Growing potatoes can be tricky when it comes to raising them with other crops. To ensure that your potatoes have a nice harvest (and don’t stunt other plants during the growing season), check out the do’s and don’ts of planting potatoes with the following plants!
Planting Potatoes with Pumpkin Patches?
If you plant pumpkins and potatoes together, you will eventually harvest quite the disaster. When potatoes are planted close to the pumpkin plants, they may produce very small, immature tubers; similar in size to a new potato. This of course depends on how close the plants are to one another, too. A good rule of thumb is to NEVER plant a potato plant and a pumpkin plant in the same garden bed, or in the same corner of a garden plot.
Can Squash (Zuchinni, Crookneck, Spaghetti, Acorn, Butternut) Be Planted with Potatoes?
In this equation, potatoes are known to be stunted by many common squash plants, including zucchinni, crookneck, butternut, acorn, spaghetti, and many others. While potatoes tend to finish earlier in the year, some may be tempted to plant squash in its place. This is not advised either.
Planting Cucumbers (Cucurbits) with Potatoes
Since cucumbers are in the cucurbit family, the potatoes will be stunted by their growth as well. I do know that you can plant the cucumbers within 4 feet of the potatoes; the cucumbers will still outperform anything else in the garden! However, if they are planted side by side, the squash may release a chemical that the potato plant’s roots could pick up, stunting its growth. A good guideline is to plant the potato and cucumber plants far enough away from each other that root systems cannot touch one another.
Can Sunflowers be Planted with Potatoes?
Again, sunflowers are a bad match for the potatoes. As a sunflower grows, allelopathy keeps the potatoes from growing successfully. This natural defense allows sunflowers to dwarf everything through keeping competition plants short and outgrowing everything around them. Your potato crop will definitely suffer with this garden companion. Instead, plant sunflowers with members of the squash family, as they are great companion plants!
Planting Tomatoes and Potatoes: A Recipe for Disaster
Both potatoes and tomatoes are in the nightshade family. They are actually more closely related that you would have thought! While this may seem to be an excellent reason to plant them together, you most definitely shouldn’t. You create the perfect storm when planting these two together. They share a lot of the same diseases and pests, some of which will wipe out entire crops. You should keep these two as far away from each other as possible. Do not plant either species in the same soil for 3 years, in order to prevent any diseases and pests from building up to uncontrollable levels in the future.
Can Raspberries be Planted Near Potatoes? Will Potatoes Harm Raspberry Thicket Beds?
Raspberries are prone to a particular soil borne pathogen that vegetables, such as potatoes and tomatoes, commonly spread into the soil. This pathogen, verticillium, causes root rot among many different plants. It is advised to never plant raspberries in soil that has been occupied by crops like potatoes within the last 4 years. On the flip side, ensure that you never plant potatoes close to your raspberry patch in the spring either.
