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Yellow squash is a warm-weather crop that usually yields like nobody's business as long as it is planted in full sun and moderately rich soil. Summer squash may be bush or vine style and is often planted four to five seeds per hill in hills 3 to 4 feet apart. Seed can be sown directly in the garden when soil temperature reaches at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. This vegetable is susceptible to a number of serious insect pests. Companion planting -- planting other plants to grow along with your squash -- can help control pests without chemicals.

Principles of Companion Planting

Gardens planted in blocks or widely separated rows, with a single plant variety in each, are called monocultures. These blocks of crops tend to allow insect pests to hone in on their favorite varieties. Interplanting your favorite vegetables with plants known to repel their common pests or growing "trap" crops of plants the pests also favor confuses the insects, making it more difficult to find and decimate any single vegetable variety. Aside from discouraging insects, companion planting can make certain nutrients more available in the soil and can help you use your garden space more effectively.

Companion Vegetable

Among the recommended vegetable companions for yellow summer squash are legumes such as peas and beans, which fix nitrogen into the soil that can feed the nitrogen-hungry squash plants. While beans interplanted with squash can still be harvested, long, thin icicle-type radishes sown between squash seeds on the hill should be allowed to go to seed. The radish foliage and flowers deter cucumber beetles, which are also pests of squash. There are also some vegetables to avoid planting near summer squash. Potatoes are said to stunt the growth of squash. Planting squash in the same soil that grew cucumbers or melons the year before may lead insects to your squash because they share some of the same insect pests, which can overwinter.

Companion Herbs

The wide, spreading plants of summer squash can be interplanted with several tall herbs. Borage (Borago officinalis), an annual that produces bright blue flowers and wide leaves that can be used like spinach, attracts bees to your squash plants -- necessary to pollinate the big yellow squash flowers if you want fruit to form. Dill (Anethum graveolens) is an annual herb that can grow up to 5 feet tall and can be used for its flavorful leaves or its dried seeds. When planted near yellow squash, it also deters squash bugs.

About the Author

Patricia Hamilton Reed has written professionally since 1987. Reed was editor of the "Grand Ledge Independent" weekly newspaper and a Capitol Hill reporter for the national newsletter "Corporate & Foundation Grants Alert." She has a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Michigan State University, is an avid gardener and volunteers at her local botanical garden.