14 Raspberry Companion Plants: What to Grow With Raspberry?

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Gardening is an art, and those who have mastered it are artists. So if you are one of those artists and gardening is in your veins, you are at the right place. The beauty and fragrance that a garden brings are unmatchable by any other element of the universe.

However, along with a garden comes numerous responsibilities that require you to take care of your little green friends. The same is valid for raspberry gardens. Raspberries are versatile among the fruits as they come with an impeccable taste and color. And if you are a gardener, you can relate to this.

You can grow raspberries in your garden quickly and get that favorite ingredient for pies and cakes anytime. However, raspberries are also susceptible to numerous elements of the environment, such as nutritional deficiencies, predatory birds, insects, parasites, lack of sunlight and water, etc. And you might not see your raspberries flourish as much as you care for them.

Fortunately, companion planting is the one-stop solution for all gardening problems. Companion planting is a method of planting where you grow numerous plants together in the same space to promote their synergistic growth. Similarly, raspberries can grow sufficiently with innumerable plants that help them fight nutritional deficiencies in the soil and get rid of predatory insects.

What is Companion Planting?

Companion planting is the process of planting various plants together in one place. It is an effective way of making coexistence beneficial for plants. Plants are susceptible to several diseases, rots, and attacks from insects and pests.

Companion planting strives towards solving such issues. It uses other plants to deter pests or insects or provide essential nutrients to the plant requiring a companion. The plants benefit each other and co-exist as companions, thus providing you with a serene garden to adore.

What Are The Benefits of Companion Planting?

Companion planting helps deter insects, pests, forages, etc., that feed on your plants. Companion planting comes with many benefits. It eradicates the threats associated with the plant and provides it with a safe condition to grow and thrive.

It also helps keep several diseases at bay without requiring any chemicals. Many companion plants attract beneficial insects and pollinators to enhance pollination and scare away unwanted pests and insects.

The best part about companion planting is that it improves plants’ flavor, so you get delicious fruits and vegetables out of your garden. Not only that, but you can also enhance the growing conditions for the plant by using a companion as a shade or ground cover.

Moreover, the companion plants add essential nutrients to the soil, fulfilling the deficiency plants may face. They also enhance nitrogen in the soil, a necessary nutrient for any plant.

Companion Plants for Raspberries

So if you want to see your raspberries grow sweeter, juicier, and iridescent, we have your back. These companion plants will be a good pick for your raspberries. Get ready to be a good gardener.

1. Legumes

Legumes
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Legumes stand the test of companion planting with the best grades. Legumes must be the first plants crossing your mind for companion planting. The same is correct for raspberries. Legumes such as beans, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, peanuts, chickpeas, etc., go well as sister plants for raspberries.

Raspberries receive extra nutrients from legumes with bacteria on their root nodules. The best part about legumes is that they act as nitrogen fixers in the atmosphere and enhance the nutritional composition of the soil.

You can also use legumes as cover crops for raspberry plants and prevent soil erosion. So you can go for legumes as companion plants.

2. Garlic and Onions

Garlic and onions
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You can also add some plants from the allium family, such as onion and garlic. Who wouldn’t want to shield the sweet scent of raspberries from predatory insects? Well, garlic and onion can do the job. It works the best as a natural pest control companion plant.

The pungent sulfuric smell in garlic and onions masks the fragrant aroma of raspberries and prevents them from harmful pests and bugs, such as aphids and beetles. Garlic and onions also have antibacterial and antifungal properties that help prevent fungal infections in raspberries when planted close to them.

You can plant these alliums when the fall season or the harvesting period of raspberries approaches. So get ready to give some pest control treatment to your raspberry plants.

3. Crimson Clover

Crimson Clover
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Crimson clover is another nitrogen-fixing plant you can get as a companion plant for your raspberry garden. Crimson clovers bring a lot to your garden other than benefitting the raspberries.

You undoubtedly get a pretty garden with crimson clovers. Besides, it also enriches the soil for raspberries to make the most out of their nutrients. Crimson clover also has the potential to attract beneficial insects and pollinators such as parasitic wasps and lacewings.

