Basil Companion Plants: 10 Plants That Grow Well with Basil

Benefits of Companion Planting for Basil

Companion planting is an age-old gardening technique in which certain plants are grown close together to enhance each other’s growth. Basil offers a range of benefits for other garden plants and can be quite effective at making your plants more productive and repelling pests with its strongly scented leaves.

In return for these benefits, basil companion plants may provide shade for delicate basil leaves, reduce pest issues, help basil grow faster, or even improve its flavor.

Companion Plants for Basil

Select plants with similar growing requirements to basil. This means you’ll be choosing plants that love lots of bright sun, rich and evenly moist soil, and a little bit of space to spread out. 

Most herbs, veggies, and annual flowers grow well with basil, but the following plant pairings provide more benefits than most:

• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Eggplants
• Asparagus
• Chives
• Root Vegetables (Carrots, Turnips, Beets, and Radishes)
• Lettuce
• Cilantro
• Oregano
• Marigolds

Tomatoes

Growing basil with tomatoes ensures you’ll always have the ingredients you need to make Caprese salads and homemade pasta sauce. But these plants don’t just complement each other in the kitchen. Growing tomatoes and basil together can keep tomato hornworms and whiteflies from feeding on your tomatoes, while tall tomato plants provide shade and help to protect tender basil leaves from sunscald.

Basil isn’t the only plant that benefits from companion planting. For example, carrots also grow better with the right plant partners, especially when paired with pest-repelling herbs.

Peppers

Like tomatoes, peppers have similar care needs to basil and thrive in full sun and rich, evenly damp soil. Pairing these plants together also helps protect basil leaves from sun damage. In addition, basil attracts beneficial insects and pollinators that feed on pepper pests and ensure pepper flowers get pollinated. Just let your basil plants bloom to attract more bees and butterflies.

Eggplants

Another nightshade plant, eggplants thrive beside basil and prefer the same basic growing conditions. When paired together, eggplants provide light shade for basil leaves. What makes this pairing especially useful is that basil helps eggplants by repelling pests like whiteflies, spider mites, and aphids.

Asparagus

Asparagus can be a tricky plant to grow in gardens as it takes a long time to mature and its large fronds take up a lot of space. You can boost the productivity of your garden and keep asparagus beds productive by interplanting asparagus with basil. This will allow you to harvest lots of basil while you wait for your spears.

Chives

Chives and basil have similar growing needs, making them easy to cultivate together in gardens or pots. Even better, chives have a pungent aroma that helps protect basil from a range of pests, including slugs, snails, and Japanese beetles that may otherwise riddle basil leaves with holes.

Root Vegetables

Carrots, turnips, beets, and radishes all grow well with basil, and growing them together can provide lots of benefits. The scent of basil leaves helps to protect root vegetables from pests, including carrot flies, while root vegetables aerate the soil when they’re harvested and reduce compaction around basil plant roots. These plants also stay relatively small and have very different root systems, so they won’t compete with each other for sunlight or soil space.

Lettuce

Lettuce is quite prone to pests, including spider mites, thrips, and aphids, which feed on lettuce leaves. If you grow basil nearby and allow your plants to flower, basil will deter pests with its scent. In addition, it attracts predatory insects that help control lettuce pests. Both plants stay compact and are suitable for in-ground, raised-bed, or container gardening.

Cilantro

Basil and cilantro both crave regular watering, rich soil, and sun – but not too much of it. Growing these plants together in the shade of taller veggies like tomatoes will provide extra shade for your herbs and keep them from flowering too quickly. Once cilantro bolts in summer, its flowers also attract beneficial insects that will keep basil pests at bay. What’s more, growing basil and cilantro near each other adds more scent to your garden and can be even more effective at deterring pests than growing either herb on its own.

Oregano

When it comes to pest-repelling herbs, oregano is at the top of the list. This fragrant plant repels most insects and can help to keep basil plants pest-free. Oregano can also be used as a groundcover to keep weeds from intruding around basil. Like other members of the mint family, oregano grows quickly and may overwhelm your basil plants if you don’t trim it back from time to time.

Marigolds

When most gardeners think of companion plants, they think of marigolds. And with good reason! Marigolds suppress nematodes in the soil, repel deer and rabbits, and can be used to lure aphids away from basil plants. Marigolds also produce pretty orange, yellow, or red flowers, which enliven herb and veggie beds and can help make gardens look even prettier.

What Not To Grow With Basil

Although basil complements the growth of many plants, it doesn’t grow well with every plant. Here are some plant pairings to avoid if you want your basil to thrive.

FAQ

What Should Basil Not Be Planted Near?

Basil should not be planted near fennel or Mediterranean herbs like sage that prefer dry soil.

What Grows Well Alongside Basil?

Basil grows well with tomatoes and other nightshades, as well as most tender-stemmed herbs like cilantro, parsley, and dill.

What Herbs Should Not Be Potted Together?

Basil and other tender-stemmed herbs should not be potted together with Mediterranean herbs that prefer dry soil. This includes lavender, sage, and thyme.