A Complete A–Z Chart for Companion Planting Vegetables

Companion planting is all about diversifying what's grown in a vegetable garden to boost plant health and reduce potential problems with pests and diseases. When flower, herb and veggie "companions" are grown alongside vegetables in healthy soil, the vegetable crops often grow better with fewer issues and less need for insecticides or chemical fertilizers. Learn about specific companion plants and companion planting techniques known to benefit your favorite crops, including tomatoes, peppers, squash, onions and more.

Beets have relatively few problems with pests and diseases, but you may still benefit from rotating them into your garden after a crop of the below.

Radishes: Grow beets with or after a crop of radish to cut down on root and crown rots caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani.

Mustard: Plant beets after a cover crop of field mustard (Brassica rapa) to reduce damage caused by nematodes as well as by the fungal disease Rhizoctonia. A cover crop of white mustard (B. alba) can discourage nematodes, too.

Oats: If you have struggled with damage caused by the sugar beet root maggot, try seeding your beets into a living mulch of oats.

Broccoli is susceptible to the many pests and diseases that all cabbage-family crops are, which makes companion planting all the more important. Grow with a variety of other herbs and vegetables to discourage specific pests, attract pest predators and camouflage your crop.

Thyme: Underplant with thyme to discourage cabbageworm butterflies or cabbage looper moths from laying eggs on broccoli.

Clover: Underplant with a living mulch of white or subterranean clover to discourage cabbageworm butterflies or cabbage looper moths from laying eggs on broccoli. It can also suppress weeds without strongly competing with broccoli for resources like light and nutrients. Don't plant crops from seed directly into subterranean clover due to its chemical ability to suppress seed growth. Interplant broccoli with white clover to make broccoli harder for flea beetles to find and to discourage cabbage root flies from laying their eggs. Grow broccoli with crimson or white clover to provide habitat for pest-eating spiders. Hunting spiders feed on a variety of broccoli-eating insects, including caterpillars, beetle larvae and aphids.

German chamomile, dill or perennial sage or hyssop: Plant with these annuals to deter caterpillars.

Collards: Grow a plot several feet away to lure diamondback moths from broccoli and other cruciferous crops.

Fava beans or common vetch: Interplant with these plants to make broccoli harder for flea beetles to find.

Radish or pak choi: If you have struggled with flea beetles in the past, grow a crop of one of these early in the growing season. Design your garden with alternating rows of broccoli and the trap crop for best results.

Mustard greens: If you have struggled with flea beetles in the past, grow a crop Chinese mustard greens early in the growing season. Companion plant with mustard to camouflage broccoli both visually and aromatically from aphids. Allow it to bloom (or "bolt") because its flowers attract predatory syrphid flies and parasitic wasps. To limit competition between the crops, hold off on sowing mustard seed until the broccoli has at least one week to establish. Grow a plot of 'Southern Giant Curled' mustard greens to lure harlequin bugs away from broccoli plants. Harlequin bugs are mobile and prolific, so plant the mustard greens several feet away and consider destroying eggs and collecting insects before they are able to reproduce.

Lettuce or beans: Interplant with these plants to discourage cabbage root flies from laying their eggs.

Marigolds or onions: Companion plant with marigolds or onions to mask the smell of broccoli from the flies.

Lacy phacelia: Grow it as a nectar source for beneficial insects, including parasitic wasps, tachinid flies and syrphid flies that eat pests of broccoli and its relatives. Other predatory insects like soldier bugs and miniature pirate bugs live on lacy phacelia as well.

Flowering plants in the aster family: Grow cosmos, black-eyed Susan, sunflowers, daisies or zinnias to support beneficial insects that prey upon aphids and other pests.

Carrots can be grown with a variety of herbs including thyme and basil, flowers like marigolds, and other vegetables such as onions to ward off pests and ensure a good carrot crop.

