Companion planting helps you have healthier vegetables and bigger, better yields. There is a great selection of vegetables, herbs, and flowers to use as beet companion plants, and this guide reveals seven of the best.
Adding companion plants to a vegetable garden helps repel pests and improve the growth and flavor of crops. Planting the likes of garlic, lettuce, radish, sage, catnip, and more, nearby means happy, healthy beets and a top harvest of sweet, earthy roots.
If you grow beets and want to maximize your yield, this guide is here to help. I have cultivated beets for many years, as a professional in vegetable gardens and on my plots at home, and am a staunch believer in the power of companion planting. So I have picked seven top beet companion plants, plus highlight four crops you don’t want to put by your beets.
7 of the best beet companion plants
Companion planting with vegetables, flowers, or herbs offers many benefits. Adding any of these good companions when you plant beets can help you have fewer problems and get better harvests.
Garlic
Any plants in the allium family make fantastic beet companion plants, but garlic is potentially the best. Growing garlic near beets actively protects them, while some growers also claim it improves the growth and flavor.
The strong aroma that emits from planting garlic nearby actively deters many common beet pests, including aphids, cutworms and armyworms, to prevent issues. As well as those smaller pests, the odour is also effective against larger pests like rabbits, voles, or deer, which are known to graze on the crop.
As an alternative to garlic, the similarly pungent smell from growing onions, leeks, or shallots can also act as natural pest control when used as beet companion plants.
See the range of garlic bulbs to plant at Amazon
See the range of garlic bulbs to plant at Walmart
See the range of garlic bulbs to plant at Burpee
See the range of garlic bulbs to plant at True Leaf Market
Lettuce
Lettuce is one of the easiest vegetables to grow, and it works really well as a beet companion plant, primarily thanks to the two crops’ different growing habits.
Beets are root vegetables that search for water and nutrients down in the soil as they develop, while lettuce is a shallow-rooting crop. It means the two plants will not compete in the same zone and can co-exist happily in a space.
But there are more benefits from growing lettuce, too. In the warmer months, the shade provided by the lettuce leaves cools the soil and beets appreciate this protection from the sun’s rays.
Lettuces, as fast-growing vegetables, can also smother weeds that would otherwise compete with the beets for water and nutrients in the soil.
See the range of lettuce seeds at Amazon
See the range of lettuce seeds at Walmart
See the range of lettuce seeds at Burpee
See the range of lettuce seeds at True Leaf Market
Bush beans
Beets need nitrogen to develop, and the roots tend to be sweeter when there is a consistent supply in the soil. And growing bush beans as beet companion plants means you have that steady source of nutrients as the roots develop.
Bush beans are legumes and fix nitrogen in the soil, releasing the nutrient in a readily available form that other crops can easily take in. It means you won’t need to fertilize beets to give them more nitrogen, and the roots will be naturally sweet come harvest time.
It is important to point out that only bush beans or soy beans (which are naturally low-growing) are good beet companion plants, not pole beans, for reasons we’ll explain later when we focus on what not to plant with beets.
A great variety of bush bean is Lima Fordhook 242, available at Burpee, an All-America Selections winner that reliably produces large harvests of pods.
Cabbage
Cabbages and other brassica plants in the cabbage family, such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts, work well as beet companion plants as they prefer the same growing conditions and need the same amount of watering for healthy growth.
The brassicas and beets both thrive as cool-weather crops, and as the former have shallower root systems, they won’t hugely compete. This is good as brassicas are known as heavy feeders that can stunt the growth of other crops that search for water and nutrients in their root zone.
Plus, beets and the brassicas have different growing habits. This means they can be situated next to each other in a vegetable garden. Give both plants regular deep watering, and they will thrive.
See the range of cabbage seeds at Amazon
See the range of cabbage seeds at Walmart
See the range of cabbage seeds at Burpee
See the range of cabbage seeds at True Leaf Market
Catnip
Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is an aromatic herb in the mint family. It is universally known for being a strong favorite of cats, but it can be a natural pest repellent used as part of companion planting.
