With all the disasters that threaten a garden, plants will refuse to grow if they do not like the company they are with in the garden bed. Other varieties of plants feel right at home with each other.

We plant heavily with radishes. We plant radishes with the carrots, swiss chard, beets and lettuce. Deer do not like radishes.

Our cabbages refuse to grow next to our radishes. We hope for fresh sauerkraut next winter. The cabbage will be planted away from the green vegetables.

Tomatoes, basil and green peppers always do well together. Zucchini tends to do better planted in next to the tomatoes than it does when you plant it in with other varieties of squash.

Tomatoes should not be planted in the same garden plot for three years to prevent blight. That means we can not plant them the same place they were last year or the year before.

Beans, pumpkins and squash do well together and they all like full sun. The squash and pumpkins are planted in hills. The beans prefer straight lines.

Marigolds and nasturtium are planted strategically around the gardens. These flowers help keep the insects down.

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