Onions: These aliums repel carrot rust fly and aphids and attract predators of the carrot rust fly. Strong-smelling onion relatives, like garlic and chives, may work as well. This partnership works both ways — onions grown with carrots tend to have less damage caused by thrips.

French marigolds (Tagetes patula): They deter carrot rust fly and carrot psyllid. Growing carrots with marigolds also increases the sugar and carotenoid contents of carrot roots.

Pot marigolds (Calendula officinalis): They repel nematodes and carrot psyllid and may also develop sweeter roots rich in healthy carotenoids.

Thyme and basil: The fragrant herbs discourage yellow-striped armyworm caterpillars from defoliating carrots.

A living mulch of subterranean clover: It suppresses carrot rust fly and decreases cavity spot (Pythium spp.) disease.

Phacelia, buckwheat, sunflower or mustard: Carrots grown after a cover crop of these plants may be more productive.

Buckwheat, forage radish, or ‘Appin’ turnip: Try a cover crop of one of these plants if you have compacted clay soil; carrots need deep, loose soil to develop healthy taproots. It'll break up the clay and improve soil structure.

Though not a veggie itself, cilantro serves as a powerful companion plant in the vegetable garden, attracting beneficial insects that prey on insect pests of a variety of crops, including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, beans and more.

Tomatoes: Grow with tomatoes to discourage pests and attract predators. Cilantro’s open blooms attract many predator species, including parasitic wasps that prey on tomato hornworms. Cilantro also produces aromatic volatile chemicals that mask the fragrance of tomato from whiteflies and other pests, making it harder for them to find.

Peppers: Interplant with peppers to attract predators of aphids and fruit borers, including lacewings, minute pirate bugs, and ladybugs.

Eggplants and potatoes: Grow with eggplants and potatoes to attract predators of the Colorado potato beetle, like lacewings, coccinellid beetles, and ladybugs.

Legumes: Interplant with green beans, broad beans, and fava beans to deter aphids, thrips, pea leaf weevils, and other pests. Cilantro’s flowers will attract predators including ladybugs, hoverflies, and lacewings.

Okra: Cultivate with okra to deter whiteflies. Cilantro’s blooms will attract predators of whiteflies and other pests.

Carrots: Grow with carrots to limit damage caused by many common pests including carrot psyllid, carrot rust fly, aphids, lygus bugs, and nematodes. Allow cilantro to bloom to attract predators of carrot pests like ladybugs and syrphid flies.

Cruciferous vegetables: Plant with cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and mustard to discourage aphids, deter diamondback moth caterpillars, and to attract predators like ladybugs.

Increase your cucumber harvest by growing these vines alongside herbs like borage, flowers such as nasturtium, and other vegetables like certain winter squash varieties, which serve as a trap crop for cucumber beetles. Bonus: Cucumbers also make a handy living mulch to keep down weeds around tomatoes and okra.

Cosmos, zinnia, borage and basil: Partner annual flowers and herbs with cucumbers to attract pollinators to the vegetable garden.

Green garlic (Allium sativum): Grow it with cucumbers to increase organic matter in the soil and make important nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and manganese more available. Cucumbers that closely grow with green garlic do a better job absorbing these nutrients than cucumbers grown on their own.

Welsh onions (Allium fistulosum): Welsh onion roots exude chemical substances that reduce the number of nematode eggs that hatch, limiting root knot nematode damage.

Radish, nasturtium and tansy: Grow these to repel cucumber beetles. Nasturtium can also be grown as a trap crop for squash bugs.

Buckwheat or cowpeas: Companion plant with buckwheat or cowpeas to attract predators of cucumber beetles such as tachinid and syrphid flies, parasitic wasps and Pennsylvania leatherwing.

‘Blue Hubbard’ squash, ‘Waltham’ butternut squash or ‘Burgess’ buttercup squash: If you have struggled with striped cucumber beetles in the past, grow a trap crop of to lure the beetles away from cucumber plants. If possible, combine ‘Blue Hubbard’ with ‘Waltham’, as they have slightly different flowering periods that will attract cucumber beetles over a longer period of time. If you are growing a large plot of susceptible vegetables, grow these trap crops several feet away from vulnerable plants, spaced around the perimeter to intercept cucumber beetles. Try to collect and remove pests from the trap crops to prevent them from moving to your cucumber crop.

Oats with vetch or white clover: Grow a living mulch to provide habitat for cucumber beetle predators. Keep the living mulch trimmed back to prevent it from competing with cucumbers for sunlight, water, and nutrients.

Red clover: A living mulch of red clover will provide habitat for predators of cucumber pests, including minute pirate bugs, ladybugs, and big-eyed bugs.

Keep common pests like flea beetles off your eggplant with a variety of companion planting techniques, including co-planting with dill and cilantro, beans, and clover. Planting with garlic also improves plant growth.

Garlic: Cultivate garlic with eggplant to build soil organic matter and make important nutrients, like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, more accessible.

Hairy vetch: Grow eggplant after this cover crop to boost nutrient availability in the soil, improve fruit quality, and even increase yields. For best results, cut back the vetch and leave residues on the soil surface as a mulch before planting eggplant seedlings.

Snapdragons, lupines, peas and beans: these members of the bean family have “hooded” flowers that bumblebees adore. Buzzing bumblebees are highly efficient at pollinating solanaceous plants like eggplants, tomatoes and peppers, which means that attracting these pollinators to the garden may improve your harvest.

Dill and cilantro: Interplant open-flowered herbs from the carrot family to attract predators of the Colorado potato beetle, including lacewings, coccinellid beetles and spotted lady beetles.

Crimson clover: Grow eggplant after this cover crop to discourage pests and invite predators. This practice may not result in higher yields, but research suggests that plants will be larger and healthier, with less damage from pests like flea beetles and the Colorado potato beetle. For best results, till the clover into the soil where eggplant will grow and leave a strip of fading clover outside of the row. Mow the crimson clover after it blooms to prevent it from re-seeding.

When summer gets cranked up, certain vegetable garden crops naturally outshine others, and okra is the shining star. Okra can suffer from nematode problems, though, so try companion planting and crop rotation techniques to avoid damage. Other companions will help with weed control and pollination.

Cowpeas: Companion plant okra with cowpeas to attract beneficial insects, including pollinators and predators. To maximize visits from pollinators, plant cowpeas two or three weeks after okra so that both crops will be in bloom at the same time.

Beans: Interplant with beans to mask okra from pests that rely on vision to locate crops. Whiteflies find okra and other veggies by contrasting green foliage against dark soil. Underplanting with beans makes it harder for these pesky pests to locate okra plants to feed on.

Basil or cilantro: Grow okra with fragrant herbs to discourage pests. When these herbs bloom, their flowers may attract beneficial insects like pollinators and predators.

Cucumber vines: Underplant a living mulch of cucumber vines below established okra plants. Cucumber foliage will shade out competing weeds, and the plants have allelopathic properties that inhibit the growth of undesired plants too. If you use this combination, plan on transplanting other crops in the area rather than direct sowing.

White clover: Experiment with a living mulch of white clover around okra to suppress weed competition and to add nitrogen and organic matter to the soil. White clover can compete with okra plants and limit growth. For best results, overwinter a cover crop of white clover, transplant okra seedlings into the cover crop in the spring, and try to limit competition while seedlings get established.

Cauliflower or cabbage: Grow okra after a crop of cruciferous crops to reduce root-knot nematode populations in the soil. After harvesting the cauliflower or cabbage head, incorporate the rest of the living plant residue into the soil.

Sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea): In tropical regions, grow okra after a cover crop of hemp to suppress root-knot nematodes, increase nutrient availability, and boost yields.

Pickling cucumbers, mini pumpkins or climbing beans: Okra can make a good companion to other common veggies too. Tall, sturdy okra plants lend themselves as a living trellis for vining crops with relatively small fruits like. Give okra a head start by waiting to plant companions from seed once the okra is more than a foot tall.

