Plant Companions: Garlic and Fruit Trees

Credit: Kazuo Hishiki

Q: How close would you plant the garlic to the trunk of a dwarf fruit tree? Will harvesting the garlic disturb the tree roots?

It depends how numerous the tree roots are. I’d recommend starting 1 to 1.5 feet from the trunk, and go out from there. You’re going to have to dig around to see where the roots are and work around them. You’ll need at least 1½ inches of space to grow a garlic bulb, so make sure you have enough room. As long as you don’t damage big roots, you won’t hurt the tree. Smaller feeder roots will grow back easily.

Garlic is a great addition to a garden as a useful companion plant. It tends to repel insects from other plants, including fruit trees, as well as roses and raspberries.