Companion Plants for Strawberries

Traditional companions for strawberries include borage, bush beans, green onions, head lettuce, leaf lettuce, onions and 4 more in the table below.

Keep broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale and kohlrabi away from them.

These are garden traditions, collected from 13 US extension guides. Few have been tested in trials, so treat them as a starting point: spacing, sun and rotation matter more.

Good companions for strawberries

Spacing is per square foot, for a raised bed planted square by square. Cool-season companions can share the bed before or after a warm-season crop, or grow in its shade.

Traditional companions for strawberries
Plant	Kind	Spacing	Season
Bush Beans	Vegetable	9 per sq ft	Warm season
Green Onions	Vegetable	16 per sq ft	Cool season
Head Lettuce	Vegetable	1 per sq ft	Cool season
Leaf Lettuce	Vegetable	4 per sq ft	Cool season
Onions	Vegetable	9 per sq ft	Cool season
Pole Beans	Vegetable	8 per sq ft	Warm season
Romaine Lettuce	Vegetable	1 per sq ft	Cool season
Spinach	Vegetable	9 per sq ft	Cool season
Borage	Herb	1 per sq ft	Cool season
Thyme	Herb	1 per sq ft	Warm season

What not to plant with strawberries

Broccoli: usually planted in a different bed.
Brussels Sprouts: usually planted in a different bed.
Cabbage: usually planted in a different bed.
Cauliflower: usually planted in a different bed.
Collard Greens: usually planted in a different bed.
Kale: usually planted in a different bed.
Kohlrabi: usually planted in a different bed.

What the evidence says

Companion planting charts come from long garden experience, and most pairs have never been tried in a replicated trial. Several extension services say so directly; one review gives traditional charts more entertainment than scientific value.

What reliably helps strawberries: the right planting dates, enough space, and moving crops to a new bed each year (crop rotation).

Plant them side by side

Draw your beds, tap squares to plant strawberries next to their companions, and get every crop's planting dates for your ZIP code. Free, in your browser.

Open the garden planner When to plant strawberries

Questions

What can I plant with strawberries?

The traditional companions are borage, bush beans, green onions, head lettuce, leaf lettuce, onions, pole beans, romaine lettuce and 2 more listed above. Plant companions in neighbouring rows or squares rather than in the same hole.

What should not be planted with strawberries?

The guides keep broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale and kohlrabi apart from strawberries. Give them a different bed.

Does companion planting with strawberries work?

Most pairings are tradition rather than tested results: extension services call companion planting promising but largely unproven. None of the pairs for this crop has been tested in a trial we could find. Good spacing, sun, water and rotation do more for a harvest than any single pairing.

How close can borage grow to strawberries?

In a raised bed planted by the square foot, give strawberries 1 per sq ft and borage 1 per sq ft, in neighbouring squares. In rows, strawberries need 18 in between plants.