Looking forward to biting into a fresh, juicy cucumber plucked right from your garden? In order to successfully produce this summer staple, it’s important to know which plants should not be grown nearby. “Cucumbers generally grow well with many other edibles and flowering perennials,” says Beth Bolles, horticulture agent with the University of Florida IFAS Extension Escambia County. However, there are a number of plants that can negatively affect cucumber growth and flavor. If you’re growing cucumbers in your garden, the following plants are ones that experts say to avoid planting in close proximity.
Squash
Planting squash next to cucumbers can attract pests to the location, which can harm your cucumbers. “Since squash is in the same family as cucumbers, they have the same pests (such as powdery mildew and squash vine borer),” says Bolles. “An example of an insect that will attack squash and cucumber fruit is pickleworms.”
Sage
Planting sage next to cucumbers is not wise. The reason is twofold: The aroma of sage can interfere with the crisp “cucumber-y” taste of cucumbers, while both plants compete for water resources, which can inhibit cucumber’s growth.
Mint
Mint is an aggressively growing herb best relegated to containers. If planting mint in your garden, be sure to keep it far away from cucumbers, as it will horde space and nutrients and take away vital elements that cucumbers require.
Melons
Melons, including watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew, belong to the botanical family Cucurbitaceae, similar to cucumbers. “They’re also attackable by the same pests and diseases, including cucumber beetles and powdery mildew,” says Matthew Wilson, gardening expert and CEO of Handy Gardeners. “Mixed cropping may allow more pests and diseases to attack the site, thereby bringing about poor harvests with fruits of poor quality for the two. Cultivating them side by side may promote the infection rate from one crop to the other.”
Potatoes
Both potatoes and cucumbers are prone to blight diseases, which can ruin both if planted close together, says Bolles. Also, remember that both plants are heavy feeders and will compete for resources, with deep-rooted potatoes usually winning the competition.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers actually generate allelopathic compounds that hurt the growth of the surrounding plants. “They can commonly stunt the growth of cucumbers and destroy output,” says Wilson. “Sunflowers also shade the ground so densely that they will not let the cucumbers see the light of day. It is best to keep these two plants separate in the garden.”
Zucchini
Although cucumber and zucchini belong to the same family and require similar growing conditions—which include sunlight, well-drained fertile soil, and copious water—they should not be grown next to one another. Both zucchini and cucumber suffer from the same diseases and pests, like gray mold, mildew, and cucumber mosaic virus, all of which can be exacerbated when grown next to one another.
Fennel
Fennel emits chemicals that can suppress the growth of other plants around it, such as cucumbers. “If planted next to fennel, the cucumber will not grow very well, with lower yields and inferior fruit quality,” says Wilson. “Furthermore, fennel will attract some pests, particularly aphids and caterpillars, which will do some damage to cucumber.”