4. White Clover

White Clover
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You can expect a similar synergistic effect from white clover as the crimson clover plants.

White clover also acts as a nitrogen fixer in the soil and enhances its nutritional benefit. It also benefits the raspberry plants as a mulch in the soil and is a perfect fit to keep weeds at bay. Last but not least, raspberries can benefit from the insect attracting capability of white clover.

5. Marigold

Marigold
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The attractive flowers marigolds possess to serve as an attraction for beneficial insects and pollinators such as bees and butterflies. People can not wait to plant marigolds in their gardens. Its exceptional fragrance and colors say it all. If a marigold can act as a companion plant for your raspberries, it is like a cherry on the cake.

Besides attractive properties for beneficial insects, marigolds also act as good repellents for nematodes and eelworms. This aspect of marigold also helps enhance fruit development in the case of raspberries. It is due to the secretion of special chemicals by marigolds. So marigold and raspberries always go well together.

6. Lavender

Lavender
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Lavenders work as best friends for your raspberry garden. Lavenders possess a strong aroma that repels numerous insects that prey on raspberries. It masks the scent of lavenders so harmful insects can not attack them. Planting lavenders near raspberries can attract beneficial pollinators and enhance growth. Also, raspberries grow well under the shade of lavenders.

7. Tansy

Tansy
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Tansy can be another good choice as a companion plant for raspberries. It is due to the production of thujone, a poisonous chemical in tansy that repels numerous pests and insects. Additionally, tansy also has the potential to add potassium to the soil, which benefits raspberries in their growth and development.

8. Yarrow

Yarrow
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Yarrow shows similar effects and benefits as tansy as a companion plant for raspberries. It keeps unwanted bugs and pests at bay when saving your precious raspberries. It also attracts beneficial insects or pollinators to aid in the growth of raspberry plants and increase the fruit yield.

9. Chervil

Chervil
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Chervil is another companion plant you can use for raspberries. Raspberries also provide the necessary shade to grow chervil. So you can get some herbal friends for your raspberries and get the best of their properties. Chervil is effective due to its strong aroma that repels slugs and aphids.

10. Chives

Chives
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Chives are a part of the allium family and inherit its properties of strong aroma. Their pungent smell repels numerous insects, such as rust flies, Japanese beetles, and aphids. So planting chives as a companion to raspberries also works out well.

Not only do chives benefit the raspberries, but you can also use them as flavoring agents for salads. Also, because chives are perennial plants and are easy to grow and maintain, you should make chives a companion for your raspberries.

11. Chamomile

Chamomile
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Chamomile is a flowering plant with numerous benefits as a companion for your raspberry plants. First of all, the bright and attractive chamomile flowers never fail to adore your garden. The flowers it produces have a strong aroma that is highly noticeable.

The pungent aroma of chamomile flowers is beneficial in two ways. It attracts the beneficial insects and deters the harmful ones effectively. The pollinators attracted through its pungent smell, such as bees and butterflies, increase the count of the number of berries produced by the Raspberry plants.

Lastly, raspberries can benefit from chamomile’s antifungal and antibacterial properties and grow healthy.

12. Mint

Mint
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Mint can be another herbal friend for raspberries. Mint is not only beneficial for your raspberry garden but also finds numerous uses in the kitchen and medicinal uses.

Mint also shows its magic due to its strong aroma that keeps insects such as aphids and Japanese beetles at bay. Hence, you can add mint to your options for companion planting raspberries.

13. Nasturtium

Nasturtiums 
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Nasturtium is one of the most beneficial plants as a companion plant for raspberries. The pungent smell it possesses is disliked by many insects, such as squash. So you can rest assured that these insects would not enter your field of Nasturtium and raspberries.

Besides, nasturtiums are great attraction points for aphids. So if you plant them next to raspberries, there is no chance they would lurk on them as they would solely be attracted to nasturtiums.

14. Thyme

Thyme
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Thyme can be your next stopping point on the journey of finding the companion plants for raspberries. Thyme has the potential to repel numerous predatory pests that harm raspberries. Also, it comes with an added benefit. Thyme produces some aromatic oils that activate anthocyanins in raspberries, helpful chemicals. So thyme can bring the best time for your raspberry plants.

