10 Unbeetable Beets Companion Plants for a Healthy Harvest

Help your beets thrive by planting them with other plants that support their growth.

Published March 21, 2023
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Welcome, all beet enthusiasts and those who aspire to be Dwight Schrute, to the best beet companion plant guide you'll find. In fact, in this unbeetable guide to growing flourishing beets, you'll also learn what plant might drop the beet. You can't beet homegrown foods, so let's get planting!

Lettuce

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Lettuce doesn't need a ton of room for its roots to grow, so it won't fight with your beets for root space. Fill out your garden without inhibiting growth from either plant. Lettuce makes an excellent beet companion plant if you're short on space. Plus, you get some delicious beet salad after a harvest.

Cabbages

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Cabbage works together with the beets as a companion plant. With the two exchanging nutrients and not competing for the same space, not only will your beets grow, but they will thrive. How? Cabbages give that soil a nice boost of enrichment and nutrients, and your beets will thank you for it.

Onions

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Don't plant your onions too close to your beets, but certainly, make them dirt neighbors. Onions are the guardians of beet companion plants, keeping aphids, beetles, and rabbits away from your crops. Leeks and shallots offer the same benefits as beet companion plants.

Radishes

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Radishes, oh radishes. A bitter and spicy vegetable with a crunch. You love them or you hate them, and your beets? They love radishes. Radishes grow quickly, which means they'll loosen up the soil around your beets. This is great news, as beets don't tend to thrive as well in dense soil.

Helpful Hack

Because the radishes will be ready before your beets, not only will you be able to weed around the beets easily, but harvesting the quickly sprouted radishes will give the beets more room to spread out as they grow.

Thyme

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Like the Dad joke goes, you can never have too much thyme. And boy, is that true when it comes to thyme as a companion plant for beets. Neither plant will compete for root space and the thyme, or rosemary, will use their scent to help repel beetles that would otherwise make a meal of your beets.

Quick Tip

Mint also helps to repel beetles from beets, but mint can spread quickly and take over. The solution? Plant your mint in a pot so you have a mobile pest control plant.

Broccoli

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Let's get cruciferous! Technically, we're getting into the Brassica family tree with both broccoli and cauliflower.

Just like cabbage, the beet and broccoli companion plants offer important nutrients to one another, resulting in a thriving relationship and harvest.

Cauliflower

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If you're looking for a reason to grow cauliflower other than as a side dish or an easy rice substitute, consider this: using cauliflower as a beet companion plant will not only improve the quality of your beets, but the taste, too.

Catnip

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Time to shore up your #Caturday posts with a little catnip in your garden. Keep beetles, aphids, and other bugs clear of your beets, and mice out of your garden. A word to the wise: catnip can spread quite easily, so add your beets to your catnip plot, and not the other way around.

Bush Beans

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Put the poles down, you're not growing pole beans. You're growing bush beans and soybeans with your beets. These companion plants to beets add nutrients to the soil, helping your beets thrive. Where pole beans pump too much nitrogen into the soil, the bush bean adds the *chef's kiss* amount.

Chard - Well, Maybe

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Beets and chards are a similiar plant. So how does that hurt your beet garden? While they will thrive as neighbors, they'll attract the same pests, so you'll be doing double duty to keep both healthy.

Good Friends for Your Beets

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If your heart beets for beats, look to these beet companion plants to make sure they thrive and shine. With these plants in your back pocket, you won't need to worry about having a deadbeet garden.

10 Unbeetable Beets Companion Plants for a Healthy Harvest