Melon vines take up too much garden space. This past summer, we grew all of ours away from the vegetable beds. I planted them under fruit trees where they had room to roam.
In the photo above, a Sweet Crimson watermelon is growing “under” a young Hellen avocado tree. And in the photo below, the watermelon is being enjoyed, to say the least.
I planted that watermelon seedling on June 27, and the partnership of watermelon plant and avocado tree worked great because they both needed lots of water through the summer heat. They also complemented each other’s sun needs, as the avocado tree grew up to gather light while the watermelon ran laterally, away from the Hellen tree, to soak up rays on the ground. Incidentally, the avocado tree enjoyed the watermelon’s leaves shading the ground and cooling the soil — especially during those intensely hot early July days. I handwatered the watermelon plant for the first week or two, but then the mini-sprinkler on the avocado tree irrigated the watermelon as it watered the avocado tree from then on.
I also grew honeydew melons under another avocado tree, which did great. Melons and avocado trees are an excellent combination. Other combinations of plants under fruit trees that I’ve tried have not always worked so well.
Keys to finding good vegetable-fruit tree combinations: consider water needs
Last fall, I planted garlic under my SpiceZee nectaplum tree and this combination didn’t work well. It was the rain’s fault. No, really it was my fault for expecting rain. The garlic began to grow, then it turned to winter and I stopped watering the fruit tree because it had lost its leaves and only needed minimal soil moisture, but the rains never came to take care of the garlic. In spring, I ended up with tiny garlic heads.
Of course, I could have watered the garlic individually, but the point in planting under fruit trees for me is in saving something: space, water, time, work. It would have worked better if I’d planted the garlic under a citrus tree since you still need to water citrus trees through the winter if there’s no rain.
Consider light needs
So you must coordinate the water needs of the vegetable plant (or melon vine, etc.) and the fruit tree. Also, you must coordinate the light needs of the two. The garlic, for example, must be planted under the south side of a citrus tree. It is growing through the winter. If it’s on the north side, it will be shaded most if not all of the day.
The north side of a tree can be put to use, however, as it will stay cooler and moister through the winter. Last winter while I was pruning my grapes, I put a cutting into the ground under the north side of a Fuji apple tree, where it grew splendidly without any further attention. (This winter, I’ll dig up the grape and plant it elsewhere in the yard. Here’s a post on propagating grapes with cuttings.)
Consider walking paths
Under the south side of an adjacent Pink Lady apple tree, I planted a couple strawberries. I’m glad I only planted a couple because we still need to walk around the tree to harvest fruit. Strawberries all around under the tree would get trampled, especially by the kids.
See both apple trees in this photo:
Consider mulch
One of my favorite vegetables to put under fruit trees is potatoes. The reasons are that potatoes love to grow surrounded by mulch, and I love to mulch my fruit trees. You just scoop back some mulch, drop a potato, and cover it back up with mulch. A few months later, after the potato plant has grown up and then died, you scrape the mulch away again to find new tubers. Since they form within mulch, the potatoes are very clean already. That’s a bonus.
A video showing my routine:
I used to plant more sweet potatoes under trees, but I do that less now since harvesting sweet potatoes takes more digging and disturbing the tree roots. The trees never showed that they minded, but I still figure it can’t be good to do that to them often. (Here’s a post on planting sweet potatoes under avocados.)
Consider permanent companionships
No longer do I sow cilantro in vegetable beds. Here is one case where I’ve completely switched over to planting only under fruit trees. I’ve got a few permanent patches of cilantro where they grow during winter and spring, set seed and die off through summer, then with the first fall rains they grow again. Cilantro is so reliable at self-sowing, I’ve found. This cycle has been running for a handful of years now, with no end in sight.
(There’s a photo and a video of one such cilantro patch in this post.)
It’s like free cilantro every winter and spring. Onions grow well under fruit trees then too. Now, if only those were the seasons in which tomatoes and peppers grew, we could have permanent salsa patches. I’d put one under the lime tree, and a couple under avocado trees to complement guacamole. If only.
Planting too many vegetables under a fruit tree
Can you go overboard and plant too many vegetables (etc.) under a fruit tree? Maybe. I may have broken the limit this summer of what could be grown well under a large Valencia orange tree in my yard. Between the spring and now in fall, under that single tree’s canopy edge has grown peas, tomatoes, beets, bananas, coffee, raspberries, pumpkins, avocado seedlings, potatoes, onions, apricot seedlings, what else am I forgetting?
There were a few problems encountered. One was that the light wasn’t quite sufficient for everything to grow well. It was just too crowded. Another was that I couldn’t seem to keep enough water in the soil to satisfy all those plants during the summer heat. I had to add extra water by hand all the time, and that’s not saving water or time.
So I’ve scaled back here in fall, and I’ll scale back further for next summer. Here is the orange tree and friends as they grow today:
What a novel idea!
