Permaculture, Companion Planting, & Plant Guilds

Permaculture is basically a self-sufficient ecosystem. In gardening, it means that you’ve created an environment that allows the plants to grow with little intervention needed on your part. Basically, the garden does most of the work of taking care of itself, and you only need to do minimal maintenance.

Part of permaculture is companion planting. These are plants that have a symbiotic relationship with one another. Their pairings benefit one another, often times repelling pests or enriching the soil.

Plant guilds are an extension of companion planting in which there are whole groups of plants that create a symbiotic micro-culture within your garden.

Companion Plants

• Asparagus—Tomatoes, parsley, basil
• Beans, Broad (aka Fava)—Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, corn, lettuce, lovage
  marjoram, potatoes, spinach. Summer Savory – Plant with beans and onions to improve growth and flavor. Discourages cabbage moths.
• Beans, Bush (aka green beans, string beans, snap beans)—Sunflowers, cucumbers, potatoes, corn, celery. Plant Summer savory with beans and onions to improve growth and flavor. Discourages cabbage moths.
• Beets—onions
• Brassicas (Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kale, etc)—Potatoes, celery, dill, chamomile, sage, thyme, mint, pennyroyal, rosemary, lavender, beets, onions. Chamomile – Improves flavor of cabbages and onions.
• Carrots—Peas, lettuce, chives, onions, leeks, rosemary, sage, tomatoes, Bush beans, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, onions, peppers, red radishes.
• Cucumbers—Sunflowers, beans, corn, English pea, sunflowers, radish, bush beans, pole beans, lettuce, onions, peas, marigold, nasturtium, savory
• Eggplant—bush beans, pole beans, spinach
• Leek—onions, celery, carrots
• Lettuce—carrots, radishes, strawberries, cucumbers
• Onion—beets, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumber, lettuce, pepper, squash, strawberries, tomato
• Peas—squash
• Pepper, hot—Lovage, marjoram, parsnip, cucumbers, eggplant, escarole, tomato, okra, Swiss chard and squash. Herbs to plant near them include: basils, oregano, parsley and rosemary
• Pepper, sweet—tomatoes, parsley, onions, basil, and carrots.
• Pumpkin—corn
• Radish—peas, nasturtium, lettuce, cucumbers
• Raspberry—marigold, rue, tansy
• Spinach—strawberries
• Squash—nasturtium, corn
• Strawberries—bush beans, spinach, borage, lettuce
• Tomato—chives, onion, parsley, asparagus, marigold, nasturtium, carrot, limas

Plant Guilds

Plant guilds are also, sometimes known as 7 layer gardens because there are 7 types of plant structures that make up the guild:

1. The Overstory or Canopy—this is made up of taller trees, like nut trees
2. The Understory (sometimes called the Midstory)—made up of smaller trees, like fruit trees
3. The Shrub (or Brush) layer—made up of bushes, like blueberry, gooseberry, currants, false indigo, Azalea, etc.
4. The Herbaceous layer—both annual and perennial plants, including flowers, herbs, or veg
5. Ground Cover—like clover, strawberries, nasturtium, etc.
6. Roots—root vegetables or plants with deeper root structures
7. Vines—climbers like grapes, kiwi, pole beans, etc.

In addition, some plant guilds include a wetland layer and a fungi / Mycelial layer.

Most plant guild instructions are site and plant specific. It gets a little frustrating to be told over and over again that your plant choices are dependent on your particular site and what you want the guild to accomplish. As such, there are “Bee Guilds” made up of companion plants whose sole job is to attract bees. There are “Fruit Tree Guilds” that require plants that act as deer (or other wild life) repellents. Some guilds have to work in places where the water table is higher, so they need to utilize plants that would do better in wetlands, while still protecting surrounding fruit or nut trees.

While I can list different types of companion plants to use in various guilds, it’d only be a starting point or template. You’ll need to figure out what your goal for the guild is and observe your particular site to know what will and won’t work. Honestly, sometimes it’s trial and error, but if you pay attention to nature, it will tell you what plants will work.

(I’ll try to update this with guilds that have worked for me, as I discover them).