Living · 6 pages · 12 min
Why companion planting claims outrun the evidence
A few plant pairings are tested, and most charts repeat an untested friend.
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From the opening
Companion planting claims outrun the evidence because a few real interactions have been copied into long charts where most of the pairs were never tested. Plants do affect neighbors through shade, chemicals, insects, and soil, and a chart that gives every vegetable a friend and an enemy is a bigger claim than the trials support. The opening covers real neighbor effects, narrow ones, charts that skip the mechanism, and marigolds are not one result.
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Inside
- Real neighbor effects, narrow ones
- Charts that skip the mechanism
- Marigolds are not one result
- Why a nice garden is not a trial
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Allelopathy, including black walnut juglone
- Intercropping trials versus companion-planting charts