Companion planting table for raised beds — the pairings that matter

There are companion-planting tables with 60 plants and 3,000 combinations. I printed one once, pinned it to the shed, and never looked at it again. Too much. Nobody checks 3,000 combinations while standing in front of the bed with a trowel in hand.

What you actually need fits on half a page. Here it is — to print, with the pairs that really come up in a raised bed.

If you only remember five rules

My neighbour in Zürich-Affoltern put tomatoes next to potatoes in 2023. Both got blight, both of them. He'd never heard of companion planting. These five rules would have saved him half the harvest:

• ✅ Tomato + basil — basil keeps pests away, both like the same conditions
• ✅ Carrot + onion — the onion repels the carrot fly, the carrot repels the onion fly. Mutual protection.
• ✅ Lettuce + radish — radishes loosen the soil, lettuce shades it. Fast + fast, good gap-fillers.
• ❌ Tomato + potato — both nightshades, both get blight. The classic mistake.
• ❌ Bean + onion — beans don't like alliums nearby, they sulk.

The rest is bonus. Follow just these five and you avoid the most common raised-bed disasters.

The table: good neighbours

Plant	Likes next to it	Why
Tomato	Basil, lettuce, parsley, onion	Basil repels pests, lettuce uses the shade
Cucumber	Bean, lettuce, dill, pea	Bean brings nitrogen, dill attracts beneficials
Carrot	Onion, leek, lettuce, radish	Onion/leek repel the carrot fly
Lettuce	Radish, carrot, pea, cucumber	Gap-filler, shades the soil
Bean	Cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, carrot	Beans fix nitrogen for heavy feeders
Onion	Carrot, lettuce, strawberry	Smell repels the neighbours' pests
Pea	Carrot, cucumber, radish, lettuce	Nitrogen fixer, leaves good soil behind
Radish	Lettuce, carrot, pea, cucumber	Fast, loosens, harvested before others get big

The table: bad neighbours

Plant	Does NOT like next to it	Why
Tomato	Potato, cucumber, fennel	Blight (potato), competition (cucumber)
Bean	Onion, garlic, leek	Alliums inhibit bean growth
Pea	Onion, garlic, leek	Like bean — legumes dislike alliums
Carrot	Dill (in quantity)	Competes for the same space, can stunt growth
Cucumber	Tomato, potato	Competition for water/nutrients, disease pressure
Cabbage	Strawberry, tomato	Cabbage pests go for the neighbours too

The three all-rounders

Some plants get along with almost everything. If you have a gap and don't want to think, these are your safe choice:

• Lettuce — fits almost anywhere, shades, fast to harvest
• Radish — the gap-filler par excellence, four weeks and gone
• Marigold / nasturtium — not vegetables, but they attract beneficials and keep aphids off the neighbours. One plant at the bed edge pays off.

The three loners

And some do better alone or with only a few friends:

• Fennel — gets along with hardly anything, best its own spot
• Potato — a blight cannon, away from tomato, its own corner
• Garlic/onion in bulk — good as protection planted singly, but not as a block next to beans or peas

How to actually use the table

Not every combination in the bed is a decision. You don't have to check 66 pairs for 12 plants. Do it like this:

1. Place the big fruiting vegetables first (tomato, cucumber, courgette) — they set the structure.
2. For each, only check the "bad neighbours" column. If nothing there is already in the bed: it fits.
3. Fill the gaps with the all-rounders (lettuce, radish). You don't have to check those.

Three steps, no biochemistry degree.

What Erntezeit does with this

You pick your plants, I check every combination automatically against the companion rules and warn you if you try to grow tomato next to potato. I also suggest what fits the gap as a follow-on crop after harvest. But the table above works without me too — print it, pin it to the shed, and quickly check the "bad neighbours" column before each planting.

Plant something nice.

🦔 Stachi