Mixed planting guides
Proven crop combinations for a single bed – with a season timeline, bed layout and harvest calendar.
Early Carrots Followed by Endive
Bunching carrots come out in July and hand the bed to endive, the classic autumn salad.
Tomatoes with a Lettuce Understory
Lettuce keeps cropping in the light shade under tomatoes — the understory that stops summer bolting.
Parsnips with Radish Row Markers
Slow-germinating parsnips share their rows with radishes that mark the rows and are gone in weeks.
Radish, Dill & Overwinter Onions
Fast radishes, a summer of dill, then overwinter onion sets that come out first thing next summer.
Spring Onions Followed by Zucchini
Bunching onions from sets use the cool spring, then one zucchini takes over the whole warm bed.
Spinach, Bush Beans & Lamb's Lettuce
Three harvests from one bed: spring spinach, summer beans, and lamb's lettuce that stands through winter.
Broad Beans Followed by Leeks
Early broad beans feed the soil, then July-transplanted leeks use it until winter.
Garlic with an Autumn Lettuce Follow-up
Autumn-planted garlic comes out in July, just in time to sow a crisp autumn lettuce crop.
Peas Followed by Cucumbers
Nitrogen-fixing peas hand the warm mid-summer bed to hungry cucumbers.
Early Potatoes with Autumn Kale
Early potatoes clear the bed by July, leaving loosened soil for kale that stands deep into winter.
Bush Beans with Summer Savory & Beetroot
Summer savory is the traditional bean herb, credited with deterring black bean aphid, and beetroot gets along with both.
Leek & Carrot Bed
Alternating leek and carrot rows: each crop's scent hides the other from its main pest.
Zucchini with Nasturtium & Radish
Nasturtium works as a trap crop for aphids around hungry zucchini, and radishes are gone before the zucchini needs the room.
Cabbage, Celery & Beetroot
Celery scent helps protect cabbage from the cabbage white butterfly, and beetroot fills the row edges.
Strawberries with Garlic
Autumn-planted garlic between strawberry rows helps keep fungal pressure and pests down until both are harvested next summer.
Cucumber & Dill with Early Lettuce
Dill sown among cucumbers attracts beneficial insects, while early lettuce uses the cool spring weeks.
Three Sisters: Corn, Beans & Squash
The traditional trio: corn carries the beans, beans feed the soil, squash shades out weeds.
Carrot & Onion Bed
The classic pair: onion scent deters carrot fly, carrot scent deters onion fly.
Pepper & Basil with a Lettuce Pre-crop
Peppers and basil share the warm bed after an early lettuce crop has used the spring.
Tomato & Basil Bed with Spring Greens
A single bed that yields twice: fast spring greens first, then tomatoes and basil for the whole summer.