A Survey on the Perception of Companion Plants for Eco-Friendly Urban Agriculture among Urban Residents

Background and objective: This study was conducted as part of research to promote garden diversity and seek sustainable garden management plans, as well as to determine the trends in understanding and use of companion plants as an eco-friendly farming method and provide the results as the basic data for sustainable urban agriculture. Methods: To determine the trends in garden activities, eco-friendly pest control, and use of companion plants, a survey was conducted on 230 urban residents participating in the Urban Agriculture Expert course. 223 copies of the questionnaire were collected excluding missing values, and IBM SPSS statistics Ver. 25 Program was used for frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, and regression analysis. Results: Most of the respondents were female (71.3%), homemakers (26.5%), were in their 50s (29.1%), and had 2 members in the family (27.8%). 164 respondents (73.5%) had experience in gardening, most of them once a week (31.7%) and for self-consumption (55.5%). Both men and women raised crops for safe food production (32.3%), and they most preferred the city garden type (39.9%). For the preparation of nourishment for eco-friendly garden management, most respondents (60.1%) purchased fertilizers from the market. For the reason why eco-friendly pest control is necessary, all respondents except 4 of them (98.2%) responded that it is necessary ‘because it affects my health as I eat it (73.5%)’, indicating that they still had a high level of interest in health. Only 43.9% of the respondents said that they had heard of companion plants, 89.2% responded that companion plants were effective in eco-friendly management, and 87.4% showed the will to participate in gardening using companion plants in the future. Finally, the regression analysis confirmed that the awareness of companion plants and satisfaction with gardening activities are key variables that increase the intention to participate in gardening activities in the future. Conclusion: Since plants require special care depending on the period and various diseases and insect pests occur, there must be continuous research on companion plants as an eco-friendly farming method. Moreover, by actively using companion plants in urban gardens with the utility value in not only eco-friendly pest control but also in helping plant growth, urban agriculture is expected to be continuously activated and promoted by increasing satisfaction in gardening activities with aesthetic landscaping and pest control.