Row Companion Planting in Beds by Sister Christa Weinrich

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On this page I want to introduce you to companion planting in beds, as practised and refined over decades by Sister Christa Weinrich and the garden sisters of Fulda Abbey.

Even though this article is already quite detailed, there is much more to discover in the specifics. If you want to go deeper, I highly recommend the book Mischkultur im Hobbygarten (* Affiliate) by Sister Christa Weinrich. It is concise and very hands-on. Alongside her own companion planting system, it also covers the system developed by Gertrud Franck.

This book was our first real introduction to companion planting and helped us create our first bed plan after we terraced our garden. It was a key trigger for the development of our bed planner.

Sister Christa Weinrich and Fulda Abbey

Behind this companion planting system stands not a single name but an entire community: the Benedictine nuns of Fulda Abbey have been managing their monastery garden using companion planting for over 50 years. Sister Christa Weinrich OSB collected, systematised and recorded this decades of practical experience in her book.

Fulda Abbey and Gertrud Franck – the pioneer of row companion planting – were in fruitful dialogue. Franck supported the sisters with advice and practical help. The abbey took up these ideas, carried out its own trials and over the decades developed its own tried-and-tested system for growing in beds.

The Bed as a Manageable Unit

Most hobby gardeners know the setup: the garden is divided into individual beds, separated by paths. That is exactly where Sister Christa Weinrich’s system starts – it takes this familiar bed structure and fills it with well-thought-out companion planting combinations. If you already have beds, there is nothing to rebuild; you can start straight away.

The standard width of such a bed is 1.20 metres. This measurement has proven itself, since every spot in the bed can be reached from either side without having to step on it. The width is not rigidly fixed, however, and can be adapted to your own garden. That said, all beds should be the same width, otherwise crop rotation becomes difficult. Between the beds run paths of about 30 centimetres, which can be trodden firm or surfaced with stones, timber or bark mulch.

Ideally the beds should run north to south, that is, perpendicular to the main wind direction. This allows the sun to shine evenly on all plants. Once laid out, the beds remain in place for many years. The ground is not dug up and replanned every year.

In our bed planner you can set up beds for row companion planting exactly along these lines.

Lead Crops and Companion Crops

Instead of the A, B and C classification used by Gertrud Franck, Sister Christa Weinrich uses a simpler concept with just two groups: lead crops and companion crops.

Lead Crops

The lead crop is the main plant in the bed. It takes up the most space, requires the most attention and stays in the bed the longest. Typical lead crops include cabbages, celeriac, tomatoes, cucumbers and runner beans.

Companion Crops

The companion crop is the partner that accompanies the lead plant for a certain period. If the partner is only alongside the main crop for a short time, it is known as a “true” companion plant. If it accompanies the main crop for almost the entire growing period, it is more of a mixed-cropping partner.

Pre- and Successive Crops

Plants that are already harvested before the main crop begins, or that follow it as a successive crop, are pre-crops or successive crops. What they have in common is a relatively short growing period. Typical examples are spinach, radishes, lamb’s lettuce and round lettuce.

In grove.eco you can specify individual planting for each row and each month. This makes it straightforward to map pre- and successive crops. The planting guide shows you how.

Tried-and-Tested Companion Planting Combinations

A large part of the book is devoted to bed combinations tested over decades. Each combination describes the complete annual cycle for a standard bed 1.20 metres wide: which plant is sown or planted when, which row it goes in, what spacing it needs and when it is harvested.

What makes this special: the bed is not planted just once but several times over the course of the year. As soon as one crop is harvested, the next one moves in. This makes optimal use of the space, from early spring with spinach and radishes right through winter with lamb’s lettuce and kale.

Example: Dwarf Beans and Early Cabbage

To make the principle concrete, here is an example from the book:

March: Two rows of pre-grown round lettuce are placed in the middle of the bed, 45 cm from each edge, with 30 cm spacing within the row. A row of radishes is sown directly between them.

April: In mid-April, two rows of early cabbage (e.g. white cabbage) are planted at the bed edges, 20 cm from each edge.

May: The radishes are harvested and the lettuce is cut continuously. Dwarf beans are now placed between the remaining lettuce plants in clusters of five to six seeds, with 25 cm spacing within the row. By the time the beans need the space, the last of the lettuce has been harvested.

July: The early cabbage is harvested. Each row is replaced by a row of endive.

