Can you plant watermelon&potatoes together in the garden?
Pole or bush beans are beneficial when planted close to watermelons because they increase the soil's nitrogen. Interplanting melons with potatoes can have good effects, particularly if you mulch the potatoes with straw. Marigolds (Tagetes) and nasturtiums (Tropaeolum) excel as companions in the vegetable garden for almost every edible plant.
What can I plant next to watermelon to make it Bloom?
Pole or bush beans are beneficial when planted close to watermelons because they increase the soil's nitrogen. Interplanting melons with potatoes can have good effects, particularly if you mulch the potatoes with straw.
Can I plant citron melon&watermelon together?
Keep different varieties of watermelon and the citron melon as separate as possible in your yard to help prevent cross-pollination. A plant that shouldn't be planted next to a watermelon vine is, well, another watermelon vine.
How do you grow watermelon successfully?
One of the best steps for prolific watermelon growth is crop rotation 2 . The two main pests that affect watermelons are aphids and cucumber beetles. Not only do these insects feed on the plants but they can also transmit viruses from plant to plant, which is often more damaging than the insect’s feeding.
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What can you not plant with watermelon?
Avoid planting them near other crops that will shade them. Include flowers like dill, chamomile, cosmos and pineapple sage to attract predatory insects that eat melon pests, including beetles, caterpillars and aphids.
Can you grow watermelon and sweet potatoes together?
Squash and other vining plants like pumpkins and melons are among the worst companion plants for sweet potatoes. These plants have similar growth habits so they compete for resources, including space and available sunlight. It's likely that both plants will suffer stunted growth if they are planted together!
What can you not plant next to potatoes?
Plants to Avoid Placing Near Potatoes Include:Tomatoes.Eggplants.Peppers.Cucumbers.Pumpkins/Squash.Onions.Fennel.Carrots.More items...
What grows well with watermelons?
Some companion plants for watermelons can reduce pest infestations, like garlic, radishes, corn, broccoli, marigolds, and certain herbs. Lavender and borage can help promote pollination, while pole or bush beans can increase nitrogen in the soil.
What should not be planted near sweet potatoes?
3 Plants to Avoid Planting Near Sweet PotatoesSquash: Squashes like pumpkins compete with sweet potatoes for space and nutrients.Sunflowers: These flowers may increase the risk of potato blight.Tomatoes: Planting tomatoes near sweet potatoes can increase the chances of your plants contracting harmful diseases.
What grows well next to sweet potatoes?
As a rule of thumb, root vegetables, such as parsnips and beets, are good sweet potato companions. Bush beans are good sweet potato companions, and certain varieties of pole beans can be trained to grow along the ground intermingled with sweet potato vines.
What grows well with sweet potato vines?
Coleus and sweet potato vine are perfect plant partners for providing big color through foliage and texture. Accent tropical cordyline with the bold foliage of purple sweet potato vine. Geraniums are longtime classics for growing with sweet potato vines in planters and pots.
What can watermelon cross pollinate with?
Watermelons and citron both belong to the same genus: Citrullus and, therefore, will cross-pollinate each other. Muskmelon, cantaloupe and Casaba melons will cross since they are both in the genus Cucumis and in the same species melo.
Watermelon Size And Sunlight Requirement
You must understand that watermelon needs lots of space, except you want to grow a bush-type. Their vines can reach up to 20 feet in length, and both the small varieties of watermelon such as Sugar Baby and large varieties like Crimson Sweet can spread up to 6 to 8 feet.
Best Watermelon Companion Plants
Some watermelon companion plants give definite benefits more than the others, and we shall be looking into some of them below.
What Not to Plant With Watermelon
While we have learned that watermelon is friendly to almost all plants and vegetables, there exist some plants that are detrimental to the optimal growth and development of watermelon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the things you should not plant next to watermelon are cucumbers, pumpkins, summer squash/zucchini, and winter squash.
