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Friday, February 14, 2025

17 Companion Crops to Develop With Cantaloupe


Have you ever ever had a patch of your yard devoted to cantaloupe? I as soon as did earlier than I discovered about companion planting. A typical false impression is that melons and different vining crops have to be planted alone, away from every thing else, in order that they gained’t climb throughout every thing, however you’d be shocked what you possibly can plant close to your melon patch.

Companion planting is critical for any backyard in order for you it to run as effectively as attainable. Rising numerous fruits, greens, and flowers close to one another could have pollinators buzzing round your crops very quickly, resulting in loads of pollination and an plentiful harvest. You’ll additionally drive away undesirable pests while you plant sure issues collectively.

Let’s think about at how one can make companion planting occur in your cantaloupe, and also you’ll by no means have a lonely melon patch once more!

What Is Companion Planting?

Companion planting is rising a number of species in the identical mattress to allow them to assist one another out. It has turn out to be certainly one of my favourite features of gardening. I’ve restricted area for my crops, so I cram as a lot as attainable in a single area!

That hasn’t all the time labored out till I discovered which crops assist and which harm one another. Think about giving it a attempt within the Birdies 6-in-1 Metallic Raised Backyard Mattress.

Some crops are extremely fragrant and can keep off pests. Pairing these crops with others, you’ll see fewer pests as a result of they will’t stand the odor.

Companion planting can even assist rejuvenate drained soil. Legumes add nitrogen, so heavy feeder crops will take pleasure in rising close to them.

Interplanting has many advantages, and cantaloupes can even profit from this gardening technique, regardless of their lengthy vines and thirst for water.

Cantaloupe as Companion Crops

Close-up of a garden bed with cantaloupe, lettuce and cucumber growing vegetables. Cantaloupe is a spreading vine with long thin stems. Cantaloupe leaves are large and palmately lobed, resembling a hand with multiple fingers. The leaves are deeply divided into three to five lobes, with protruding veins running through them. They have a rough texture and are medium to dark green in color. The fruits are large, round in shape, with a rough mesh peel of a light green color.
These melon vines can stop erosion and defend different crops’ roots.

What good can a leafy vining plant with massive fruit do? So much, truly. Although there are some drawbacks to letting cantaloupe close to the remainder of your backyard, just a few good issues will make you cease and think about it.

Advantages

Since cantaloupe covers a number of floor, it can stop erosion. In the event you obtain a number of wind or rain, your backyard can lose a number of grime. Cantaloupe roots will stop it from washing away, and the dense leaf protection will stop the grime from blowing away.

Cantaloupe can even defend the roots of different crops. There aren’t roots on each vine, so a number of floor is roofed by leaves. So, you possibly can enable the vines to encompass different crops to guard their roots to allow them to develop with little disturbance.

Disadvantages

Cantaloupes can rack up a water invoice rapidly throughout a drought. (For this reason I’m not a melon gardener!) Thirsty cantaloupes shouldn’t be planted subsequent to crops that choose drier situations as a result of they’ll drown their neighbors in simply a few weeks. Hale’s Greatest Jumbo Cantaloupe is a extra drought-tolerant selection that may enable you to use much less water.

Cautious planning can assist you keep away from crowding points, however these hardy vines can get uncontrolled and begin choking out different crops. You’ll want some trellises and cord to maintain issues below management.

Companion Crops for Cantaloupe

When selecting crops to develop along with your cantaloupe, choose species that don’t thoughts a number of water and attract pollinators to assist your melons produce as a lot fruit as attainable. Listed here are some nice selections to contemplate.

Basil

Top view, close-up of a basil plant in a sunny garden. Basil is a herbaceous annual plant that belongs to the mint family, Lamiaceae. The plant has square strong stems, covered with dense foliage. The leaves are oval with a slightly serrated edge. They are bright green and purple in color and have a glossy, smooth texture.
Basil is a helpful plant that repels pests and generally is a appropriate companion for cantaloupe.

You possibly can’t go fallacious with basil, normally. This fragrant herb could keep off many pests, together with thrips, which can trigger stunted progress and discoloration of cantaloupe crops.

Basil has a bushy progress behavior that may turn out to be fairly tall, however in the event you prune and harvest it ceaselessly sufficient, it gained’t be a problem as a cantaloupe neighbor. It has a shallow root system that shouldn’t compete with cantaloupe. When you have doubts, it makes a nice container plant when positioned close to a melon patch.

Beans

Close-up of a bean plant in a sunny garden. The bean plant is a vine. The plant has large, broad oval leaves arranged alternately along the stems and have a bright green color. The leaves are made up of several leaflets, of which there are usually three, and are attached to a central stem known as the petiole. The fruits of a leguminous plant are pods containing edible seeds. The pods are long and thin, bright green in color.
Planting beans alongside cantaloupe supplies nitrogen fixation and helpful help.

