Scallion companion plants may just be what you need for a complete garden. If you love growing these aromatic vegetables, you will surely love growing their companion plants, as they are not just similar, but they are also beneficial to both your scallions and you, from fixing nitrogen in the soil to keeping specific pests away.

Scallion Companion Plants for Garden

Read this article to learn the best plants that go very well with lovely and tasty scallions.

👩🏻‍🎓 Scientific Reference

“Yale University asserts that companion planting fosters mutualistic relationships between plants, amplifying overall garden productivity.”Yale University

10 Awesome Scallion Companion Plants To Try Out This Year

Scallion plants grow well with plants such as:

1. Beets

Green Leaves of Beets

Uses and Benefits
  • Supply iron to your scallions
  • Sweet and rich roots
  • Sweet leaves
Growing season
  • Start: Spring to mid-simmer
  • End: Late fall
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: At least six hours of daily sunlight
  • Soil: Any type, well-drained and nutritious
Common Pests
  • Nematodes
  • Aphids
  • Beet leafhoppers

When you plant scallions for their sweet roots and leaves, you should consider planting a similar (though different) root vegetable as well. Just like scallions, beets give you sweet roots and leaves. Beets and scallions are compatible plants as they have similar care requirements. You only need to make sure that you properly space the plants.

When you plant onions and beets in the same garden or pot, your onions can get free iron from the beets because beetroots absorb a lot of iron from the soil and can release them back later when they rot.

Well, this companionship is also beneficial to the beets, as scallions can help to repel a few pests.

2. Beans

Growing Beans Plants

Uses and Benefits
  • Supplies nitrogen to scallions
  • Produces sweet seeds
  • Used as feed for animals
Growing season
  • Start: Spring
  • End: Fall or winter
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 65-85 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: At least eight hours of sunlight daily
  • Soil: Any type, nutritious and slightly acidic
Common Pests
  • Bean weevils
  • Aphids
  • Nematodes

If you are looking for a plant that will help you reduce how often you fertilize the soil when you grow scallions, you should try beans. As legumes, beans can fix nitrogen into the soil (through the help of a bacterium), and this can benefit both the beans and other plants nearby. You also get even more nitrogen if you allow the bean plants to rot in the soil after decomposing.

When growing beans with scallions, you do not need to worry so much about spacing, as both plants can do just fine when one grows between the rows of another.

However, you should ensure that the leaves of both plants have access to sunlight, as they are both sun-loving plants.

3. Cabbage

Farming Cabbage in Garden

Uses and Benefits
  • Enhances the growth of scallions
  • Provides sweet leafy greens
Growing season
  • Start: Spring
  • End: Fall
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: Six to eight hours of daily sun
  • Soil: Slightly acidic pH, well-drained
Common Pests
  • Cutworms
  • Snails and slugs
  • Diamondback moth larvae

Here’s an awesome green onion companion that you can grow in your garden. Cabbage will benefit a lot from the relationship because scallions help to repel some insect pests that attack cabbages. Scallions will also benefit, as cabbages only grow in nutrient-rich soil, so you ensure both of them get strong and full of nutrients.

Note that your cabbages should be 24 inches apart if you want to grow scallions between them. Remember that cabbages need crop rotation so that they do not get a lot of pests and diseases in their next growing season.

This means that you cannot grow cabbages and scallions continuously for years in the same spot.

4. Summer Savory

Flowers of Summer Savory

Uses and Benefits
  • Repels pests from gardens
  • Gives you sweet herbs for cooking
Growing season
  • Start: Spring
  • End: Before frost
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 60-85 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: Full sun
  • Soil: Nutrient-rich, well-drained
Common Pests
  • Savory aphids
  • Nematodes

Here’s a good companion plant to help your scallions grow free from pests. Savories are herbs that can repel insects and other pests that attack scallions. You only need to plant scallions close to or between the summer savories. When it’s time to harvest, you will get both roots and herbs to cook the sweetest meal.

Note that both plants love sunlight, so the leaves of your savories should not cover the leaves of your scallions. You should properly space the savories if you want to grow the scallions between them.

5. Peas

Flowers of Pea Plants

Uses and Benefits
  • Provide nitrogen to your scallions
  • Give you nutrient-rich seeds
  • Can serve as feed for farm animals
Growing season
  • Starts: Spring
  • Ends: Fall
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: At least four hours of sun daily
  • Soil: Well-drained, any type
Common Pests
  • Aphids
  • Cucumber beetles
  • Armyworms

Just like beans, peas also add nitrogen to the soil, as they are legumes. Leguminous plants can help you to grow your scallions without adding much nitrogen. However, peas require the addition of potassium, phosphorus and other nutrients if they are not available in the soil.

To help your scallions benefit a lot from their pea companions, plant the peas at least two weeks before the scallions so that the soil contains slightly more nitrogen before the scallions enter their vegetative phase.

Well, if you have planted peas in the garden before, you can plant the scallions right away, as nitrogen must have been released from the previous peas.