August: The beans are also harvested. Their spot can still be planted with kale up to around mid-August. So as winter begins, the bed holds endive and kale. Endive tolerates light frosts but should be lifted with its roots before heavier frost and stored in a sheltered spot until eaten.

Six different crops are grown on a single bed over the course of the year, protecting each other and making the best use of the soil.

The Benefits of Companion Planting

Sister Christa Weinrich describes in her book in detail why the extra effort of companion planting pays off. Here are the main reasons:

Using Different Root Depths

Shallow-rooted plants like cucumbers and radishes only use the upper layer of soil. Deep-rooted plants like beans and tomatoes penetrate more than a metre down. In companion planting the two complement each other: deep-rooted plants bring up nutrients that would otherwise be out of reach for shallow-rooted ones, and open up new soil zones through their root channels.

Making Better Use of Nutrients

Celeriac in monoculture only uses a portion of the available nutrients. In combination with cauliflower, the cauliflower uses exactly the nutrients the celeriac does not. Both benefit from each other and grow better than they would alone. The scent of the celeriac also repels cabbage pests.

Confusing Pests

In a monoculture, pests find their host plants effortlessly. The species-specific scent attracts them and they can move freely from plant to plant. In companion planting, a mixture of scents is created that confuses the pests.

Proven Protective Partnerships

Experience at Fulda Abbey has confirmed numerous partnerships where one partner actively protects the other. The best known: carrots and onions (or leeks) deter carrot fly and onion fly from each other. Celeriac keeps cabbage pests away with its scent. Lettuce protects young cabbage plants and radishes from flea beetles. Garlic protects strawberries from mite infestation.

Shading and Protecting the Soil

Bare soil dries out, crusts over and loses nutrients. Through clever combinations of tall and low plants, the soil stays shaded. Low-growing partners like spinach or lettuce act like little umbrellas and catch raindrops before they can puddle and compact the soil.

Preventing Soil Fatigue

When the same crop stands year after year in the same spot, yields decline. So-called soil fatigue sets in. In companion planting, where many different species grow together, this problem barely arises.

The Bed Through the Year

A typical companion planting bed by Sister Christa Weinrich goes through several phases over the course of a year:

Spring (March – April)

The garden year begins with the robust crops: spinach, peas, radishes, cut lettuce and pre-grown round lettuce are the first onto the bed. Kohlrabi seedlings and sets can also be planted early. These early crops make use of the space before the warmth-loving main crops are ready.

Late Spring (May)

Now it gets interesting: the first pre-crops are harvested and the frost-sensitive crops go into the bed. Dwarf beans are sown, tomatoes, celeriac and cucumbers planted out. Late cabbage varieties move in between the pre-crops. The bed fills up.

Summer (June – August)

The main crops spread out and use the space vacated by the harvested companions. Dwarf beans, tomatoes and cabbages are in full swing. As soon as a crop is harvested, the next one is planted straight away: endive, kale or Chinese cabbage come in as successive crops.

Autumn and Winter (September – November)

The bed is gradually cleared but never left empty. Winter-hardy crops like kale, Brussels sprouts, lamb’s lettuce and winter leeks stay in place and provide fresh vegetables well into winter. Free patches are sown with mustard as a green manure or covered with partly composted compost.

A Selection of Tried-and-Tested Combinations

The book contains dozens of proven combinations. Here is an overview of the key partnerships:

Beans and Their Partners

Dwarf beans pair well with lettuce, kohlrabi, beetroot and various cabbages. Summer savory, placed as a companion between the bean rows, improves the flavour of the beans and keeps blackfly away. After the bean harvest, the nodule bacteria on the roots leave nitrogen in the soil – as all legumes do.

Peas as Early Starters

Peas can be sown as early as March and make good partners for chard, kohlrabi or early carrots. After the pea harvest in June or July, there is still enough time for a successive crop of kale, Chinese cabbage or endive.

Cucumbers Like Shelter

Cucumbers thrive particularly well in the shelter of runner beans or peas, which serve as natural windbreaks. Basil planted next to cucumbers protects against powdery mildew.

Cabbages and Celeriac

The combination of cauliflower (or other cabbages) with celeriac is one of the most thoroughly tested companion plantings. Celeriac keeps cabbage pests at bay with its intense scent, while cabbage in turn promotes the growth of the celeriac. Both also complement each other in their nutrient requirements.