Plants to Keep Away from Raspberries

You know by now the companion plants you need for Raspberries. In this section of the article, however, we will be mentioning the plants that you need to keep away from it. This will ensure healthy growth for the plant.

1. Nightshades

Nightshades
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Nightshades are the plants that you must avoid planting near your Raspberries. Nightshades consist of plants like eggplants, potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes. It is because these plants are prone to many diseases. Hence, if you plant Raspberries close to Nightshades, you are ultimately putting them in danger.

The most common disease among nightshades is blight, a fungal infection. It not only impacts the nearby plants but also infects the soil. It is a critical factor in the growth of Raspberries.

The infected soil consists of spores of the fungal disease, which is most common in potatoes. It can kill the Raspberry plants in your garden, so you must avoid it.

2. Strawberries

Strawberries
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Strawberries are another plant to keep away from Raspberries. Though they belong to the berries family, they are not meant to be together in the garden. The reason is quite similar to that of Nightshades.

Strawberries may inflict fungal diseases on Raspberries, verticillium wilt being the most common. Once infected with this fungal disease, your Raspberries can find it challenging to recover. Hence, it is best to keep them far apart.

3. Other Bramble Fruits

Other Bramble Fruits
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Strawberries and other Bramble fruits, Blueberries, Blackberries, and Gooseberries, are also not good companions for Raspberries. These fruits have different growing conditions compared to Raspberries. Hence, they can not co-exist.

Factors to Grow Raspberry Companion Plants

Now you know what to and what not to grow with your Raspberries. However, while choosing companion plants for Raspberries, you must remember a few things. Here are the factors you must consider while growing Raspberry companion plants.

  • Water requirement: There might be times when you will overwater or underwater the Raspberry plants. It is entirely due to the different water requirements of plants you grow with it. Hence, you must plant only those plants with the exact water requirements as Raspberry plants.
  • Sunlight requirement: Identical sunlight requirement is also necessary for companion plants for Raspberries. Raspberries prefer full and direct sunlight. Hence, the companion plants you plant with it must also thrive well in such sunlight conditions.
  • Growing period: Growing season also matters regarding companion planting. Choosing companion plants with the same growing season as Raspberries would be best.
  • Pollinators: Pollinators are essential for a better yield of Raspberries. Hence, it would help if you planted those companions that attract beneficial insects, such as bees and butterflies.
  • Space: The spacing between Raspberries and their companion plants is essential. You must ensure they do not compete with Raspberry plants for space. Hence, it would help if you got plants that make the best of the area you provide in the garden.
  • Competition: Deterring competition between the Raspberries and their companions is essential at all costs. It would be best to choose plants that do not compete with Raspberries for nutrients, sunlight, or water to ensure their harmonic growth.
  • Use: it is like a cherry on the cake if you can get companion plants that are useful as food or for enhancing the beauty of your garden. Hence, you can either go for flower plants or fruits and vegetables.

FAQ’s

What is the Best Place to Grow Raspberry?

Raspberries prefer full and direct sunlight. Moreover, it grows well in organic soil with acidity around pH 5.6 to 6.2.

Can I Grow the Raspberry Plant in Full Shade?

As Raspberries prefer full and direct sunlight, planting them in full shade will diminish their growth.

Can Blueberries be planted near Raspberries?

Blueberries are in the Bramble fruits category, with distinct growing conditions compared to Raspberries. Hence, it would be improper to plant them near each other.

Conclusion

Raspberries are many people’s favorite and stand at the top among juicy fruits. Raspberry gardening is a hobby for many gardeners worldwide as it gives them an all-time supply of these juicy fruits. However, when it comes to maintaining raspberry plants in the garden, numerous difficulties could arise that get solved by companion planting.

With companion planting, you can prevent your raspberries from harmful insects that might prey on them and attract pollinators for a greater fruit yield. Moreover, you can tackle the nutritional deficiencies of your raspberries.

So now that you have the list of companion plants for raspberries and the stage is set, why not get some best friends for your raspberry plants.

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