Companion perennial veggies and strawberries

Hello everyone,

I've started moving my strawberries to what hopefully will be their final place in the garden (at least in the since that I won't be moving them to a completely different spot; I know that at some point the plants need to be renewed). I know that good companion plants for strawberries are mainly Allioideae (garlic, leeks, onions...), and since this year I have access to perennial varieties of those, I'm wondering if planting perennial onion/garlic/leeks as companion plants with strawberries is a good idea or if I should stick to the annual/biannual varieties. Does anyone have any experience with doing that ?

Mike, I plant multiplier onions with my strawberries, and garlic too, although my garlic isn't perennial. (That being said, some of it stays in the ground for more than a year.) I find that strawberries do very well with these.

Hi Mike,
I'm doing the same thing this year, starting 2 new beds of strawberries and I have been wondering about what to plant with/near them that might be beneficial. I've been researching this subject for about a month now while I make their new beds. So I've been watching this thread and I'm kind of bummed that there haven't been many responses.

I grew strawberries a few years back and didn't have any problems. But the habitat in my garden has changed quite a lot these last 2 years. Like, I always have aphids on and off all summer but lately there's a LOT more than usual and my army of ladybugs just can't keep up. Last summer I tried a very common suggestion of using nasturtiums as a trap crop but the test was a complete failure. The aphids totally preferred my cucumbers and artichokes and never touched the nasturtiums.   https://permies.com/t/170206/good-EMPIRICAL-evidence-companion-planting  But, that was just one small test.

And last summer I saw my very first Colorado Cucumber beetle. In fact I saw hundreds of them! Holy S*!%! And 2 of my bean crops got a bacterial wilt which is what they spread. So this year I have decided to try a much larger companion planting test throughout my whole yard. Plants that are supposed to repel bad bugs, attract good ones, feed the companion plants, attract pollinators etc. I've decided they all need to be useful or edible in others ways in case they fail to do what they are recommended for.

This is the list of companion plants for strawberries I've found so far recommended by people that say they actually use them and they are helpful. Sweet allysum, alliums, borage, thyme, goldenrod, evening primrose , catnip. The 2 types of strawberries I am trying both put out runners so I won't be planting any annuals among them. Don't want to disturb their roots. But I will be surrounding them with some onions, borage and thyme.  Happy gardening.

I have seen several posts where people suggest growing asparagus with strawberries.

https://permies.com/t/157612/Asparagus-guild-thoughts

Leigh Tate wrote:Mike, I plant multiplier onions with my strawberries, and garlic too, although my garlic isn't perennial. (That being said, some of it stays in the ground for more than a year.) I find that strawberries do very well with these.

Good if it works then. I knew those goes well with strawberries, and had the idea for the perennial version, as it would be even more "permaculture-ish" in my opinion. This also mean that the initial spot I had planned for them can now welcome in other plants.

Debbie Ann wrote:Hi Mike,
I'm doing the same thing this year, starting 2 new beds of strawberries and I have been wondering about what to plant with/near them that might be beneficial. I've been researching this subject for about a month now while I make their new beds. So I've been watching this thread and I'm kind of bummed that there haven't been many responses.

I grew strawberries a few years back and didn't have any problems. But the habitat in my garden has changed quite a lot these last 2 years. Like, I always have aphids on and off all summer but lately there's a LOT more than usual and my army of ladybugs just can't keep up. Last summer I tried a very common suggestion of using nasturtiums as a trap crop but the test was a complete failure. The aphids totally preferred my cucumbers and artichokes and never touched the nasturtiums.   https://permies.com/t/170206/good-EMPIRICAL-evidence-companion-planting  But, that was just one small test.

And last summer I saw my very first Colorado Cucumber beetle. In fact I saw hundreds of them! Holy S*!%! And 2 of my bean crops got a bacterial wilt which is what they spread. So this year I have decided to try a much larger companion planting test throughout my whole yard. Plants that are supposed to repel bad bugs, attract good ones, feed the companion plants, attract pollinators etc. I've decided they all need to be useful or edible in others ways in case they fail to do what they are recommended for.

This is the list of companion plants for strawberries I've found so far recommended by people that say they actually use them and they are helpful. Sweet allysum, alliums, borage, thyme, goldenrod, evening primrose , catnip. The 2 types of strawberries I am trying both put out runners so I won't be planting any annuals among them. Don't want to disturb their roots. But I will be surrounding them with some onions, borage and thyme.  Happy gardening.

