If you've been following the tale of the accidental pea/onion companion planting, then you know that I decided to test whether the companion planting charts [see sidebar for links] were right about peas and onions not getting along.
I planted peas in four beds. In one bed I planted the peas within a few inches of the row of onions.
They grew. And grew. And grew. Those peas are the best, tallest and most prolific peas in the garden.
Not because I planted them so very close to the onions though! This happened to be the bed where we had last dumped the contents of the chicken coop. It was the fabulous soil that made the difference. I believe the onions had no effect at all, one way or the other.
I'm thinking that maybe the 'Don't-plant-peas-with-onions' myth was started by someone who just had bad luck that year and made an assumption. That assumption got put into print and then it took on a life of its own. It happens.
Which is why all claims about companion plants should be taken with a large grain of salt. It's much more important to focus on good fertile soil than it is too worry about companion plants. Once your soil is in good shape, then your plants will fight off a lot of diseases and pests on their own and you can start to think about other things to plant with them to help out.....like marigolds with squash to help drive off the multitudes of squash bugs we have here.