Carrots and Alliums

Carrots and alliums protect each other. The scent of the carrots deters onion fly and leek moth, while leeks and onions drive away carrot fly. This protective effect works with all alliums. Sister Christa Weinrich even recommends mixed sowing in the same row, as the protective effect is even stronger that way than when alternating by row.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes can remain in the same spot for many years, provided the soil is well supplied with compost. Mustard as a pre-crop prepares the soil, and pot marigolds or tagetes (French marigolds) as companion plants deter pests and invigorate the soil.

Herbs and Flowers Belong in the Picture

A pure vegetable garden without herbs and flowers leaves some possibilities untapped. Sister Christa Weinrich devotes a separate chapter to these plants, because many of them have a strong effect on their neighbours.

Dill promotes the germination of carrots and is a good companion for lettuce and cucumbers. Basil protects cucumbers and tomatoes. Summer savory improves the flavour of beans. Tagetes (French marigolds) drive nematodes out of the soil and prevent soil fatigue. Pot marigolds (calendula) loosen heavy soils and keep slugs away.

Soil Care – the Foundation

Sister Christa Weinrich emphasises that the soil is the foundation of everything. In the companion planting garden, a few important principles apply:

Don’t dig – loosen. Digging destroys the natural layering of the soil and its life. Instead, the soil is broken up with a cultivator or hoe, and loosened more deeply when needed with a digging fork or broadfork. I always think of a phrase from Gertrud Franck’s book, roughly: “Thou shalt not lift the bottom to the top.”

Keep the soil covered. Mulching is one of the most fundamental practices in the companion planting garden. Grass clippings, shredded garden waste, partly composted compost or straw protect the soil from drying out, suppress weeds and feed the soil life.

Use green manures. Whenever a bed or part of it becomes free, sow a green manure: mustard for quick soil protection, field beans to fix nitrogen, phacelia as a bee-friendly alternative.

Compost as a base fertiliser. Mature compost is worked regularly into the beds, especially before planting hungry crops. Fulda Abbey also recommends regular liquid feeds with diluted nettle manure.

Crop Rotation in Beds

One of the most important topics – and one of the greatest challenges – is crop rotation: the changeover from one year to the next.

With companion planting in beds, it is advisable to rotate the planting from bed to bed each year. What grows on Bed 1 this year moves to Bed 2 next year, and so on. It helps to alternate heavy feeders (cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers) with light feeders (beans, peas, lettuces) and to make sure plants from the same family do not stand in the same spot too often.

Multi-year crop rotation is a real challenge, and this is where our bed planner helps. In grove, good and bad predecessors are shown directly in the plan. There is also a year-change function that lets you plan the rotation of beds from one year to the next.

With the systems of Gertrud Franck and the Langerhorst family, crop rotation is already built into the system. Here the rows move across the bed year by year, and you don’t need to worry about unfavourable successors.

Who Is This System Suited For?

Companion planting in beds by Sister Christa Weinrich is particularly well suited for:

Beginners to companion planting. The concept of lead crops and companion crops is easier to understand than Gertrud Franck’s A-B-C row system. The proven combinations can be planted straight away without having to internalise an entire system first.

Gardens with an existing bed structure. If you already have beds with fixed paths, nothing needs rebuilding. The combinations can be integrated into existing beds immediately.

Small to medium-sized gardens. Companion planting shows its strength especially in limited space: through clever pre-crops, main crops and successive crops, every square metre is used multiple times.

Anyone who wants to stay flexible. Each bed can be planned individually; there is no rigid scheme across the entire garden.

The Connection to grove.eco

As mentioned at the outset, Sister Christa Weinrich’s book was one of the triggers for the development of our bed planner. While Claudia spent days searching for combinations of neighbourhoods and pre- and successive crops and putting them down on paper, the idea came to us. The first development version of grove had images from the book on the bed plan.

In grove.eco you can create beds for exactly this type of companion planting. Each bed can be individually divided into rows and planted month by month. The planner shows you the neighbourhoods and helps with crop sequencing and, later, crop rotation. With practical filters you can easily find suitable plants without ever having to consult a cross-reference table.

Recommended Book

The book Mischkultur im Hobbygarten (* Affiliate) by Sister Christa Weinrich is a concise, hands-on guide. Alongside the numerous bed combinations, it covers herbs and flowers in the companion planting garden, soil care, natural plant protection and much more. More than 50 years of companion planting practice at Fulda Abbey form the foundation of the book.