Top 10 Best Radish Companion Plants + 4 No Gos

Radishes are a wonderful addition to any garden because they are simple to cultivate and don’t require much room in the yard. Radishes may be used for a variety of purposes, but one of my favorites is eating them. Additionally, radishes do well with a wide variety of plants. We have prepared a huge list of the best radish companion plants!

Benefits of Radish Companion Planting

Radishes may be sown in the spring and are simple to cultivate. Within a few weeks, they may be harvested since they develop swiftly. Since they may be eaten either fresh or cooked, radishes are also incredibly adaptable.

Radishes are wonderful companion plants because they enhance the soil’s fertility and promote the growth of other plants by luring pest-repelling aphids and attracting beneficial insects like bees, which pollinate crops.

Best Radish Companion Plants

• Kale
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Cucumber
• Melon
• Squash
• Beans
• Peas
• Carrot
• Parsnip

Kale – Lettuce – Spinach as Radish Companion Plants

The first three members of the best radish companion plants are leafy greens such as kale¹, lettuce, and spinach. Greens and radishes may both be produced in the same bed since they require the same growth conditions. They don’t compete for resources, making them an ideal choice for companion planting. It has been discovered that radishes and lettuce complement one another well, with radish roots helping to aerate soil that lettuce’s large root system has compacted.

These three greens have many more companion plants! Check them out below:

• Kale Companion Plants – 4 Good & 4 Bad Neighbours
• Best 11 Lettuce Companion Plants & 2 Bad Companions
• Spinach Companion Plants – 3 Best Members

Cucumber – Melon – Squash as Radish Companions

Now we are continuing with the next three best radish companion plants. Cucumbers², squash, and melons grow well along with radishes as companion plants. Since they promote each other’s growth, companion plants like radishes and cucumbers are frequently cultivated together. The radish will protect your cucumber plants from pests while absorbing nutrients from the soil to ensure their success. When they are young, radishes also benefit from the shade provided by the cucumber plant; initially, they don’t like full light since they need to grow large enough to provide their own shadow over themselves.

For further information about cucumbers, melons, squash, and their companion plants follow the links below:

• Cucumber Companion Plants – Great Idea?
• 10 Surprising Watermelon Companion Plants (+8 Terrible Neighbors)
• Squash Companion Plants – 10 Best and 4 Bad

Beans and Peas

Radishes and other legumes like beans³ and peas make good companion plants. They can both be planted in the same garden plot, or you can put your beans, peas, or other legumes next to where you grow the radishes.

Legumes can benefit from being planted with radishes because radish roots help loosen the soil, making it simpler for legume roots to access water and nutrients below the ground. The sugars released by some types of leguminous plants will feed helpful microorganisms living in your garden’s soil. These beneficial bacteria are crucial for keeping weeds under control without using chemical herbicides! In exchange, radish roots will benefit from additional humidity provided by these deep-rooting plants.

Carrot and Parsnip as Radish Companion Plants

With carrots and parsnips, radishes go nicely. Since they aid in preventing root insects and carrot rust flies, radishes make a fantastic companion plant for carrots. In exchange, carrots will not only stop flea beetles from eating your radishes, but they will also give some nitrogen to the soil when they die in the winter. Since radishes and parsnips both thrive in loose, rich soil, they make excellent companion plants for one another. To avoid competition for nutrients with other vegetables (such as radishes), peas are often planted earlier in the spring than other vegetables.

Although they demand comparable circumstances, such as full sun exposure and sandy loam soil types with adequate drainage, which are crucial when growing either crop outside throughout the summer, they make excellent neighbors.

Full list of companion plants of these wonderful plants:

Bad Radish Companion Plants

• Tomato
• Pepper
• Garlic
• Cabbage

Tomato & Pepper

Never grow radishes with pepper or tomato plants. For the greatest production, it is important to keep both plants separate because they share an enzyme that may hinder the growth of the other crop.

On the other hand, both plants have other great companions too! Check them out:

Garlic

Avoid planting radishes close to any members of the onion family, particularly garlic. It generates substances that will limit the growth of your radish. If you’re going to grow these crops together, try interplanting rather than sowing them one on top of the other because it frequently produces superior results for this type of companion planting!

For more information about garlic companion plants:

Cabbage

Similarly, avoid planting seeds from the cabbage family close together unless you want everything to become stunted and/or rot from too much moisture retention Many brassicas such as cabbage are grown like that. This was the last member of the worst radish companion plants.

Don’t forget to check out cabbage companion plants:

References

1. Tymoszuk, A. (2021). Silver nanoparticles effects on in vitro germination, growth, and biochemical activity of tomato, radish, and kale seedlings. Materials, 14(18), 5340.
2. Haryanto, B., Sinuhaji, T. R. F., Tarigan, E. A., Tarigan, M. B., & Sitepu, N. B. (2021, June). Sun energy on natural drying of cucumber and radish. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 782, No. 2, p. 022051). IOP Publishing.
3. Jiang, S., Dai, G., Zhou, J., Zhong, J., Liu, J., & Shu, Y. (2022). An assessment of integrated amendments of biochar and soil replacement on the phytotoxicity of metal (loid) s in rotated radish-soya bean-amaranth in a mining acidy soil. Chemosphere, 287, 132082.