Well at first I was more asking about the perennial version of some commonly suggested veggies for strawberries companionship, so it doesn't surprise me a lot that there was not more answers. Another place to look might be how strawberries are rosaceae, so maybe some plants that are good companion for this family might be appropriate. I also saw that they were good companion for blackberries, so I've planted a few of the smaller, runner-less variety I have next to them. I can't tell you how well it's going though, as I put said plants about two hours ago. At least none of them screamed.

I am not yet the master of aphids, but I'd say that there might be some micro-climate in your garden that encourage their spread. Or maybe your plants have some kind of deficiency, as in they get too much fertilizer, too much of one element, or not enough. Or maybe those varieties did not adapt with aphids in their native lands. Or all of these, or none of those. However, I'd say that if they got your cucumbers and artichokes, but left the nasturtium, you should have definitely eaten those nasturtium yourself. It's a bit spicy, but completely edible, and the plant is also good for skin problems (don't remember if it's the flower, leaf, or both). If it's really a problem, there are a few other things to try, like garlic infusion, or probably other plants.

Maybe having those plants in more than one spot can help too. So you might find that one spot has a micro-climate that aphids hate, or that plants around it helps.

Anne Miller wrote:I have seen several posts where people suggest growing asparagus with strawberries.

https://permies.com/t/157612/Asparagus-guild-thoughts

Could also be something to try, thanks !

Anne Miller wrote:I have seen several posts where people suggest growing asparagus with strawberries.

https://permies.com/t/157612/Asparagus-guild-thoughts

My friend has beautiful asparagus bed that is covered with a thick mat of Alpine strawberries and it works wonderfully.

How about a simple one that makes sense.... Rhubarb?

I have my asparagus and rhubarb planted in the same area right below my Nikita's Gift persimmon tree. I am going to throw a few of the Mara Des Bois runners I have in the mix this year and see what happens. Good luck!

Ryan Mahony wrote:How about a simple one that makes sense.... Rhubarb?

I have my asparagus and rhubarb planted in the same area right below my Nikita's Gift persimmon tree. I am going to throw a few of the Mara Des Bois runners I have in the mix this year and see what happens. Good luck!

That's how I originally planted my rhubarb and asparagus. I didn't have a great luck with it,. I think because the rhubarb and the asparagus both start early and the rhubarb's leaves are so big they outcompete the asparagus while the asparagus is still short and tiny. I ended up moving my rhubarb last year out of my asparagus patch.

I don't see how the others don't makes sense, but rhubarb could be nice. I don't like rhubarb, but ti seems that one rhubarb (Rheum officinale) specy is useful as a medicinal herb, so this would be worth a shot in my case.

I don't see how rhubarb would work at all. it's huge and nothing grows under it, so sure one could have strawberries or asparagus 2m away from the rhubarb, but no closer.

Question if you cover your asparagus with strawberries or other low-growing ground cover, how do you fertilise the asparagus? It needs plenty of compost/manure each year and if it's covered in strawberries...

Skandi Rogers wrote:I don't see how rhubarb would work at all. it's huge and nothing grows under it, so sure one could have strawberries or asparagus 2m away from the rhubarb, but no closer.

Question if you cover your asparagus with strawberries or other low-growing ground cover, how do you fertilise the asparagus? It needs plenty of compost/manure each year and if it's covered in strawberries...

My friend with the successful asparagus/Alpine strawberry bed fertilized with her alpaca manure. You don't have to dig it into the soil, just layer it on top, the same way you fertilize strawberries by themselves- sprinkle it around the base of the plants. She mulched heavily with a loose layer of straw too so the strawberries grew straight up at first and didn't hug the soil.

The asparagus and strawberry pairing seemed a good enough idea that last year I tried it. The strawberry runners quickly filled in through the deep straw mulch, and neither the asparagus nor the strawberries seemed bothered by the other. What had me pulling my berry plants out over the winter is that I couldn't beat the earwigs and slugs to the ripe berries. I'd like to keep the deep mulch, and anyway the less bug-friendly mulches like sheet plastic aren't really asparagus-friendly. I love strawberries and these ones were productive, just I didn't get any. This year I'll try to be satisfied with my two months of blackberries.

Last winter I winter sowed two types of alpine strawberries and then planted them in a long row of along my driveway in a bed that has 15 apple trees that I’ve shaped into a Belgian fence (espalier). The squirrels are them all but one. Yarrow is taking over the space between them but maybe I should plant asparagus there. The soil is not that deep there. And I wonder if that would be too much competition. Btw, I never fertilize my other asparagus and they have been going strong for 23 years where they get enough water.

Did not know that alliums were good companion plants for strawberries but as one rogue runner has completely populated what was once a flower bed, I’ll happily go and plant some spring onions & garlic there and make the most of it.