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Sweet Potato Companion Plants: Full List of Pairings
While they’re difficult to grow here in the northeast, sweet potatoes can be an excellent addition to your garden if you know how to care for and harvest them. When you put in all that hard work to make your crop a success, make sure you’re planting some good sweet potato companion plants nearby.
The best sweet potato companion plants include other root vegetables, legumes, alliums, and leafy greens, along with a few flowers and herbs. See them all below!
Full List of Sweet Potato Companion Plants
The following vegetables, flowers, and herbs all benefit sweet potatoes by repelling pests, improving soil quality, and/or offering shade.
Vegetables to Plant with Sweet Potatoes
• Beets, Carrots, Parsnips, Radishes, and Turnips – These root vegetables can all break up the soil for sweet potatoes. Parsnips should be grown nearby, but not interplanted, since they may affect sweet potatoes’ growth.
• Beans and Peas – Sweet potatoes benefit from the added nitrogen legumes leave in the soil.
• Corn – Planting corn in a sweet potato bed can offer dappled shade, which the tubers enjoy.
• Garlic, Leeks, Onions, and Other Alliums – These allium family members all repel a variety of sweet potato pests and help prevent root-knot nematodes.
• Horseradish – Horseradish can prevent diseases and pests from building up on your sweet potatoes.
• Lettuce and Spinach – Leafy greens like lettuce and spinach take up little space and can offer ground cover around sweet potato plants.
• Potatoes – Though they appear to be similar, sweet potatoes and potatoes are actually from different families! Luckily, they get along well and make good companions for each other. (Here’s what else you can plant with potatoes.)
Flowers to Plant Near Sweet Potatoes
• Alyssum – Alyssum attracts pollinators and other insects that prey on pests like aphids. It also acts as an excellent ground cover.
• Marigolds – Marigolds help prevent root-knot nematodes and pests.
• Nasturtiums – Nasturtiums work well as an aphid trap crop when planted near sweet potatoes.
Herbs to Plant Near Sweet Potatoes
These herbs help repel pests and draw in beneficial insects, like pollinators.
• Basil
• Borage
• Chives
• Dill
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Yarrow
What NOT to Plant Next to Sweet Potatoes
• Pumpkins and Squash – Pumpkins, along with summer and winter squashes, compete for space and nutrients, so it’s best not to plant them near each other.
• Tomatoes – Tomatoes and sweet potatoes can share diseases, so it’s best to keep them separated.
• Sunflowers – Like tomatoes, sunflowers can share diseases like potato blight with your sweet potatoes.
Happy Sweet Potato Growing!
You should now have plenty of sweet potato companion plants to choose from when planning your garden. Enjoy your sweet potatoes!
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