One of the biggest worries facing gardeners who grow their fruits and vegetables is dealing with unwanted pests and insects. However, instead of wasting money buying pesticides and putting harmful chemicals on your plants, you can save money and stress with a simple method. 

The scoop

TikTok user Lindsay (@life_and_linz) shared her companion plant combination she uses to keep her precious vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers safe from unwanted insects. 

@life_with_linz Gardening is just trying to figure out what works good together year after year- and this works well #gardeningtips#companionplanting#trapcrop#raisedbedgarden#livingofftheland#growyourownfood#oklahomafarmtotable ♬ Dream Away - Ramol

That combo includes dill up a trellis next to cucumber, tomatoes on the same trellis, and bush beans at the bottom. 

With this combo, she can combat the caterpillars that like to munch on her cucumbers and tomatoes by attracting them with the dill, which is also super low-maintenance since the flowers allow it to reseed itself every year. 

How it's helping

This type of companion plant is called a "trap crop" because it helps divert unwanted pests away from the main crop you are trying to grow, allowing you to catch them more easily. 

Companion planting in general is an easy and effective method of keeping pests away from your crops because it is a natural diversion that keeps your main plants safe and doesn't make use of pesticides or chemicals that could potentially harm your plants if overused. 

A report from Unsustainable Magazine has also shown that companion planting can increase crop yield by as much as 35%. 

This is fantastic if you are looking to grow your own food, saving you upwards of $600 per year for only a little investment. And it'll taste better than what you can find at the store.

Certain types of companion plants, such as marigolds, thyme, and clover, can also help stall the spread of weeds in our garden, saving you money on harsh weed control chemicals.

What everyone's saying

Users found the advice on companion planting both helpful and informative, calling the garden beautiful and asking for general guidance on how to best maximize their yield of dill and other companion plants for their own garden needs. 

What is the biggest reason you don't grow food at home? Not enough time ⏳ Not enough space 🤏 It seems too hard 😬 I have a garden already 😎 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"Me full of joy that both my tomato areas have cucumbers and dill and i actually got a couple dill to grow from my seed last year! thank you!" one user wrote. 

"Dill is very useful! I use to make pickles, Greek dip, chicken broth," the OP responded in a comment. 

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