I came up with this notion of planting vegetables etc. under fruit trees, by the way. All by myself. I’m so clever.
Oh, wait. Take a hike in the hills and you’ll notice everywhere small plants growing under trees. A couple years ago, I took this photo of wild currants and blackberries growing under the eastern canopy edge of these coast live oak trees. They must’ve learned this from watching my raspberries under the orange tree. Copycats.
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I love this idea! Next year I’ll definately plant pumpkins under my avocados. This year I got several BIG pumpkins! I did have a volunteer tomatoe under my little Fuji apple tree. Both got watered, and both were/are loaded with fruit!
I’m learning so much from your site. Thank you! My avocado trees are planted on a slope? Do you think I could plant vegetables on the slope too?
Hi Emily,
Most of my avocados are also planted on a slope. Do you mean you’re thinking of planting vegetables “under” those avocado trees or just somewhere else on the slope? Either way, the answer is yes, it’s certainly possible. (My vegetable garden is also on a slope.)
I just love your great ideas! I really enjoy your yard posts!Cconnieklon
In early summer I planted tomato under a plum tree and didn’t water it the whole hot summer. I picked 70 tomatoes from Aug to Sept. I’m expanding to incorporate more of my irrigated trees next summer.
Hi Tim,
What a harvest! I was just talking to a friend about why my tomatoes under trees don’t produce as well as my tomatoes in the garden and I realized that I’ve been planting too many too close together under the trees, and I’ve also just been letting them crawl on the ground rather than staking or caging them upright.
Next year, I’m going to plant only one per tree and support each properly. Hopefully then I can approach a bountiful harvest like yours.
Hello Greg,
What do you think about setting up raised beds close to the roots of trees?
I would think that tree benefits from the water and nutrients that flow down from the raised garden beds, and the plants in the raised bed could get shade during harsh summer months (Santee, California).
I would think this could expand the diversity of plants, since you wouldn’t harm the tree’s roots when harvesting.
Would the tree roots invade the raised beds?
Hi Maureen,
That could certainly work. How well it might work would depend on the kind of trees and amount of shade.
I once grew vegetables under a eucalyptus and that tree’s roots were constantly aggressively invading the root zones of the vegetables. It wasn’t ideal.
I’ve grown tomatoes at the edge of my large orange tree, and I’ve found that in order to produce well they can’t be too close to the canopy because tomatoes really love lots of sun.
So you’d just have to manage these little factors of which trees, which vegetables, and correct placement, but the raised garden beds near or slightly under certain trees could work if done right.
My experience is tomatoes love lot of sun.So I prefer not to put them right below the avocado tree.
We are going to plant some ornamental trees in our back yard, but I also want to plant pumpkins and melons under the trees, do you recommend any certain trees that won’t harm my melons?
thank you
Mary
Hi Mary,
I can’t think of any trees that would cause pumpkins and melons any problems. Mostly, you want to make sure and plant them where they are not going to be too shaded by the trees, no matter which kind of trees they are. (By the way, you’re not planting these in Southern California now, right? Pumpkins and melons won’t produce if planted this time of year.)
Greg, thx for all your valuable information. I thought of planting under my lemon tree and tangerine tree after the homemade compost I added gave me a beautiful tomato that yielded over 40 tomatoes. I was amazed and loved how beautiful the tomato plant grew on its own!
Hi Greg. Thank you for this interesting post. I am having some thoughts on the placement of a new raised vegetable bed that I’m building. It will be placed next to a mature avocado, peach, and grape. The peach is likely to be removed. Will the roots of these plants be an issue and creep into the raised bed? I am reading online that it will be. Your post says otherwise. Thank you!
Hi Nandi,
Your avocado and grape (and peach) probably will eventually root into the area of your raised bed, but that probably will not matter much. You’ll just have to make sure that you’re giving the vegetables sufficient water since the trees and grape might also be using some of the water that you give the vegetables.
Not only do I plant a lot of vegetables under all of my fruit trees, but my dedicated vegetable garden has grape vines and fruit trees among and around it. This has never been a problem as long as I give everything sufficient water. On the other hand, I used to garden under a giant eucalyptus tree and that was tough! Its roots invaded the beds so much that I had to constantly chop them back. Best of luck!
I have a NE slope that loses sun at 2pm daily in winter and around 3pm in summer. Do you recommend I try to plant melons and cucumbers in front of my fruit trees on the east side to try to get more AM light?
Hi Alice,
I would plant them more on the south side if possible just to make sure they get the strongest sun of the day, which is generally between 10 AM and 2 PM. But I’ve planted melons and cucumbers on both the southeast and southwest sides of trees with good results. Just make sure they aren’t totally on the east-northeast side such that they lose sunlight too early in the middle of the day.
I am planning to plant watermelons and butternuts under lemon trees, do these go well together or should i be concerned? i am from sunny South Africa.
