You try to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, and think of the benefit of the environment as much as your own household so you decide to take up gardening as your go-to activity. At first, the idea of growing your own fresh produce, even in an urban setting, can be motivational enough. 

You acquire the necessary tools to get started, you get the wanted seeds for the fruits, veggies, flowers and herbs you wish to produce, the proper soil and mulch and at first glance everything is perfect until you start dealing with more chores than you thought yet still don’t get the expected plant growth.

First of all, investing in a self-watering white planter can make gardening easy. If you tend to over or underwater, this is the ideal solution for the plants as they get as much water as they need, when they need it. And when it comes to easily curbing issues with the soil, weeds and pests? Try the companion planting solution. 

How Do You Do Companion Planting?

Learn More of the Plant Combinations

As this is for the benefit of the plants, it’s important to note not all go well with others, so the first thing to do is plan how and what you’d fill up your handy planters with. Do a little research to find out which plants complement each other to make the most of the gardening. Not sure how to go about it? Let a helpful phone app to do the planning for you.

To give you an idea, some of the most notable combinations you can swear by in your white planter include a mix of everything, from legumes and vegetables to herbs and flowers. For example, beets go with bush beans, lettuce, onions or garlic, peppers with leeks, chives, basil or oregano, potatoes with corn, mint, spinach or cabbage, tomatoes or strawberries with rosemary, calendula, basil or borage, cucumber and zucchini with marigolds or nasturtiums, radishes with peas, squash with buckwheat, sage with carrots. 

The reason these are winning combinations has to do with the way some plants successfully keep pests away; garlic, chives, thyme, oregano, rosemary, nasturtiums and borage are great for aphids and other known tomato and potato pests. Want to attract beneficial insects like bees and other pollinators? Make sure you throw in some coreopsis, sunflowers, lovage, zinnia, comfrey, ageratum, alyssum, parsley and dill too. 

Reduce Competition

The reason you’re advised to do more research and planning has to do with the fact not all plants go well together, and sometimes instead of benefitting you could end up creating plant competition and poor gardening results. One example would be negative pairings like onions with beans as this leads to growth stunt. 

Think of the plant growth, specifically how much root growth space they need and purchase the suitable self watering pots that provide enough room. These planters are available in different sizes so it shouldn’t be difficult to find the right one for your needs. 

Additionally, try to pair plants of different roots, mixing those with deep with those with shallow roots to boost variety and ensure they all get the needed nutrients at the different soil levels. This way you also prevent competition, and enhance the chances of gardening success.

Think of Protection

The pairing of different plants can be the protective measure you require to ensure your smaller crops benefit from the larger crops. Once the larger crops grow, they offer the needed shade and keep pests away. This is especially perfect when you do intercropping through mixing fast-growing plants with slow-growing ones. 

Again, as some plants require more sun than others, you need to be aware of their needs before pairing them with shading plants. While salad leaves like cilantro, pak choi and mustard, broccoli, Swiss chard and radishes grow nicely in shade, there are some sun-loving plants that could be set up for a rather slow growth when placed in shade. 

Mind the Planting Rows

Yes, sometimes one’s own OCD can be the factor that contributes to pest infestation. Let me give you an example: If you too, like me, love seeing perfect rows of the same plants, you might want to work on the perfectionism. This is due to the fact the perfect rows give way for the slugs and other insects, leading them directly to your lovely plants. 

Don’t Forget the Soil 

Some plants are highly beneficial for the soil quality as they add to the nitrogen content, thus enriching it and making it easier for the growth of other plants. The plants you’d love to have in the planter for this purpose are the legumes. Some examples include peas, beans, bush beans and clovers. These are all perfect especially when paired with nitrogen-loving plants like squash, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes and leafy greens.