Are you into kale companion plants? While you already know the star of this cropping season – your kale – planning what plants to choose can be quite a pain, especially if you want to grow everything. And we completely understand that! A stronghold of horticultural crops can be ostentatiously helpful to your kale! They condition the soil. They magnet good bugs. They prevent pests. And most importantly, they can make your harvest as bountiful as a farmer’s dream. Get to know more about them below!

Benefits of Kale Companion Planting

Kale companion planting offers countless benefits. Most often, these advantages are testaments of years of experience by many gardeners, while some are proven with scientifically backed data through devoted scientists. To name some, companion planting kale can:

• Upgrade soil structure and texture beneficial for root growth

• Improve the bioavailability of nutrients to plants

• Enhance microbial activity in the ground against soil pathogens

• Provide a constant moisture content

• Restrict weed growth

• Help control pests and diseases

• Promote garden biodiversity and sustainability

• Increase economic profit

• Make efficient use of garden space

List of Best Kale Companion Plants

What to plant with kale is a matter of the gardener's decision. Whether one plans to sow easy plants or grow something more complicated but rewarding, we will help you get a clear picture of each crop, which we have listed in the following:

Vegetables

Vegetable-to-vegetable tandem is all you need if your goal is to reap farm-to-fork freshness! Feel free to choose which one suits your taste:

Bush Beans

A humble member of the legume family, bush bean and its cousins (sweet peas, peanuts, french beans, etc.) stand loud and proud when planted next to kale! Many horticultural experiments have already shown its promising abilities to improve soil fertility by providing extra nutrients, thanks to its nitrogen-fixing bacteria tenant that lives rent-free in its root nodules. What happens during the process of free nitrogen fabrication is that some of these nutrients are offered free to nearby plants like kale.

Lettuce

With its crunchy and refreshing leaves, lettuce can easily be misbranded as a botanical sister of kale. But, fun fact: they are not! Your salad staple is actually a close relative of sunflowers, chrysanthemums, and daisies, comprising the Compositae or Asteraceae family. This means the kale and lettuce tandem is an absolute thumbs up, making their garden retreat undetectable to pests, as they have different “scent” profiles that confuse garden bugs.

Artichoke

Your kale won’t be choked with artichoke! Believe it or not, artichokes share the same genetic tree as sunflowers, and that means they are good candidates as a kale companion. As previously mentioned, plants belonging to a different family have unique scent thumb marks, which, when mixed with other plant scents, can put pests in a hard situation in finding their perfect meal, such as your precious kale. Since artichokes can grow relatively big, just ensure to put at least 2-3 feet (60-90 cm) distance from your kale rows.