If you are familiar with term 'companion planting' then you already know how well this method of gardening works towards helping the environment and keeping your plants hearty and healthy. This type of planting - for those of you who do not know - is the planting of flowers, shrubs, vegetables, herbs, and other plants around one another to naturally control pests, keeping them from destroying your plants without harmful insecticides that could ruin the soil or any fruits or vegetables.

This type of planting is not a new idea and it has been used by gardeners and farmers alike to keep insect infestation under control. For example, a farmer plants rows of tomatoes in his small garden. To keep harmful insects away from the tomato plants he would plant beds of marigolds nearby or plant onions, asparagus, carrots, cucumbers, and parsley around the tomatoes. Insects and other pests do not like the chemicals marigolds feed into the soil and the will not borrow through the dirt or anywhere near the marigolds themselves to get to the juicy tomatoes. You plant any form of legume around your garden as they will feed the soil they are growing in nitrogen and help fertilize the field for the following year.

Adding natural substances to the soil is not the only form of companion planting. If you have small, shade tolerant plants you are cultivating, you can grow tall plants that love the sun around them, providing them with shade and protecting the smaller plants from animal pests. Nurse cropping is similar in that tall or canopy dense plants can be planted around more vulnerable plants in an effort to provide a windbreak and shade. This technique is used to help grow alfalfa by plating oats around the alfalfa fields. And if the companion plants provide a habitat for helpful insects that keep the pests down, that is called beneficial companion planting.