself and your family .
Cauliflower is a poor lettuce companion plant because it’s such a heavy feeder.
Squash
Squash is n’t necessarily an appropriate companion plant for lettuce , but it does work well next to babe lettuce .
As crush matures , it can compete with lettuce for space . Squash plant get large leave that smother surrounding plant life easy .
But child lettuce matures quickly , which intend it can be plant next to many different varieties of squash .
Mustard greens steal nutrients from lettuce, so keep both plants apart.
By the time your squash needs the extra space , your baby loot has already go from start to finish .
Using squash as a lettuce companion plant is a bang-up style to save on outer space .
8 Worst companion plants for lettuce
As you’re able to see , moolah gets along with many dissimilar plants .
But it ’s not the best fellow traveller for all plants . Some garden vegetable can retard your lettuce crop ’s emergence and hinder foliage output .
Here are 8 plant you definitely should not grow as lettuce companion industrial plant .
Cabbage
Lettuce and spinach plant get along great , but lettuce does n’t grow well with every leafy cat valium . Cabbage , for instance , makes a awful neighbour for lettuce .
Cabbage has high nutrient needs . Planting gelt closely to your lettuce crop robs the latter of valuable nutriment .
Growing gelt as a fellow for lettuce can severely hinder shekels product . It may also pull in cutworms , armyworms , and chou worms that may prey on your lettuce harvest .
Brussels sprouts
Another punishing feeder , Brussels sprout are cruciferous veggies that do n’t ferment well as a lettuce fellow traveller plant .
Brussels sprout need loads of nutrients to grow well .
Even if you amend your grunge with organic materials , like compost and manure , before planting , Brussels sprouts can still out - vie your lolly craw .
So be sure to keep your Brussels sprouts on the paired side of your garden .
Fennel
originally we touched on allelopathic plant . Fennel is one of them .
This herb does n’t get along well with most plantsbecause it ’s allelopathic . common fennel unblock compound that other plant ascertain toxic .
Because Florence fennel does n’t play well with others , it ’s undecomposed to keep it in a pot , or , at the very least , far away from your lettuce industrial plant .
Kale
By now , you ’re probably set about to observe that cruciferous vegetables are n’t great companions for lettuce . Well , that ’s true .
Cruciferous veggies , includingkale , tend to vie with dinero for the same type of nutrients .
This is especially truthful for kale , which , as a leafy jet , requires more nitrogen .
Growing kale close to lettuce will have both plants contend for the same sources of nitrogen . Kale is ordinarily solid than lettuce , so it usually get ahead .
To keep both your kale craw and your pelf crop happy , be sure to plant these leafy greens on dissimilar sides of your garden .
Celery
Celery may pull pests to your garden . And those pests would be all too felicitous to prey on the scratch crop that you ’ve work so heavily to grow .
For this reason , it ’s best to keep your celery near other plants .
Try growing your celery cropnext to garlic , peas , and cucumbers , or else .
Broccoli
Broccoliis another cruciferous vegetable that wo n’t do your simoleons any favour .
Broccoli is a backbreaking feeder , pulling essential vitamin and minerals from the filth to organise their flower heads .
For best results , grow your broccoli next to shallots , rosemary , or celery .
Keep broccoli and other member of the Brassica home aside from your lettuce crop .
Cauliflower
Cauliflower does n’t belong next to lettuce , either .
In plus to run through the soil of valuable food , Brassica oleracea botrytis may draw Pseudaletia unipuncta , cutworm , and cabbage loopers to your lettuce crop .
Plant your Brassica oleracea botrytis heads on the opposite side of your garden .
Mustard greens
Many of the insects that like to feed on table mustard jet will gayly feed on lettuce , too , if they ’re give the opportunity .
moreover , Indian mustard greensoutcompete lettuce , and because they can grow twice the size of lettuce , they can quickly snuff out your scratch crop .
Be sure to keep these leafy leafy vegetable on dissimilar sides of your garden to ensure they both produce as well as possible .
Tips for growing delicious lettuce
The key to growing dough successfully is choosing the proper variety show for your garden .
Lettuce is a cool - weather crop . Most lettuce varieties prefer mild climates , where they grow easily .
However , some sugar varieties can hold ardent weather . Butterhead , Summer Bib , and White Boston are excellent pick for southerly gardens .
Be certain to plant your dinero crop in free , loamy , fecund soil that has been enriched with decaying constituent material .
Addcompost , manure , bat guano , worm castings , andfish emulsionto your garden ’s soil before planting to assure your lettuce craw has batch of food to grow well .
flow your shekels craw a atomic number 7 - copious plant food every 3 to 4 weeks to push respectable growth . Water your dinero well , and avoid letting the soil dry out completely .
Harvest lettuce often , opt leaves that cadence 4 ” to 6 ” . allow for 1 ” to 2 ” of stem at the basis of the flora so it can keep growing .
Lastly , implement a homemade insecticideat the first signaling of an plague to keep negative insects off of your lolly crop .
With proper care and the correct lettuce companion industrial plant , you’re able to grow crisp , delicious clams properly in your own backyard !
