Lettuce gets on with almost everything, which makes it the perfect crop for slotting into gaps. Because it's shallow-rooted, quick and happy in a little shade, the cleverest way to companion-plant it is underneath or beside taller crops — at the feet of tomatoes, beans or sweetcorn, where it enjoys the cool and is cropped before the big plants need the room.
It also pairs beautifully with slow crops as a gap-filler: a row of lettuce between carrots or parsnips is up and eaten long before they need the space. The main thing lettuce wants from its companions is help against its real enemies — slugs and aphids — so a few pest-confusing alliums and decoy flowers earn their place.
Grow these alongside
Lettuce grows happily in their cool shade, especially through summer, without competing for height.
Quick, low neighbours — lettuce fills the gaps between slow rows and is cropped before they need the room.
Aromatic alliums whose scent helps confuse the aphids that find lettuce.
An easy-going neighbour that doesn't compete for the same things.
Low and shallow-rooted like lettuce — happy sharing a bed while each gets established.
Keep these apart
Hungry, leafy and broad — they can shade out and out-compete a low lettuce crowded too close.
Can grow large and shade lettuce; fine if kept picked, but give it room.
Flowers worth tucking in
The blooms that pull pests away and bring in the bees — beauty that earns its keep.
Bring in hoverflies whose larvae eat aphids.
Draw aphids away onto themselves.
Attracts beneficial insects and edges the bed cheerfully.
Common questions
What grows well with lettuce?
Almost everything, but it shines beneath tall crops like tomatoes, beans and sweetcorn (it loves the summer shade), between slow rows of carrots or parsnips as a gap-filler, and alongside radishes, beetroot, chives and strawberries. Add marigolds and nasturtiums to keep aphids in check.
What should not be planted with lettuce?
There's very little it dislikes. Just avoid crowding it right up against big, hungry brassicas, which can shade and out-compete a low salad crop, and give large herbs like flowering parsley room so they don't swamp it.
Can lettuce grow in the shade of other plants?
Yes — and in summer it prefers it. A little shade from taller neighbours keeps lettuce cool, slows bolting and keeps the leaves sweet, which is exactly why growing it beneath tomatoes or beans works so well.
Want the whole picture?
The complete companion planting guide →