13 Plants to Avoid Planting Near Blackberries This Season

Companion planting is a philosophy of planting crops collectively based mostly on their wants and habits. Some advantages embody improved taste, elevated yield, higher pest resistance, and environmental advantages (like shelter from robust winds or solar).

Nonetheless, not all crops work properly collectively.

These 13 crops are lower than superb companions it is best to keep away from planting close to your blackberries. They’re all fantastic crops in their very own proper however must be grown individually out of your berry patch.

There are a lot of “good” companion crops for blackberries, together with some that may be grown in containers!

In case you are fascinated about planting blackberry vines this yr or are on the lookout for methods to maximise backyard area, you will need to know what companion crops it is best to keep away from planting in your blackberry patch. These crops may probably scale back your berry yields!

Artichokes

These huge crops outcompete berries resulting from their excessive nutrient wants, lowering fruit yield.

Artichokes are attractive crops that produce fantastic, elegant greens. They’re additionally aggressive nutrient shoppers, making them a nasty companion for berries. Artichokes want a substantial quantity of fertilizer to be productive. Blackberries, however, are comparatively mild feeders.

Blackberries will use extra fertilizer to advertise wooden and leaf development, which results in decreased fruit manufacturing.

Artichoke crops additionally develop fairly massive and may simply crowd your blackberry crops, leaving them partially within the shade the place fewer berries will develop. Artichokes are simply too aggressive of their wants and rising habits, and it is best to keep away from planting them as a blackberry companion.

Asparagus

Close-up of growing asparagus stems in the garden. Asparagus is a perennial plant grown for its young shoots that are harvested and eaten as a vegetable. The stems are vertical, thick, and green.
Blackberries and asparagus compete for vitamins and area, harming yields and weakening crops.

Asparagus is one other heavy feeder that makes a nasty companion with blackberries. These berry vines favor mild, rare fertilizing. Alternatively, asparagus wants plenty of nitrogen. Assembly the wants of asparagus crops will encourage stem and leaf development in blackberries, resulting in a diminished yield.

Along with completely different nutrient wants, each crops are vigorous multipliers. Aggressive asparagus crops and blackberry vines will compete for area within the backyard. That is true for his or her roots in addition to their foliage.

Maybe most detrimental on this pairing is the competitors of root area between these crops. A weak root system makes for a weak plant with a diminished nutrient consumption, and each varieties have intensive, spreading roots.

Canna Lillies

Close-up of blooming Canna lilies in a sunny garden. Canna lilies are tropical and subtropical flowering plants known for their vibrant and showy blooms. These are herbaceous perennials with large erect shoots. The leaves are large and paddle-shaped, resembling banana leaves. They are variegated, dark green with yellow stripes. Canna lilies produce tall flower stalks that emerge from the center of the plant. Flowers bright orange. The flower has a characteristic shape reminiscent of irises and orchids. It consists of three petals and three sepals with a central cluster of stamens and pistils.
These attractive flowers crowd blackberry crops, depriving them of vitamins and making them unsuitable backyard companions.

Canna lilies are beautiful, stately crops that bloom across the identical time as blackberries. Planting these fairly flowering crops close to your berry backyard may be tempting, however they’re sometimes thought of dangerous companions for fruit and vegetable crops.

Canna multiplies underground by way of a community of rhizomes. Because of this they have an inclination to have a clumping behavior and can unfold in measurement, creating a big mass of foliage above the bottom and a big mass of rhizomes underground.

Briefly, canna lilies will crowd blackberry vines and deprive them of vitamins, so these two don’t make good companions within the backyard.

Carrots

Top view of freshly picked carrots in the garden among growing carrots. Carrots are biennial root vegetables that are grown for their edible taproots. The plant consists of a rosette of basal leaves and a slender, elongated taproot. Carrot leaves are arranged in the form of a basal rosette. The leaves are pinnate, feathery, and fern-like in appearance. The leaves are green in color and have a delicate lacy texture. The edible part of the carrot plant is its taproot, which is elongated, cylindrical, and tapers to a point. The taproot is bright orange in color.
On account of their differing fertilizer wants, these roots aren’t appropriate companions for blackberries.

You’ll suppose that these two crops may develop collectively harmoniously, with carrots taking over little or no area and the power to be planted right here or there very simply. Sadly, carrots are a companion it is best to keep away from planting close to your blackberry patch.

