Berries easily attract pests due to their sweet scents and bold colors. Unfortunately, this means pests can often get to your berries before you get a chance to harvest them.
Instead of leaning on chemicals to help you keep the pests away, one gardening expert has encouraged companion planting instead.
The scoop
Noah Young (@shilohfarm) shared an insightful video about companion planting, specifically about the ideal companionship of strawberries and onions.
@shilohfarm Here's why you should plant onions with your strawberries 🍓🫶🧅 🧅 Onions strong odors acts as a natural pest repellent to aphids and slugs 🐌 🧅 They can help improve soil health by releasing a sulfur compound that act as a natural fungicide 🍄🟫 🧅 Because an onion has a shallow root system and strawberries have deep root systems, they don't compete for the same nutrients and are great planting buddies 🤝 #companionplanting #planting #plant #plants #onion #strawberries #strawberry #fruit #vegetable #food #foodie #fact #facts #companion #natural #garden #gardening #tip #tips #funfact #backyardgardening #homestead #101 #didyouknow #crop #crops #foodfacts #shilohfarm #grow #growing #foodtok #farmtok ♬ April Showers - ProleteR
"Onions are a natural pest repellent. Their strong, pungent smell can repel things like aphids and slugs that love munching on your berries," Young shared. "Plus, onions can actually improve soil health. They release sulfur compounds that act as a natural fungicide, reducing diseases that might affect your strawberries."
The creator also mentioned that onions and strawberries do not compete with each other for nutrients or space in the soil, as onions have shallow roots while strawberries have deep roots.
How it's helping
Many home gardeners have been led to believe that bettering the health of your crops and soil requires adding chemicals. More often than not, it is very simple and inexpensive to control weeds without chemicals, rid your garden of pests naturally, and improve your soil health simply by companion planting.
Companion planting does more than improve the soil quality; it also helps you get better crop yields, repel unwanted pests, and grow more produce in the allotted space. By growing more of your own food, you also reduce your demand for mass-produced produce and improve the quality of your diet by adding more fiber.
Additionally, gardening comes with mental and physical benefits as it requires you to get sunlight, encourages movement, and gives you joy from reaping the fruits of your labor.
Whether you are choosing to be as elaborate as building your own greenhouse or starting with a simple pot on your windowsill, you will be adding better-tasting produce into your life and reducing harm to the environment simultaneously.
Three billion tons of carbon are created from global food miles alone and make up 20% of all global food emissions, according to a study published in the journal Nature Food.
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Several hours a week 🧑🌾 What everyone's saying
The overall consensus was that the video was incredibly helpful for their home gardening.
"As someone who broke their brain learning about companion planting, I wish this video was made sooner," one commenter shared.
"You learn something new every day," another gardening enthusiast commented.
"I planned them together this year! So far, they both look great," a third wrote.
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