00:01In nature, you generally don't have the same plant over and over and over again.
00:06You will have plants of different species up against each other, helping each other.
00:10So if you mix it up by putting a companion plant that's not of that same variety, you get good success.
00:16Hi, my name is Junior Skouten and I'm Head of Horticulture and Maintenance here at Brooklyn Grange.
00:20We're going to talk about companion plantings, how to bring them into your garden, their benefits, and some of the best ones that you can use.
00:26Some of the best companion plants live in the Allium family. Allium and peppers are great companion plants because they help each other keep pests that would attack one from the other.
00:38They're great plants to put together for a successful garden.
00:41So here we have some scallions and these are great companion plants to put the peppers behind me.
00:46The peppers get attacked by some bugs. The Alliums protect the peppers because those bugs don't like the astringent flavor and sense of the scallion.
00:55Another group of companion plants that do well together are parsley and peppers.
00:59Parsley is an herb and anything with those strong flavors help deter pests such as aphids and earwigs and those type of things.
01:08They help one another because the peppers, especially hot peppers, have capsaicin in them and that hot flavor detracts pests from attacking them.
01:16And so they help protect your parsley.
01:18Some easy companion plants that you can bring to your garden are just herbs. All herbs will flower.
01:23You already probably have thyme, parsley, rosemary in your garden.
01:27You want the companion plants to be flowering. They'll attract lacewings, ladybugs, bumblebees, hoverflies.
01:33These are the animals that are going to be protecting your plants.
01:36So this companion plant combo is cilantro and strawberries.
01:41We have our cilantro here with these nice beautiful flowers.
01:44This is what we're trying to go for because the beneficial insects, the bees, the lacewings, they're using these for nectar.
01:50If there are any small aphids growing on these strawberries, the lacewings will come from the cilantro and go directly to the food that they'll eat off of the strawberries, saving you time and effort and the reduced use of pesticides.
02:04One of the more famous companion plants are tomato and basil.
02:08Some pests that would attack the tomatoes do not like basil.
02:12So if you put the basil next to the tomatoes, they stay away from your tomatoes.
02:15Smells good. Can I smell it?
02:21Companion plants are great if you have a small garden because it helps maximize the yield that your plants get.
02:26Tomatoes will produce more. Your peppers will produce more if you have pests not attacking them.
02:32Beneficial insects are coming in. Your companion plants are bringing in the good guys.
02:36The bad guys are the ones that are going to take you away from your tomatoes and your peppers.
02:40So bringing those guys in, the beneficial insects, through the use of companion plants is a great way to boost your yields in your small garden.
02:48Spacing of companion plants is pretty simple.
02:51We want them very close to each other so that the beneficial insects can jump over to the plant that might be in danger or is being attacked by pests.
02:59So relatively close, but they don't have to be right up against each other.
03:02Gardening is very easy. Don't fret. Don't get upset. Give them water. Give them love and they'll grow nicely for you.
03:09They'll grow nicely for you.
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