The principle motive they don’t mesh is that carrots want extra fertilizer than blackberries do. As well as, the spreading roots of blackberry vines can shortly swallow carrot seedlings, making it tough to yield these tasty roots. Reserve your carrots for raised vegetable beds with free soil and no competitors for root area.

Cowpea

Close-up of a Cowpea bush in the garden. The cowpea plant has a vining growth habit, with slender stems that can climb or sprawl along the ground. The leaves are pinnately compound, consisting of several leaflets arranged in pairs along the stem. The leaves are oval, smooth-surfaced and bright green in color. the plant produces long, thin, green colored pods.
Though productive and nitrogen-fixing, cowpeas can overcrowd and outcompete your berries.

The cowpea is a good plant that could be a large producer of what’s extra generally known as black-eyed peas. On the New Yr’s Day desk, these tasty legumes characterize luck, and the vines are nitrogen fixers, in order that they don’t compete for vitamins like some others on this record are inclined to do.

The issue with cowpea is that it’s a vigorous spreader. It at all times guarantees to be a bumper crop and is sort of too straightforward to develop. What’s tough is holding it again.

The incompatibility right here revolves round cowpea’s capability to drown out blackberry crops solely. The truth is, it’s an amazing crop to plant in case you’re seeking to get rid of wild blackberries.

Eggplant

Close-up of a ripe eggplant fruit in the garden. The plant is characterized by bushy growth and large broad leaves. Eggplant leaves are dark green and have a slightly fluffy or velvety texture. They have an elongated shape and a wavy edge. The fruits have an elongated shape, covered with a shiny dark purple skin.
As heavy feeders, eggplants are a blackberry companion to keep away from as a result of they want additional fertilization, lowering blackberry yields.

Eggplant is a nightshade vegetable with many attainable companions. As collaborative as it may be, eggplant doesn’t mesh properly with blackberries. Nightshades are notoriously heavy feeders, so any companion you give them wants to have the ability to go toe to toe on this regard.

Making an attempt to make blackberries match up with eggplants will lead to considered one of two issues:

  • A scarcity of fertilizing of the eggplants will cause them to suck up all the encircling vitamins, leaving your berries foundering for vitamins.
  • Conversely, in making an attempt to maintain up with feeding your eggplants what they want, blackberry vines will probably be overfed, resulting in decreased fruit.

Fennel

Close-up of a growing Fennel in a sunny garden. The plant has tall, hollow stems with thinly dissected leaves that resemble thin leaves. The leaves are bright green and have a delicate lacy appearance. The bulb is large, white.
As an allelopathic plant, fennel could inhibit the expansion of neighboring crops, lowering their yield.

Fennel makes an amazing potted plant and is each aromatic and scrumptious within the kitchen. Within the vegetable backyard, nonetheless, it makes for a poisonous neighbor. Analysis reveals that fennel is considerably allelopathic to most different crops. Which means that its roots emit a chemical which will act as a development inhibitor to the crops round it.

This pairing will go away blackberry crops struggling to acquire new development, leading to a significantly diminished yield the next yr. Fennel is finest saved as a potted plant in its personal area.

This fashion, you’ll be able to transfer them near outside residing areas the place their feathery plumes of foliage and spicy scent could be loved with out harming your different crops.

Grapes

Close-up of ripe grapes in the garden. Grapes are deciduous woody vines with long climbing stems. The leaves of the vine are large, lobed, dark green in color with serrated edges. The leaves are arranged alternately along the vines. The fruits of grapes are called grapes or grape berries. The berries are small, rounded, dark blue in color, grow in dense clusters. Each berry is covered with a thin smooth skin.
Grapevines outpace and overshadow blackberries, crowding them above and beneath the bottom and limiting daylight.

Merely put, grapevines will crowd blackberry vines into extinction. Each crops have related development habits and desires. Nonetheless, grapes are extra vigorous growers, and until they’re saved in examine, they are going to shortly crowd your berries each above and beneath the bottom.

Grape foliage is way bigger and extra lush than that of blackberry crops. Grapes will outpace blackberries quickly all through a rising season, depriving your berries of much-needed daylight.

Oregano

Close-up of a lot of growing Oregano in a sunny garden. Oregano is a perennial herb with a small, bushy growth habit. The plant features woody stems covered in small, oval-shaped leaves. Oregano leaves are dark green and have a slightly fuzzy texture. They grow in pairs opposite each other along the stems.
Though helpful within the backyard, oregano can choke out blackberries and prefers completely different soil circumstances.

