PlantAlong

What to plant with cucumbers

Sources list Tomatoes, Beans, Peas and Lettuce as good companions for cucumbers. Keep cucumbers apart from Potatoes. Only 2 pairings have been tested in a study; the rest are guidance or tradition.

Pairings
7
Last reviewed
Photo: Agung Sutrisno / Pexels
Good neighbors first, then plants to keep apart. Each one says how strong the evidence is.

Helps

  • Tomatoes Traditional pairing1

  • Beans Traditional pairing1

    Bush beans in the chart.

  • Peas Traditional pairing1

  • Lettuce Traditional pairing1

Trap crop

  • Blue Hubbard squash Tested in a study

    A border of Blue Hubbard squash, which striped cucumber beetles prefer, encircles the cucumbers; beetles concentrate on the border, which is then sprayed.23

    UConn 2003 plot trial: the sprayed Blue Hubbard border raised cucumber yield 33% and cut total plant death from 30% to 14% vs unsprayed all-cucumber controls. Depends on spraying the border as beetles arrive and on a complete, gap-free perimeter. Farm-scale trials; garden-scale effect not tested.

No clear effect

  • Marigold Tested in a study

    Claimed: marigold root exudates suppress nematodes. Field tests intercropping cucumber and squash with French marigold found no consistent effect on soil nematodes.45

    Powers et al. 1993 (Honduras field tests, 90 days). UF/IFAS ENY-056, citing that study, adds the marigold intercrop was less productive than cucurbit monoculture. Marigold reduces root-knot nematodes only as a cover crop grown at least 2 months before the vegetable on the same site.

Keep apart

  • Potatoes Traditional pairing1

Traditional pairings come from a UC Master Gardener chart that traces to the UC Davis Edible Landscaping Handbook and ATTRA. The chart gives no reasons, and we found no trial of these pairs; treat them as garden lore.

Sources

  1. University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCCE Master Gardener Program), Companion Planting Chart: Companion planting in the vegetable garden, File dated 2023-09 in URL path; no date printed. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
  2. University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System (UConn IPM), Protecting Cucumbers From Beetles and Wilt With Perimeter Trap Cropping, reviewed Reviewed 2012. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
  3. University of Vermont Extension, Vermont Vegetable and Berry Program, Perimeter Trap Cropping: A Novel Approach to Insect Pest Control, July 2004. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
  4. Journal of Nematology 25(4):666-673 (Society of Nematologists); FLVC journal host, Effects of Mixed Cropping on a Soil Nematode Community in Honduras, 1993. Retrieved 2026-11-02.
  5. University of Florida, IFAS Extension (Entomology and Nematology Department), Marigolds (Tagetes spp.) for Nematode Management (ENY-056), reviewed Reviewed November 2019; page footer "Reviewed: 01/2024". Retrieved 2026-11-02.