With a little bit of planning you can jazz up your yard with some great herbs and plants that will add variety to your life, or better nourish the ones you’ve already got by providing companions. The following plants are beneficial to the environment and us because they either repel harmful insects, attract beneficial insects, nourish surrounding vegetation, or provide materials for food, medicine or topical preparations for skin care and wound cleaning.

This list is by all means not conclusive –there are many other plants that work well together around the home to benefit the members of your family. If you have some good ones to add, let us know.

Alfalfa – This is an excellent plant for busting up hard clay soil. It also fixes the soil with nitrogen. Great to use with vermiculture for quickly transforming even the worst quality top soil into the  richest, most fertile soil possible.

Amaranth – There are some beneficial beetles that like amaranth, which also benefits sweet corn. Plant a fringe of amaranth next to your sweet corn patch. Amaranth is a very interesting grain that makes a yummy hot cereal, or jazzes up any bread recipe.

Anise – will repel aphids. Anise tends to host predatory wasps that will hunt many of the unwelcome types of insects.

Allium – use this near most vegetables (except beans and peas)  to repel aphids, carrot lifes, moles, weevils and tree borers. Allium can be part of a garden or tree border to help protect your plants from these pests.

Basil – helps to control flies, aphids, mosquitoes and mites. Great to use by asparagus and tomato plants for problems with hornworms or beetles.

Bay Leaves - not only can these be used to bring the awesome taste of fresh bay leaves to your soups and stews, the leaves help repel insects in general as they are growing. You can place any extra bay leaves around the kitchen (in the pantry) to repel roaches and ants.

Bee Balm – attracts beneficial bugs and bees, and improves the flavor of tomatoes.

Chamomile – plant chamomile around onions, cabbages and lettuces for better flavor. Chamomile is also wonderful for gently cleaning wounds (make a strong tea), as a shampoo additive to condition hair, or soothing tea to drink. Chamomile is also often used along with marigold as a border around gardens.

Chives – not only do chives add a delicious zip to any food, they repel many tomato and fruit pests, and are also known to enhance the flavor and growth of carrots.

Garlic - here’s another one that’s good everywhere, or as part of a border mix around the garden. Garlic repels practically everything -beetles, aphids, spider mites, weevils and borers.

Horseradish – encourages potato growth and has been shown to deter many types of potato bugs. Great to have on hand for a natural way to spice of the usual dishes.

Hyssop – deters cabbage moths around grapes and cabbage and may improve growth.

Lavender – this is a great ant repellent. Lavender can be used in teas, as a decorative element in flower arrangements, made into a tea or other solution for the homemade bath and beauty items. Lavender is a very useful and beautiful herb to have on hand. Plant with peppermint around the house foundation to discourage ant infestation.

Marigold – encourages the growth of tomatoes, strawberries, beans, roses and potatoes, as well as repels several types of insects and nematodes. Marigold should definitely be a part of any garden border mix.

Mint – fun herb to have on hand for cooking and cold drink making. Mint will improve the flavor and growth of nearby tomatoes and cabbage.

Mustard – is well known as a trap crop. Place it somewhat near cabbage, radishes, cauliflower or greens of any kind. It the mustard attracts an infestation, destroy the mustard. If not, you’ve got zesty mustard greens for salad, and veen dried mustard, depending on your dedication and abilities.

Nasturium – repels aphids, several kinds of beetles, squash bugs and white flies. Cucumber and squash benefit the most from nasturium.

Onion – is sort of like garlic in its generally efficient control of several types of pests. Onions repel cabbage moths, weevils, aphids, carrot flies, moles, rust flies, some nematodes and red spiders.

Oregano – benefits broccoli; repels cabbage moth.

Parsley – repels carrot flies, rose, and asparagus beetles. Plant near asparagus, carrots, tomato, and roses.

Peanuts – encourage the growth of squash and corn.

Peas - benefit corn by adding nitrogen.

Pennyroyal – deters ants, ticks, fleas, aphids and cabbage maggots. This is an excellent choice for a yard border, especially if you have pets. Also, cabbage, sprouts and broccoli will benefit directly from pennyroyal.

Peppermint – plant with lavender around the house to repel ants. Use peppermint for teas, cool drinks, headache slaves/lotions/ointments. Like lavender, peppermint can be very useful for making bath and body preparations.

Rosemary – repels mosquitoes as well as beetles, cabbage moths and slugs. Rosemary is another herb that’s great to use in a general border around the yard, or planted in pots around where people tend to hang out.

Rue – deters Japanese beetles; roses and raspberries will benefit.

Sage – tastes great, benefits carrots, and repels carrot flies an cabbage moths.

Soybeans – add nitrogen to the soil, so put them near corn or other nitrogen-sucker. Repels chinch bugs and Japanese beetles.

Savory – plant with beans to deter bean beetles and improve the growth and taste of beans.

Thyme – Useful near cabbage and in cooking. Repels cabbage maggots, cabbage moths and flea beetles.

Tomato – planted near roses will protect them from black spot.

Remember, starting a garden doesn’t have to be a huge ordeal. You can start as small as you want, with a potted herb garden. Using one of those Claw garden tools (you can get at any home or garden store) is actually pretty easy to use for putting in borders, and provides a good workout if you’re making long borders. Also a good tool for stirring up mulch near plant stems.

You might consider watering your plants via harvested rainwater.