Beans profit many crops since they will repair nitrogen within the soil. Cantaloupe crops are heavy feeders and can profit vastly from having succession-planting of beans of their space.

Because the beans are alive, they soak up nitrogen from the air and repair it of their roots; as soon as the older bean crops have died again and you chop them off on the soil, their roots decay into the soil and launch the entire nitrogen they’d saved in your cantaloupe crops.

Bush and pole bean varieties will each work. Strive alternating rows of cantaloupe and beans. Use trellises or cattle fence panels for pole beans to coach them to develop up as an alternative of out for the reason that cantaloupe could have the bottom coated.

As you cycle bean crops by means of your cantaloupe patch, be sure you lower off those you take away on the soil degree, leaving their roots behind to feed your produce!

Borage

Close-up of a flowering Borage plant in a sunny garden. the plant has a bushy branching structure. The stems are covered with fine hairs and are purple in color. The leaves are large, coarse in texture and densely covered with short, stiff hairs. They are oval or heart-shaped with serrated edges and a bright green color. The flowers are small, star-shaped and bright blue in color.
Borage enriches the soil with potassium and calcium for improved cantaloupe manufacturing.

Whereas I’m discussing replenishing the soil with crops, I ought to point out borage! As borage decomposes, it releases potassium and calcium into the soil and helps you develop extra cantaloupe.

You possibly can chop and drop borage so as to add extra natural materials whereas holding these vitamins accessible for different crops. Potassium is accountable for fruiting and flowering, so plant scientists advocate low-nitrogen and high-potassium fertilizers as soon as crops produce flowers.

If that’s not sufficient motive to plant borage, in addition they appeal to helpful bugs galore. You’ll have extra pollinators and predators in your backyard, which might result in extra fruit and fewer pests. 

Cantaloupe vines will doubtless choke out borage if issues get out of hand, so control these vines! In the event you’d slightly simply cycle borage close by to make borage mulch in your crops, plant them on the sides of your melon patch or preserve them in containers close by and resow by means of the season, chopping and dropping older crops after they flower however earlier than they set seed.

Borage has many advantages as a companion plant.

Carrots

Close-up of a male hand holding a bunch of freshly picked carrots in the garden, against the backdrop of growing carrot plants. Carrots have edible, bright orange taproots and a rosette of leaves. These leaves are deeply divided into pinnate, fern-like segments. The leaves are green and lush.
Plant carrots with cantaloupe to loosen the soil and supply area for seedlings.

Carrot companions are an effective way to assist loosen up your soil. Develop this cool-season crop the place you need your melon patch to interrupt up the soil to assist tender cantaloupe seedlings discover their footing.

You possibly can eat carrots at any stage, so you possibly can go away some within the floor even when it’s time to plant cantaloupe seeds. Pull the carrots as soon as the seedlings want extra room.

Cilantro

Close-up of a growing Cilantro in a sunny garden. Cilantro is an annual plant with thin, branching stems and delicate, finely dissected leaves. The leaves of cilantro are flat and rounded, bright green in color.
Plant cilantro close to cantaloupe for helpful bugs and pest-repellent properties.

Although cilantro is a cool-season crop that often can’t take the warmth, you possibly can preserve it in containers or shady spots close to your cantaloupe to reap the advantages.

Cilantro will appeal to many helpful bugs to your backyard. You’ll see many pollinators like butterflies, hoverflies, and bees and predators like ladybugs, lacewings, and parasitic wasps. Apart from bringing in predators, cilantro can even repel many undesirable bugs like beetles, aphids, and spider mites.

Corn

Close-up of growing corn plants in a sunny garden. Corn grows vertically, forming a strong, full stem that provides support for the plant. The stem is crowned with large ribbon-like leaves arranged in an alternating pattern along the stem. Corn leaves are long, wide, bright green. Corn produces bright yellow edible kernels tightly clustered into elongated cobs.
Develop cantaloupe with corn and beans, maximizing daylight and stopping extreme shading.

Native People used a technique of gardening known as the Three Sisters to develop corn, beans, and squash. This technique remains to be broadly utilized by gardeners right now and could be tailored to fit your wants.

Corn supplies a pure trellis for pole beans, and squash protects corn roots by performing as a dwelling mulch. You possibly can swap out squash for cantaloupe and develop them with corn and beans to take advantage of your gardening area.

Cantaloupe crops want a number of daylight. Although corn grows tall, you possibly can plan it out so it gained’t forged too many shadows over your melons. The Three Sisters technique will enable you to area every thing out to stop a shady wall of corn!