Why do I need Companion Plants for growing Watermelons?
In theory, you could also grow watermelons without any other plants around them.
What should you plant with Watermelons?
Good companion plants for watermelons are nasturtiums, marigolds, onions, garlic, shallots, chives, spinach, beans, carrots, lettuce, tansy, mint, catnip and leeks.
Vegetable Allies
Cucumber beetles are the main insect pests attacking watermelon and, if not controlled, they may transmit bacterial wilt to the melons, causing them to suddenly wilt and die at the time fruit production begins. Radishes repel cucumber beetles, as does corn. Plant corn nearby only if it does not tower over the growing watermelons.
Flower Companions
Marigolds (Tagetes) and nasturtiums (Tropaeolum) excel as companions in the vegetable garden for almost every edible plant. In the case of watermelons, these two flowers both deter the dreaded cucumber beetle. The flowering herb oregano (Origanum) offers general pest protection, as well as a pleasant scent and leaves to flavor cooking.
Close Family
Often members of a vegetable family do not make good companions because of the threat of sharing insect pests or diseases or competition for certain nutrients in the soil. This is especially true for the nightshade vegetables, such as tomatoes and potatoes, which should not grow anywhere near each other.
Growing Vertically
Vertical melon-growing maximizes garden space, allows more surface exposure to sunlight, makes pest management easier and raises the fruit off the ground so it does not rot. Therefore, you can conquer many potential watermelon problems by training the vines up a support.
Toxic Plants
While many plants are poisonous to humans and animals, only a few are toxic to other plants, such as watermelons. The black walnut tree (Juglans nigra), for example, produces juglone in its nuts, leaves and branches. This substance leaches into the ground and harms most nearby plants.
Plants Pests Like
Watermelons are susceptible to attack by several types of insects, including the aphids and the cucumber beetle.
Cross-Pollinators
Bees travel from flower to flower without paying attention to which variety they just came from. This means they often transfer pollen from one type of plant to another. This isn't usually a big problem with watermelons, since watermelons don't cross-pollinate with many plants, including closely related ones such as cantaloupe.
Spacing
A plant that shouldn't be planted next to a watermelon vine is, well, another watermelon vine. At least, they shouldn't be placed directly next to each other. Watermelon vines tend to spread out 3 to 4 feet in all directions, so they should be planted about 6 to 10 feet apart to give the vines plenty of room to grow.
Plants for Shade
Although watermelon needs six hours of sun each day to grow well, the large leaves of the plant can burn in the mid-day heat. Planting corn with your watermelon will provide shade for the plants during the hottest time of the day. Allow about a foot between the corn plants so the watermelon plants still receive enough sun.
Insect Control Plants
Young melon plants are susceptible to insect invasion, especially cucumber beetles. Once the plants mature, they can tolerate some leaf loss due to insects, but keeping companion plants nearby helps control swarms of pests. Cass County Master Gardeners recommend marigold, oregano and nasturtium as companion plants for melons.
How They Work
Companion plants can repel harmful insects or attract predatory insects that will eat the bugs that want to eat your melon plants. Typically, the smell or a chemical signal undetected by humans keeps insects away. Plants that attract beneficial insects provide them a place to hide and nest as they wait to ambush their prey.
Bad Companions
Just as some plants can help your watermelons, others can hurt them. Potatoes attract many of the same insects that feed on watermelon plants and also introduce the risk of blight that can destroy your crop of watermelons. If you want to grow both potatoes and watermelons, keep your potato patch well separated from your watermelon garden.
What Is Companion Planting?
Companion planting is a time-tested gardening method that enriches and protects vulnerable crops. Farmers and gardeners plant specific crops near each other in order to deter pests, attract beneficial insects, and stimulate growth.
What Are the Benefits of Companion Planting?
Companion plants will either help a specific crop grow or will grow better beside a specific crop, and can do many support jobs in the garden:
