Cabbage

Brassica oleracea var. capitata

Brassicaceae

Spinach

Spinacia oleracea

Amaranthaceae

Can you plant cabbage and spinach together?

Yes. Cabbage and spinach grow well together. A shared bed gave about 46% more harvest than separate beds in 3 field trials.

Why cabbage and spinach work together

More harvest from the same bed. In 3 field trials, a bed with both crops gave about 46% more harvest than the same space split into a cabbage bed and a spinach bed.
Indicators of Production Sustainability in Intercropped Vegetable Farming on Montmorillonitic Soils in India (Varghese · 2000)
and 2 more sources

What to plant with cabbage and spinach

Good neighbours of both, best tested first.

CilantroWith cabbage: 70% more harvestWith spinach: Recommended by garden charts, not tested
PeaWith cabbage: 11% more harvestWith spinach: Recommended by garden charts, not tested
CauliflowerRecommended by garden charts for both, not tested yet

How each one was tested, with the evidence

What to keep away from cabbage and spinach

Nothing in our data is a bad neighbour of cabbage or spinach.

The evidence in detail

For readers who want to dig in: every chart entry, study and yield trial behind the answer above, with the numbers.

Tradition, research and yield trials

Tradition

No chart mentions this pair.

Research

No papers found on this pair.

Yield trial

Good

0.86

0.51

Cabbage gains more. Partial LER is each crop's share of the yield it would give alone.

3 field trials. Published LERs lean high.

Good neighbours

What happens above and below ground

Each animation illustrates a mechanism a study reported for this pair. Pick a card to focus on it.

Everything at once.

What is going on (1)

Pick a card to spotlight its animation in the scene.

Cabbage SpinachMedian land equivalent ratio 1.46 over 3 trials: growing them together gave 1.46 times the harvest of two separate plots of the same size.

Partial LERs (medians): Cabbage 0.85 + Spinach 0.53. Range across treatments 1.46 to 1.46. Medians are taken separately, so the parts need not add up to the median LER. LER above 1 is biased upward by publication bias.

Yield trialfield trial x3

Indicators of Production Sustainability in Intercropped Vegetable Farming on Montmorillonitic Soils in India (Varghese · 2000)

Studies on Effect of Intercrops on Yield and Monetary Returns of Cabbage (Gawade · 2004)

1 more source

A Study on Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) Based Intercropping System (Kabiraj · 2017)

Companion plants for both cabbage and spinach

Plants that are good neighbours of each. Biggest harvest gain first; each cell links to the evidence for that pair.

Plant	With cabbage	With spinach
Cilantro	Draws in pest-eating insects70% more harvest from the same spaceField trial, 7 studies. Charts: recommend.Evidence for cabbage and cilantro	No trial foundNot tested. Charts: recommend.Evidence for spinach and cilantro
Pea	11% more harvest from the same spaceField trial, 3 studies. Charts: not listed.Evidence for cabbage and peas	No trial foundNot tested. Charts: recommend.Evidence for spinach and peas

Harvest from the same space compares a bed with both crops against the same area split into single-crop beds, counting the harvest of both crops (the land equivalent ratio in yield trials).

Recommended by garden charts for both, not tested yet

Cauliflower

The evidence, with sources

Yield trialGood3 entries

GoodLER 1.54field trial

India, 1999; Additive design; median LER 1.54 over 1 treatment(s) · partial LER Cabbage 0.85, Spinach 0.69
Indicators of Production Sustainability in Intercropped Vegetable Farming on Montmorillonitic Soils in India (Varghese · 2000)
GoodLER 1.46field trial

India, 1995-2000; NA design; median LER 1.46 over 1 treatment(s) · partial LER Cabbage 0.93, Spinach 0.53
Studies on Effect of Intercrops on Yield and Monetary Returns of Cabbage (Gawade · 2004)
GoodLER 1.12field trial

India, 2013-2015; NA design; median LER 1.12 over 1 treatment(s) · partial LER Cabbage 0.8, Spinach 0.32
A Study on Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) Based Intercropping System (Kabiraj · 2017)

Plan a bed with cabbage and spinach

All neighbours of cabbage and of spinach, or every pair at once in the companion planting chart.

Have you grown cabbage and spinach together?

Tell other gardeners what happened: spacing, pests, harvest, or ask a question. Reader notes are not checked by us and do not change the verdicts on this page.