Dill

Close-up of a growing dill in the garden. Dill (Anethumgraveolens) is a herbaceous annual plant with feathery, fern-like leaves of a delicate, light green color. The leaves are divided into numerous thread-like segments, giving them a thin appearance.
Plant dill in your backyard to draw ladybugs that will management aphids on cantaloupes.

Dill smells and tastes scrumptious, so I all the time advocate planting this one in your backyard! However on a extra unbiased word, it’s a superb plant to maintain round as a result of it attracts ladybugs, which can eat the aphids that need to suck up every thing your cantaloupes have to supply. 

Dill grows bushy however stays compact, so it shouldn’t intrude along with your melons. It would work effectively on the corners of your melon patch or in containers. You possibly can enable the vines to unfold across the dill crops. Simply guarantee there’s sufficient area so it doesn’t get choked out.

Garlic

Close-up of growing garlic in the garden. The plant has long thin leaves that grow in the form of a rosette. The leaves are dark green, flat and have a smooth texture.
Plant garlic to repel pests with its sturdy scent, defending your melons.

Garlic is a good neighbor that can assist you combat off pests, so add this one to the gathering if critters are all the time after your cantaloupe. Many bugs hate its pungent scent, so pop just a few close to your melons to assist preserve them away.

Until you have got elephant garlic, the bulbs shouldn’t get in the best way of cantaloupe roots. You possibly can plant them fairly shut, if vital. You possibly can nonetheless profit from garlic’s repelling energy in the event you preserve it on the borders or in containers.

Lettuce

Close-up of a growing lettuce in a sunny garden. It is a leafy green vegetable with a rosette form. The leaves form a loose head. Lettuce leaves are broad, bright green in color, with a glossy and wrinkled texture.
Develop lettuce alongside cantaloupe, harvesting younger greens because the melons develop.

Lettuce is a simple, fast-growing plant that may be a companion to nearly something. Plant seeds concurrently melons and harvest the younger greens as soon as the cantaloupe seedlings are just a few inches tall and wish extra room to develop.

The lettuce will act as a floor cowl to assist suppress weeds, and also you’ll get the added bonus of additional greens!

This technique could not work as effectively in the event you reside in a scorching local weather since lettuce is a cool-season crop, however the watering ranges are good for each crops, and a few of the shade the vines present ought to assist your lettuce grasp on for some time. You may as well use different greens like arugula and spinach. 

Marigolds

Close-up of blooming marigolds in the garden. The leaves of marigolds are lanceolate and deeply dissected, dark green in color. The flowers have a distinctive daisy-like appearance with multiple layers of petals, bright orange-red and bright yellow hues.
Plant marigolds in your backyard for his or her vibrant colours and sensible advantages.

I really like having marigolds in my backyard as a result of they’re colourful and helpful. You would possibly cope with mosquitoes round your cantaloupes since they want a lot water, however marigolds will assist repel them.

They’ll additionally assist management the nematode inhabitants within the soil, which might inhibit plant progress, and act as a entice crop for aphids to maintain them off your melons.

I discover that marigolds will develop as large as you enable them. They will get pretty massive when planted alone, however they keep compact in shady areas close to different crops. In the event you plant them near your cantaloupe, they shouldn’t develop so large that they’ll impede your melon vines.

Mint

Close-up of a growing mint in the garden. Mint is a perennial herb with a spreading growth habit. Mint leaves are oval with a slightly hairy texture and serrated edges. They are pale green.
Plant mint to repel numerous pests, however train warning attributable to its vigorous progress.

Preserve mint quarantined in a container due to its vigorous progress habits, but it surely’s a superb plant close to your cantaloupe. Mint will repel numerous pests, like aphids, squash bugs, whiteflies, ants, and flea beetles. Discover a mint you benefit from the odor of and put it throughout your cantaloupe patch for optimum advantages.

Some say mint can enhance soil high quality due to the vitamins it releases into the soil, however its speedy progress charges don’t make it value a shot, for my part! The pleasant mint odor in my backyard rapidly become a year-long battle attempting to take away it. Plant mint within the floor at your individual threat!

Nasturtium

Close-up of a flowering Nasturtium plant in a sunny garden. Nasturtium is a popular annual plant known for its bright flowers and edible leaves. The plant has round, slightly corymbose leaves that grow on long pendulous stems. Nasturtium flowers are tubular in shape and bright orange-red in color.
Plant nasturtium close to cantaloupe to fight aphids successfully and appeal to hoverflies.

If aphids are an issue in your cantaloupe, plant nasturtium. Nasturtium is an efficient (and exquisite) method to get rid of aphids rapidly. Aphids are drawn to the flowers and can congregate there. The blooms additionally appeal to hoverflies, which eat aphids. Because the hoverflies are drawn in, they’ll stick round for the aphid buffet!

