Companion Planting Chart for Herbs

Common Herbs Companion Planting Chart

If you’d like to read more about companion planting as a gardening method, please read Companion Planting gardening method. This is the chart that accompanies that article. Also, see Companion Planting Chart for a specific food plant.

Using this companion planting chart for herbs will be important help in assisting with natural pest control. Companion planting is one of many tools in an organic gardener’s arsenal, attracting beneficial insects and repelling “the bad guys”.

This chart is a list of herbs, their companions and uses, including some beneficial weeds and flowers.

Common Name Companions and Effects
Basil Is said to make tomatoes taste better; dislikes rue intensely. Improves growth and flavor repels flies and mosquitoes.
Beebalm Companion to tomatoes; improves growth and flavor.
Borage The “Magic Bullet” of companion plants. Good with tomatoes, squash and strawberries; deters tomato worm; improves growth and flavor.
Caraway Attracts parasitic wasps and flies. Plant here and there; loosens soil. Good with strawberries.
Catnip Plant in borders; deters flea beetle.
Chamomile Companion to cabbages and onions; improves growth and flavor
Chervil Loves shade, fortunately it grows well with shade-tolerant food plants; will make radishes grown near it taste spicier
Chives Companion to carrots; improves growth and flavor; avoid beans and peas
Cilantro Beans, Peas, Spinach, Tomato – attracts beneficial insects like tachninid flies, parasitoid wasps and hoverflies – helps repel aphids, potato beetles and spider mites
Dead nettle Companion to potatoes; deters potato beetle; improves growth and flavor
Dill Companion to cabbage; dislikes carrots and tomato; improves growth and health of cabbage. Careful! Attracts tomato hornworm!
Fennel Plant away from gardens. Fennel is allelopathic to most garden plants, inhibiting growth, causing to bolt, or actually killing many plants
Flax Companion to carrots, potatoes, deters potato bug; improves growth and flavor
Garlic Plant near roses and raspberries; deters Japanese beetle; improves growth and flavor
Horseradish Plant at corners of potato patch todeter potato bug
Henbit General insect repellant
Hyssop Deters cabbage moth; companion to cabbage and grapes. Keep away from radishes. Attracts honey bees and butterflies!
Lamb’s Quarter This edible weed should be allowed to grow in moderate amounts in the garden, especially in corn.
Lavender Cabbage, Cauliflower, Rubeckia, Rue, Blanket Flower, Echinacea, Lambs Ear, and Yarrow – natural repellent of aphids, fleas, moths, slugs, ticks, and deer. The thing to remember about Lavender is that it needs full sun, little water, and little to no fertilizer. It is quite happy left alone. If you plant it next to something that thrives on more care, ask which one is most important to you ;).
Lemon Balm Sprinkle throughout garden.
Lovage Is thought to improve the health of almost all plants, like borage and geraniums, is considered a “magic bullet” of companion planting
Marigolds The workhorse of the pest deterrents. Plant throughout garden; it discourages Mexican bean beetles, nematodes,and other insects. French marigolds produce a pesticidal chemical from their roots, so strong it lasts years after they are gone
Mint Companion to cabbage and tomatoes; improves health and flavor; Peppermint particularly deters white cabbage moth. Spearmint for ants and aphids.
Marjoram Plant here and there in garden; improves flavors
Mole Plant Deters moles and mice if planted hereand there
Nasturtium Companion to radishes, cabbage, and curcubits; plant under fruit trees. Deters aphids, squash bugs, striped pumpkin beetles; improves growth and flavor. A trap crop
Petunia Protects beans,cucurbits (squash, pumpkins, cucumbers), asparagus. A trap crop almost identical to geraniums in function
Pot marigold – Calendula Companion to tomatoes, but plant elsewhere in garden too. Deters asparagus beetle, tomato worm, and general garden pests.
Purslane This edible weed makes good ground cover in the corn.
Pigweed One of the best weeds for pumping nutrients from the subsoil, it is especially beneficial to potatoes, onions, and corn. Keep weeds thinned.
Peppermint Planted among cabbages, it repels the white cabbage butterfly.
Rosemary Companion to cabbage, bean, carrots, and sage; deters cabbage moth, many bean beetles, and carrot fly. Don’t plant with Basil.
Rue Keep it far away from sweet basil; plant near roses and raspberries; deters Japanese beetle.
Sage Plant with rosemary, cabbage, beans and carrots; keep away from cucumbers. Deters cabbage moth, many bean beetles, carrot fly.
Southernwood Plant here and there in garden; companion to cabbage, improves growth and flavor; deters cabbage moth.
Sow Thistle This weed in moderate amounts can help tomatoes, onions and corn.
Summer Savory Plant with green beans and onions; improves growth and flavor. Deters bean beetle and delays germination of certain foul herbs
Tansy Plant under fruit trees; companion to roses and raspberries. Deters flying insects, Japanese beetles, striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs, ants.
Tarragon Good throughout garden. Its scent is disliked by most pests, and this plant is also thought to have Nurse Plant properties, enhancing the growth and flavor of crops grown with it.
Thyme Plant here and there in garden. Deters cabbage worm.
Valerian Good anywhere in garden.
Wild morning glory Allow it to grow in corn.
Wormwood As a border, it keeps animals from the garden.
Yarrow Plant along borders, paths, near aromatic herbs; enhances essential oil production.
Geranium A trap crop, attracting pests away from roses and grape vines, distracts beet leafhoppers, carrier of the curly top virus, away from Solanaceous plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and tobacco
The Ready Store
"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease" ~ Thomas Jefferson