6. Carrots

Harvesting Carrots Plants

Uses and Benefits
  • Gives you sweet tubers
  • Compatible with scallions
Growing season
  • Start: Early spring or fall
  • End: Summer or winter
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 40-80 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: Full sun
  • Soil: Slight acidic, sandy loam
Common Pests
  • Aphids
  • Carrot rust fly
  • Carrot weevil

Scallions are bulbous plants, so here’s a tuberous plant for you. Both scallions and carrots can grow just fine together. However, ensure that you space them properly (at least 12 inches apart while planting), as they need a lot of space for their roots while growing. Also, ensure that their leaves are getting enough light from the sun.

Both scallion plants and carrots will benefit from each other. While the carrots can enrich the flavor of the scallions, the scallions will grow just fine, as carrot roots will not disturb theirs while growing.

7. Clover

Dew Drops on Clover

Uses and Benefits
  • Attracts beneficial insects
  • Fixes nitrogen into the soil
Growing season
  • Starts: Spring
  • Ends: Fall
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: More than 60 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: Six to eight hours of full sun
  • Soil: Any type
Common Pests
  • Slugs
  • Powdery mildew
  • Eelworms

Do you want to grow your scallions without adding extra nitrogen to the soil? Here’s an awesome type of legume for you. Clover, which can grow as a weed, helps to improve soil nutrients, as it is very effective in attracting nitrogen-fixing bacteria. These plants have even more uses for your scallions.

If your scallions are disturbed by little insect pests such as aphids, clovers can attract predators such as praying mantises and ladybugs to prey on the scallion pests. This means that your scallions will get more nutrients as well as develop free from pests when you grow them with clovers.

8. Strawberry

Farming Sweet Strawberries

Uses and Benefits
  • Enhances the growth of scallions
  • Gives you sweet fruits
Growing season
  • Start: Spring
  • End: Early fall
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: Six to ten hours daily
  • Soil: Sandy loam, well-drained
Common Pests
  • Aphids
  • Cutworm
  • Cluster caterpillar

Strawberry is indeed a plant that you’d surely want to grow in your garden. As a companion to scallions, a strawberry plant may not necessarily add value to the relationship directly. However, both plants can grow just fine together, and in the end, you will harvest sweet strawberries and scallions.

One indirect way that your scallions can gain from this relationship is when you care for the strawberries. Strawberries are fragile plants that need raised beds, a lot of care and mulch, so your scallions will benefit from the added nutrients, ideal growing conditions and extra mulch that you provide for the strawberries.

9. Tomato

Growing Tomatoes on Garden

Uses and Benefits
  • Enhances the growth of scallions
  • Gives you sweet fruits
Growing season
  • Start: Spring
  • End: Fall
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 55-85 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: Eight hours of daily sun or more
  • Soil: Nutrient and humus-rich, loam
Common Pests
  • Cutworms
  • Powdery mildew
  • Budworms

Just like strawberries, tomatoes are fragile plants that need a lot of care. This means that green onions will benefit a lot when you grow them with tomatoes, as you’d extend the care for the tomatoes to the scallions. However, note that this companionship has a slight disadvantage.

Tomatoes attract a lot of pests both in their vegetative and fruiting phases. Tomatoes attract cutworms, onion nematodes and other soil-borne pests, so your scallions (with roots growing underground) can be affected if you do not regularly deter pests from the garden. So long as you have good pest control techniques, you are good to go.

10. Peppers

Red Peppers on Plants

Uses and Benefits
  • Enhance the growth of scallions
  • You get sweet peppers
Growing season
  • Start: Spring
  • End: Fall
Care Requirements
  • Temperature: 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Light: Full sun
  • Soil: Nutrient-rich, loam
Common Pests
  • Aphids
  • Thrips
  • Two-spotted spider mites

Scallion companion planting is truly rewarding when you choose the right types. One good rule to know the right companion for your scallions is that any plant that isn’t harmful to the scallions is a good companion. Peppers are plants that you benefit from, as they give you spicy fruits to make your food more delicious. If you have a scallion garden, you can always add peppers.

Pepper plants may grow bushy, but they do not block sunlight from reaching the scallions. Also, pepper roots do not disturb scallion roots or compete with them so long as there are nutrients in the soil.

Conclusion

Planting scallions will be easier for you now, as you know plants that can simplify your scallion growing journey.

Here are some reminders from this article:

  • If you want to grow your scallions between the rows of another plant, ensure that there are 12 inches of space between the scallions and their companions.
  • Green onions grow without the need for extra nitrogen when you grow them with legumes such as beans and clover.
  • Scallions can benefit a lot when you grow them with tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and other plants, as you’d extend your care for those plants toward the scallions.
  • If you are growing scallions with other root vegetables, always put the spacing of their roots into consideration.
  • Remember that cabbages and other related plants need a rotation of crops, so do not grow them as companions to your scallions for many years in a row.

Remember to plant our top picks for you in your garden when growing scallions and enjoy the benefits of their partnership every season.

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