intercropping Archives - Urban Farm Store

Companion Planting Chart: Best & Worst Vegetable Pairings

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Some vegetables genuinely make each other better neighbors, and some quietly sabotage each other’s growth. Companion planting is the practice of pairing crops that help one another — through pest deterrence, nutrient sharing, or simple use of space — while keeping the bad pairings apart.

It’s one of the oldest tricks in farming and home gardening alike, and you don’t need a science degree to use it well. You mostly just need a reliable companion planting chart to reference when you’re laying out beds each spring.

This guide covers the classic companion planting pairings, the combinations you should actively avoid, and a full reference chart you can come back to season after season.

Multiple Cropping & Double Cropping: A Complete Guide

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Growing one crop per field per year leaves a lot of potential on the table. Multiple cropping (also called multicropping) is the practice of growing more than one crop on the same piece of land in a single year – either at the same time, in sequence, or in carefully planned rotations.

Multiple cropping is any system that grows two or more crops on the same land in the same year. The main types are double cropping (two crops in sequence on the same plot in one year), intercropping (two or more crops growing together at the same time), relay cropping (planting the next crop before the current one is harvested), and sequential cropping (back-to-back crop cycles with no overlap).

Done well, multicropping lifts yield per acre, spreads weather and market risk, and builds healthier soil. Done badly, it drains nutrients, increases pest pressure, and wears out the land. This guide breaks down the types, the pros and cons, what to plant together, and when double cropping specifically is worth it on a US farm or homestead.