When it comes to the famous proverb "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," gardening is no exception. In fact, when you're fighting off notorious pests on your potato plants, your best ally in the fight is planting with their nemesis.
The scoop
Grace Walk Farm's TikTok account (@grace.walk.farm) shared the ultra-simple hack in a to-the-point video captioned "Potatoes + Cilantro for life."
@grace.walk.farm Potatoes + Cilantro for life #companionplanting #potatoes #cilantro #gardeningtips #gardeningtiktok #gardeninghacks ♬ Sawtoothed Jericho - Pony Bradshaw
The video shows the gardeners prepping their potato plants and cilantro seeds together. On-screen text explains why, declaring that "potato beetles hate cilantro." For that reason, Grace Walk Farms suggests you "always plant them together."
A commenter added full context to the technique on display: "This is known as companion planting, and is an effective and environmentally friendly way of eliminating pesticides."
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Indeed, companion planting is an ancient technique that can not only help with warding off unwanted pests without chemicals but can also improve crop yields, boost soil quality, and maximize your garden space.
How it's helping
Companion planting is a valuable tool in making growing your own food even more rewarding. Doing so already comes with physical benefits from eating healthier and getting more exercise.
There are also mental health benefits to be had, especially in community gardening, that will no doubt be enhanced by less stress over pesky beetles interfering with your potatoes.
Maybe best of all, home potato growers can avoid using pesticides, which studies continually show are bad news for pretty much all impacted species and ecosystems. That can manifest in harming local biodiversity, threatening pollinators, and contaminating water. It also saves growers the money for those products.
Growing your own potatoes will give you a leg up on their nutrition, as studies show that store-bought produce loses some of its healthful benefits on the frequently long travel to your table. It'll likely be subject to pesticides in the growing process and lose some of its flavor on its journey, as well.
Producing your own food also helps the environment by cutting down on the demand for mass-produced groceries that require a hefty amount of resources and associated pollution to get to your local market.
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TikTokers were supportive of the hack, although some surprisingly found common ground with potato beetles.
"I must be a potato beetle," one joked. "I love potatoes, hate cilantro."
Fortunately for that TikTok user, just because you plant them together doesn't mean you have to eat them together.
Another wanted to make sure would-be potato farmers knew there was a step to go before the potato plants were ready.
"Potatoes need to be 4-6" deep and covered with dirt," they instructed.
Grace Walk Farm's TikTok agreed and clarified that they did, in fact, follow that directive with new compost placed on top for the spring.
"Works like a charm for me every year," they revealed.
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