Companion planting involves growing different plant species together to enhance their growth, health, or productivity. A notable example is pairing borage with strawberries. This combination leverages each plant’s natural properties to create a more robust and productive strawberry cultivation environment.
Benefits of Borage for Strawberries
Borage offers several advantages to strawberry plants, contributing to a healthier, more productive patch. It helps deter common garden pests that often target strawberries. Its distinct scent can confuse or repel insects, and its bristly leaves act as a physical deterrent, making strawberry plants less appealing to pests like cabbage worms, tomato hornworms, nematodes, slugs, and snails.
Borage’s vibrant blue, star-shaped flowers attract beneficial pollinators like bees and butterflies. Increased pollinator activity leads to more effective pollination, improving fruit set and developing larger, more uniform strawberries. This boosts overall yields.
Borage’s deep root system also contributes to soil health. These roots draw up minerals like calcium and potassium from deeper soil layers, making them available in the topsoil when the plant breaks down. This enriches the immediate growing environment for shallower-rooted strawberry plants.
Many gardeners anecdotally report borage enhances the flavor of nearby strawberries. While scientific evidence supporting this is not widely documented, it remains a commonly cited advantage among companion planters.
Planting and Growing Borage with Strawberries
Successful companion planting of borage with strawberries requires considering their environmental needs. Both thrive in full sun (at least six hours daily), though borage tolerates some partial shade. Well-draining soil rich in organic matter provides an optimal foundation for both to flourish.
Sow borage seeds directly after the last frost, typically in spring, or alongside established strawberry plants. Provide adequate space to prevent borage from outcompeting strawberries. A spacing of 18 to 24 inches between borage and strawberry plants is recommended for healthy growth.
Consistent moisture is important for both, especially during establishment and fruit development. Regular watering, particularly during dry periods, ensures moist, not waterlogged, soil. Once established, borage is low-maintenance; excessive fertilization is typically unnecessary, encouraging leafy growth over flowering.
Managing Borage in Your Strawberry Patch
Borage’s vigorous growth and prolific self-seeding require careful management to prevent dominance in a strawberry patch. To control spread, deadhead borage flowers regularly before they set seed. This prevents unwanted seedlings throughout the strawberry bed.
If borage grows too large or overshadows strawberries, selective pruning helps manage size. Trimming outer leaves or thinning plants allows more sunlight and air circulation to reach strawberries, ensuring adequate resources. Regular harvesting of leaves and flowers for culinary or other uses also helps maintain its size and vigor.
At season’s end, spent borage plants can decompose in place. As they break down, nutrients accumulated by their deep roots (e.g., calcium, potassium) release into the soil, acting as beneficial green manure for strawberries. This decomposition further enriches the soil, contributing to the long-term health of the strawberry patch.