The Ins And Outs Of Companion Planting

Companion planting is a topic dear to our hearts here at Allotment. After all, it’s how we find inspiration for our flavours. If you look at the herbs and plants we use in each of our sparkling drinks, you’ll notice that we always use ingredients that are pals on the allotment.

Following in Mother Nature’s footsteps

Mother Nature had a plan when she chose which herbs and plants would be perfect for the British garden. She purposely designed friendships between ingredients so that they would protect each other from pests and aid pollination (and luckily for us taste amazing together).

Companion planting involves two or more plants helping each other grow. That might be by providing pest control, encouraging pollination or increasing resistance to disease – all of which result in healthier crops and higher yields. Some examples of plants that help each other include mint and tomatoes (keeps away pests), horseradish and potatoes (fends off disease), and borage and strawberries (deters pests and boosts pollination).

The beauty of companion planting is that it helps to maintain a natural balance in your garden or on your allotment. It’s all about taking lessons from Mother Nature. In nature, plants don’t grow in ordered, categorised sections – they grow in amongst each other, with all manner of species cropping up next to one another for a balanced, productive plot.

For us, it means readily available, garden-grown ingredients that taste incredible together.