Oregano has many advantages within the backyard. It’s usually thought of pest-repellent, making it a helpful companion plant. But it surely’s not the very best companion for blackberries.

A single oregano plant isn’t more likely to do a lot injury, however oregano has been identified to choke out different crops in its spreading behavior. It’s generally used to eradicate wild blackberries the place they don’t seem to be wished. It additionally prefers barely alkaline soil, the alternative of a blackberry plant.

Peppers

Close-up of ripe hot pepper fruits in a sunny garden. They grow in the form of small and medium bushes. The leaves are dark green, smooth or slightly textured, and lanceolate or ovate in shape. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stems. The fruits are elongated, thin, slightly wrinkled, with a shiny bright red skin.
As heavy feeders, peppers require extra fertility than blackberries, making them one other blackberry companion to keep away from.

Peppers are nightshades, so they’re heavy feeders. On all different accounts, these shouldn’t trigger many points for blackberries. Nonetheless, if you need a wholesome crop of peppers, you’ll have to overfeed your blackberry crops, which is extra of a difficulty than it would sound.

These two crops don’t have related sufficient environmental must be something particular as companions. Peppers do make first rate companions in most gardens, however it is a pairing to keep away from.

Potatoes

Close-up of a garden bed with potato bushes growing in rows, in a sunny garden. Potatoes are a type of plant that grows underground, known for their starchy tubers that are harvested as the main edible part. The plant has an upright growth, with green stems and compound leaves. The leaves are large and consist of several oval-shaped leaflets. Leaflets are bright green in color with a rough texture.
Blackberries and potatoes compete for area and vitamins, leading to diminished yield and root interference.

One other nightshade, potatoes aren’t good companions for blackberries. Except for their larger dietary wants, which is able to result in an overgrowth of foliage and diminished yield of berries, in addition they have a big footprint within the backyard.

Potatoes and blackberries will compete for actual property within the root division. Potatoes want room to unfold out and kind underneath the bottom. Blackberries prefer to ship out roots in all instructions, and the 2 is not going to solely intervene with one another’s development, however harvesting potatoes will tear up your blackberry roots.

Raspberries

Close-up of ripe raspberries in a sunny garden. Raspberries are plants that grow as bushes or canes, with thorny stems. The leaves of a raspberry plant are generally green, compound leaves with toothed edges and a rough texture. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stems. Raspberry fruits are small, round, colorful red-pink. They are made up of tiny drupelets, which give them a unique textured appearance.
Blackberries and raspberries, whereas technically appropriate, appeal to extra pests and illnesses when grown collectively.

Blackberries and raspberries technically ought to make good neighbors. When it comes to development habits and environmental wants, they’re certainly appropriate, and the worst factor that might occur is that they could compete for area. These would work positive collectively in case you’re rising them indoors.

The problem between these two is that they share the identical pests, such because the raspberry beetle. They are going to appeal to extra pests collectively than they might if paired with one thing much less fascinating to these bugs. Additionally they share the identical illnesses, so if one crop is affected, it may shortly unfold to the opposite. Greatest to take care of far between these two.

Tomatoes

Close-up of ripe tomato fruits in the garden, against a blurred background. The plant produces medium, oval-shaped fruits. They have a juicy fleshy texture, covered with a smooth shiny skin of red, orange, yellow and green, depending on the maturity of the fruit.
Regardless of being common and nutrient-rich, tomatoes are incompatible with blackberries resulting from differing fertilizer wants.

The final on our record is one other nightshade vegetable. Tomatoes are one of the common greens for house gardeners to develop. They’re scrumptious, excessive in essential vitamins, and really straightforward to develop. Sadly, they make poor companions for blackberries for a similar motive that different nightshades fail, nutrient compatibility.

Tomatoes want plenty of fertilizer to stay as much as their potential. As we now have mentioned, blackberries don’t. Hanging the fitting stability between these two to share the identical area just isn’t definitely worth the effort and hassle. Tomatoes are one other blackberry companion to keep away from.

Ultimate Ideas

Whereas these crops listed don’t make nice companions for blackberries, there are nonetheless loads of methods to make the most of companion planting appropriately. Discover crops with related wants that gained’t compete for area or daylight. Strive planting with blueberries or strawberries for a more healthy crop of all berries.

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