What are bitter gourd companion plants? Sometimes growing a plant besides other plants is not great. Some plants don’t go well planting closely to other plants and that is why you need to look for good companion plants to grow beside them. The same with bitter gourds, you need to look for suitable plants to grow next to them. You can save space by doing that and you can assure that your bitter gourds are doing fine.
Bitter Gourd Companion Plants (Ampalaya)
A good spacing for bitter gourd plants will help them grow well. But even if the spacing is needed by bitter gourds, they can still grow well by growing some other plants next to them. By doing that, you can maximize the land space you have and you can grow more plants even if your soil spacing is limited. You will get more harvest when those plants start to fruit.
Lima Bean
Lima bean is a good companion plant for bitter gourds. They are the same vines and are suitable to grow close to each other. The vines of lima beans are growing long the same as bitter gourds. They need trellis so that they have something to crawl on. When bitter gourd blooms, the lima bean will also bloom. They have almost similar blooming stages and you will see flowers on both plants in no time.
Winged Bean
The Winged bean is another companion plant of the bitter gourd. This plant is also crawling and they need trellis the same as lima beans. The harvesting of bitter gourd and winged beans is also close to the same. They may flower during month three and can produce fruits during that month. Controlling pests in bitter gourd and lima bean should be done when pests attack to make them both healthy and thrive well.
Radish
Radish is also a plant that can be planted next to bitter gourd. It will be great to get bitter gourd and radish in your garden especially when you are craving it. You need to apply fertilizer on bitter gourds to improve their growth and radishes will also benefit from it. Radish grows under the soil so it will be better to use organic fertilizer so that they are safer to consume.
Squash
The growth stages of bitter gourd and squash are almost similar. The fruits are different but the journey and how the plant grows are closely similar. The bitter gourd and squash are both vines. They are crawling. The squash can grow and crawl on the soil but bitter gourd needs trellis for their growth. The bitter gourd lifespan will be good if they will have a trellis to crawl on.
Green Beans
You need to give enough water to bitter gourds when you are growing them. When you water them, other growing plants near them will also benefit. Just like the green beans. Green beans are delicious to eat. There are many kinds of dishes that you can make with green beans. You can cook bitter gourd on a day and cook green beans on the next day. It will be great to have these two plants in your garden.
Peas
Bitter gourds love sunlight but you can still grow peas beside them even if the peas plant loves to grow in a little bit shaded area. The mature bitter gourd needs at least 6+ hours of sunlight but more sun will be great while the peas only need at least 4 to 5 hours of sunlight even if they are already mature. Peas are great to grow in partial shade.
What Can You Not Plant With Bitter Gourds?
There are good companion plants for bitter gourds that really suit to grow beside them but there are also not good companion plants for bitter gourds. Here are some plants that don’t go well with bitter gourds.
Potatoes
Potatoes are growing under the ground and when you are going to harvest them you need to cultivate the soil. So if you are going to grow potatoes with bitter gourd, the bitter gourd plants will be affected because their roots will be disturbed. When the plants are disturbed it can cause curling leaves and yellow leaves on bitter gourds. It will be better to grow potatoes in other spots of the garden.
Herbs
There are many herbs out there and most of them don’t fit to grow with bitter gourd. Some herbs are used to add flavor to food. It will be great to grow herbs but you need to grow them a few distances from bitter gourd plants. Give spacing between these plants to make them grow better.
Cucumbers
Cucumbers are vines also but they don’t suit to grow along with bitter gourds. better to grow them in a separate location or have good spacing between the plants. Good spacing between those plants will help both of them to grow well. They will produce flowers and fruits. An abundant harvest will come when the plants are growing well.
It is great to know some lists of good bitter gourd companion plants. If you are growing bitter gourds you need to know what plants are suitable to grow next to them. Some plants are perfect to grow beside them and some are not. You can save some space if you grow plants beside them but make sure they are compatible to grow closer to each other.