Hello to you in South Africa, Henry. I should think watermelons and butternuts will do well under lemon trees for you there. I’ve grown both under citrus trees here and all has gone well.
Hey Greg, saw your recent video on planting potatoes under fruit trees and it reminded me of something I learned last year when I was researching a disease problem with one of my avocado trees. The tree seemed to be showing signs of verticillium wilt and I had potatoes and a tomato growing under the tree. Found out that UC recommends against planting crops susceptible to verticillium wilt like potatoes and tomatoes near avocados because they can transmit the disease to avocados. Looks like the disease is non-fatal to avocados, though. Just thought I would pass this info along in case your weren’t aware.
Here’s a link to more info: http://www.avocadosource.com/books/AvocadoHandbook/Diseases_files/r8100411.pdf
Thanks for sharing this, Heath. Curiously, the only time I’ve seen symptoms on an avocado tree in my yard that seem possibly to have been verticillium wilt was last summer when a young tree collapsed rapidly. The curious thing is that the tree was between two other avocado trees (only about five feet from each), but neither of those trees have ever shown symptoms. Could it be rootstock? Could it be overall tree health? Could it be that my suspicion of vert. wilt was wrong?
I had a huge harvest last year and expanded my garden therefore I am trying different cherry tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes under my 4-5 year old avocado tree, which is as tall as my house ?
Plants still get 6-10 hours sun and shade from the 12-14 hour days.
I also have a banana plant near a neem tree and peppers with beans a few feet down.
Nature is not this mechanical thought/sense of growing we tend to have.
I found experimenting with things like this is a must and I thank you for this article!
When I move to my 400 acres I will be incorporating this for sure and see how well it can work 🙂
Any experience with growing peas close to the trunk of fruit trees? Kinda like the idea of the them being able to just climb up the tree without needing much extra support but not sure if it’ll be too shady there? Would they be better off closer to the edge of the canopy?
Great blog, just what I was looking for! Thanks a mil
Hi Maire,
I’ve never tried that, but I think it could work as long as the canopy weren’t too dense. I have grown peas up the stalks of sunflowers, or I should say that my son did: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/gardening-with-kids/
I planted some sunflower seeds around my fuerte (starting it’s second year) to shade it this Summer and protect it from the heat. Then I started reading about sunflowers and how they are antagonistic- sending off chemicals to stop the growth of other plants. Do you think this will be more problematic than a benefit?
Hi Reed,
The only thing I would be attentive to is the sunflowers using some of the water you give to your young avocado tree. Be sure to water extra and water broadly in order to counteract this.
As for the allelopathy, there are a lot of stories that run around the internet on this topic, but when you look for any studies the evidence is scant and narrow. Moreover, I’ve had sunflowers growing all over my yard for years near avocado trees and innumerable other plants and I’ve never seen negative consequences. I wouldn’t worry about it.
Dear Greg
Oh my, I am so happy to have found you as I live just north of San Diego and at the edge of the marine layer that comes often. I’ve been given the opportunity since last August to revamp our newly acquired 1/4 acre which includes a house, a guest house, a trailer, two large sheds. However, since then, we have planted blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, fig, orange, and nectarine tree. The property already has two mature avocado trees and dwarf persimmon, and two varieties of kumquats along with four 4 x 8 foot raised beds.
Exciting times to try and companion plant as much food here as possible. So, finding your channel is perfect for our location.
I would like to plant onions near my citrus that are located on the east side of our island garden. Would they get enough sun to grow properly. If not, what besides strawberries would work as I already have strawberries near the base of the fig and one citrus.
Please let me know. I am scouring the internet to find the perfect plant for that location. I have 12 feet by 3 feet to work with.
Thanks again – Katherine
Hi Katherine,
Sounds like you’re having a lot of fun and you’ve got a lot going on there. May is not a great time to plant onions for bulbs. For that it’s better to wait until the very end of summer at the earliest. But onions probably would grow fine beside the citrus. I’ve had success with onions at the canopy edge of my orange tree before. You can still grow other types of onions now though (green onions).
Other options to plant here in May include all the vining melons: cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, etc. You can also do squashes, such as butternut or spaghetti. And the other day, I planted some extra cucumbers beside avocado and other trees.
When you are digging to plant theses companion plants or when you are removing spent plants, I’m concerned about upsetting the fruit tree roots. Do you just trim plant to ground when done without pulling roots?
Also, Im looking for more privacy in my yard, because its going to be a few years before my avocado and orange planted 12 feet apart create more of a screen. Can I plant in between them on the fence line if I keep plant trimmed? I was thinking a pineapple guava. Would this crowd the fruit trees?.
We live in Western Australia. Our vegetable bed close to a bottlebrush tree has been affected to the extent that most vegies die. We grew a line of amaranth plants there and they all started to die. We rescued two and transplanted to another bed further away and one plant not only picked up and survived, but it reseeded two new plants this year, somewhat confirming the poisonous affect of the bottle brush tree.