Nasturtium has a rounded bushy progress behavior that can look beautiful on the ends of rows or corners of beds. It shouldn’t want greater than a foot or two of area to unfold out, so you may intercrop them with melons fairly simply so long as you stop the vines from wrapping across the plant.

Onions

Close-up of a growing onion in the garden. The plant has long thin leaves that grow in a rosette form from the base of the plant. The leaves are green and hollow. The plant produces edible round or oval bulbs that grow underground. The bulbs are covered with many layers of orange husks.
Plant onions close by for his or her sturdy pest-repelling properties, guaranteeing correct spacing.

Like garlic, onions have a robust repelling energy towards many pests like beetles, aphids, and caterpillars. Onions are bigger than garlic, so that you’ll must preserve this in thoughts so that they don’t intrude with melon’s roots.

The vines will assist defend onion bulbs, so you possibly can plant onions shut sufficient to the cantaloupe that vines will encompass it. However don’t plant so shut that the roots will compete for area and vitamins.

Cantaloupe wants loads of daylight, and onions don’t develop sufficient foliage to forged an excessive amount of shade, so it’s a superb plant to develop close by. In the event you’re involved about spacing, you possibly can all the time go for containers all through the backyard.

Oregano

Close-up of an oregano growing in a sunny garden. The plant has small, dark green, oval-shaped leaves with a slightly hairy texture. They grow opposite each other along the stems.
Develop oregano to learn from its pest-repellent properties and attraction of helpful bugs.

Oregano can attain two ft tall and 18 inches broad if left to its personal units, however in the event you love oregano and harvest from it day by day, rising it close to melons shouldn’t be a problem. You’ll must develop oregano in a container or removed from cantaloupe roots because it prefers dry soil.

Oregano is an efficient herb to develop close to melons as a result of they repel widespread pests whereas attracting the predators and pollinators you want in your backyard.

Radishes

Close-up of growing radish plants in the garden. The plant is composed of a rosette of basal leaves and a central taproot that swells to form an edible radish bulb with bright dark pink skin. The leaves are located basal, depart directly from the root. The leaves are oval in shape, dark green in color, with a serrated edge.
Plant radishes as a entice crop for aphids.

In case your backyard is something like mine, you’ll want all of the anti-aphid suggestions you may get! Radishes are one other nice entice crop you possibly can develop close to your cucurbit vines for many of the rising season. Ladybugs and lacewings are drawn to radishes and can feast on the aphids that additionally love them.

In the event you plant radishes and melon seeds concurrently, you’ll be capable of harvest radishes earlier than the cantaloupe wants further area.

As soon as the melon has massive leaves casting shade, you possibly can develop radishes below these leaves to offer them some shade throughout scorching climate. Succession planting will permit you to entice aphids and revel in radishes for many of the heat season.

Tansy

Close-up of a flowering Tansy plant (Tanacetum vulgare) in the garden. The plant has a cluster of small, button-like, bright yellow flowers. Each flower is made up of many tiny inflorescences stacked tightly together to form a round or domed shape. The stems are strong and erect, covered with alternate, deeply lobed or pinnately divided leaves.
Plant tansy close by to draw pollinators, however keep away from planting it immediately subsequent to cantaloupe attributable to its tall progress.

Tansy works wonders for attracting pollinators. You’ll see many bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies fluttering across the vibrant yellow clumps of flowers. 

Although lovely and helpful, it is a plant you’ll need to plant close by in a distinct mattress slightly than proper subsequent to your melons.

It will possibly attain as much as 5 ft tall and forged an excessive amount of shade, and it additionally readily reseeds itself and might turn out to be a noxious weed if left unattended. The vigorous progress of tansy and cantaloupe will end in a aggressive battle for area, and I’m not too certain which might win!

Wildflowers

Close-up of a field with blooming wildflowers against a blue sky. White daisies, blue cornflowers, pink cosmos and Blanket flowers bloom in the garden.
Plant native wildflowers close to melons to draw pollinators, adjusting their placement.

That is an immense class, however native wildflowers in your area are so helpful that I can’t assist however point out them! In the event you need assistance attracting pollinators to your melon patch, discover out which wildflowers are native to your space. Native flowers will assist native pollinator populations, which can, in flip, assist out your backyard.

When planting flowers close to cantaloupe, preserve the quick ones nearer to the melon crops and the taller ones additional away so that they don’t forged an excessive amount of shade. Place them on the ends or corners of rows, or put them in containers you possibly can transfer round as wanted.

Closing Ideas

You don’t should seclude cantaloupe crops to offer them with sufficient area. There are many crops you possibly can pair them with that can assist them develop higher! Select crops that don’t forged an excessive amount of shade and love water; you’ll have a contented neighborhood of crops very quickly.

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