It can deter mice, voles, aphids, flea beetles, and other vegetable pests like Japanese beetles and Colorado potato beetles. Adding catnip, whether planted in the ground or containers, can prevent beets from getting nibbled by pests, thus preserving your yield.
As well as catnip, growing mint can also deter a long list of potential pests. Just be sure to plant mint in containers rather than the soil, as its vigorous growth can take over a space and swamp other plants. Once planted, it may be difficult to get rid of.
You can get live catnip plants from Nature Hills that can be grown as a perennial in US hardiness zones 3-7.
Radishes
Growing radishes gives you a speedy harvest of spicy roots to add to summer salads and other dishes. As well as being tasty and simple to grow, radishes offer benefits when grown close to beets.
The fast-growing radishes can be sown at the same time as beets, often as successional plantings through spring and summer, and the radishes loosen the soil as they develop. As they grow so fast, once you harvest radishes, the beets can develop in the space and benefit from the loosened soil.
You can also plant radishes as a trap plant for pest control, they can lure certain pests away and, in this case, will help to prevent aphids from troubling the beets.
See the range of radish seeds at Amazon
See the range of radish seeds at Walmart
See the range of radish seeds at Burpee
See the range of radish seeds at True Leaf Market
Sage
Rather than confining them to herb gardens, there are massive benefits to planting perennial herbs around a vegetable garden.
The strong scent that comes with growing sage can repel many pests, confusing the likes of snails, flea beetles, and cabbage moths and preventing them from discovering your vegetables.
If you struggle with rabbits nibbling your beets, then sage can keep them away. Sage is a great rabbit repellent plant as the small mammals strongly dislike the herb’s scent.
When planting sage, as well as the likes of rosemary, thyme, or oregano, as companion plants, it is best to put them near the edges of beds or the end of rows. These herbs require less water than beets, and it helps prevent overwatering plants.
You can get live sage plants from Nature Hills to grow as a perennial in US hardiness zones 5-9.
What not to plant with beets
I have outlined a good selection of great beet companion plants, but there are also bad companion plants for beets that are best avoided. It would be a companion planting mistake to have any of the following with your beets, as it can wreck any potential yield. Here are some major beet growing mistakes to avoid:
- Pole beans - bush beans were highlighted as a good option, and we mentioned that pole beans were a bad companion plant for beets. Here’s the reason: pole beans sprawl as they grow. They can shade out the beets as they grow vertically, and stunt their growth, or sprawling vines can wrap around the beets’ foliage.
- Parsley - growing parsley alongside beets is inadvisable as the herb is known to stunt the growth of some nearby plants. There are lots of beneficial herbs that can be used as beet companion plants, so pick them and steer clear of parsley to be safe.
- Potatoes - potatoes are hungry feeders that take up a lot of water and nutrients; they will out-compete beets and affect their growth.
- Fennel - fennel is an allelopathic plant that releases chemicals into the soil to inhibit the growth of vegetables nearby. There are reasons to grow fennel, as it is a culinary and medicinal plant, however, you do need to be careful and plant it away from most other vegetables.
FAQs
Can I plant beets next to tomatoes?
There are benefits from growing tomatoes as beet companion plants, but also potential drawbacks.
Firstly, for the positives, your beets can get shade from the intense summer sun thanks to the taller tomato plants. Plus, the two crops have similar water requirements during the warmer months.
However, tomatoes are heavy feeders and it will be important to feed the soil so both crops get the nutrients they need to mature.
There are two flowers I always plant in a vegetable garden to deter pests, and they are both fantastic beet companion plants. The two flowers in question are marigolds and nasturtiums.
When you plant marigolds in a vegetable garden, the flowers repel many pests and attract beneficial insects to eat lots of unwanted visitors. Also, adding nasturtiums for pest control means many troublesome pests are repelled plus the likes of aphids, flea beetles, green flies, whiteflies, and more are attracted when they are used as trap plants.
I would always recommend growing marigolds and nasturtiums and adding them to any vegetable garden, as they offer many benefits as well as brightening up any space with their bright flowers, which are also edible.