Companion Planting
Lettuce & onions make friends in this bed. The fragrance of the allium family (in this bed yellow, red and white onion sets, leeks, bunching onions) helps to ward off bugs that like to munch on tender lettuce leaves. The lettuce family helps to repel slugs that feed on alliums.
Lettuce, with its spreading, tall green leaves feeds primarily on nitrogen in the soil; alliums, forming bulbs below ground, need less nitrogen and more phosphorus, and incorporate sulfur from the soil for their characteristic odor. The lettuce leaves also help shade the soil, thereby preserving moisture - a living mulch for the onions.
Lettuce, with its spreading, tall green leaves feeds primarily on nitrogen in the soil; alliums, forming bulbs below ground, need less nitrogen and more phosphorus, and incorporate sulfur from the soil for their characteristic odor. The lettuce leaves also help shade the soil, thereby preserving moisture - a living mulch for the onions.