Onions are as hardworking in the garden as they are in the kitchen, serving as a great companion for many other vegetables, including tomatoes, potatoes, and cabbages. To keep your onion crop healthy and ward off pests, grow them with a variety of other vegetables as well as flowers like marigold and herbs such as fenugreek.

Fenugreek: Plant fenugreek with onion for larger, more flavorful bulbs.

Marigold, fennel, carrots, tomato, potato, peppers or okra: Grow onion with any of these plants to increase yields and to limit thrips damage by either repelling thrips or by serving as a trap crop. Thrips damage onions by feeding on the foliage and by spreading destructive viruses between plants. Marigolds also discourage onion root maggot flies from laying their eggs on onion plants. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae will eat the onion roots, bulb, and stem.

Winter rye: Try growing onions after a cover crop of winter rye. Bunching onions will grow more foliage and bulbing onions should produce larger bulbs. Although not all cover crops need to be tilled before planting, onions do grow better if the cover crop is mixed into the soil.

Tomatoes: Onions and their relatives can make tomatoes more resilient against Verticillium wilt.

Potatoes: They're a great companion to potatoes, repelling aphids.

Strawberries: Planted with strawberries, they discourage spider mites.

Carrots: They're also a great companion to carrots where they repel carrot rust fly.

Brassicas: Finally, they deter cabbage root fries on brassicas.

Peppers, both hot and sweet, are easy to grow once started and don't suffer from a lot of disease and pest issues. But companion planting can still be beneficial to boost pollination and harvest and keep plants healthy and thriving. Common plants like beans, garlic, and basil can help out your pepper crop.

Cosmos, zinnia, borage and basil: Pair hot peppers with annual flowers and herbs to increase visits from pollinators and pepper yields. Companion plant with basil to discourage yellow-striped armyworm butterflies from laying their eggs on your peppers. Yellow-striped armyworm caterpillars are voracious feeders that can damage fruits and quickly defoliate peppers and other vegetable plants.

Beans: Interplant beans with peppers to maximize pepper growth and increase yield. For best results, sow bean seeds one week before transplanting pepper seedlings.

Garlic: Grow peppers with garlic to increase organic matter in the soil, feed soil microorganisms, and make important nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium more available. Pairing hot peppers with garlic may also decrease the incidence of Phytophthora blight disease.

Hairy vetch or cowpeas: Grow peppers after a legume cover crop to increase the amount of available nitrogen in the soil and improve pepper yields. Use the cover crop residue as a mulch around pepper plants to help control weeds during the growing season.

French marigolds, basil or plants in the onion family (like garlic, leeks, onions, or chives): Interplanting with these deters aphids. Marigolds and basil also attract many species of predators of common pepper pests including aphids, thrips, white flies, and mites.

Rosemary: Grow peppers with rosemary to repel aphids, thrips and whiteflies. Research suggests that rosemary is most effective at deterring aphids from peppers from 1.5 feet away and loses almost all effectiveness at 5 feet. Potted rosemary will work just as well at repelling aphids and be much easier to move with pepper in seasonal crop rotations.

Hot cherry peppers: If you’ve struggled with pepper maggots tunneling in your bell peppers, lure flies away by growing a trap crop of hot cherry peppers around the outer edge of your garden.

Open-flowered herbs and vegetables in the carrot family (including dill, fennel, and parsley): These attract a host of beneficial insects like ladybugs, lacewings and parasitic wasps that eat garden pests.

Cowpeas: A living mulch of cowpeas may repel aphids and nematodes from hot peppers. Keep the vigorous living mulch trimmed to prevent competition between cowpeas and peppers for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Cowpeas also make nitrogen from the atmosphere available for peppers to grow and have allelopathic properties that prevent seeds from growing. Although this quality makes a living mulch of cowpeas very effective at limiting weed competition, it will also prevent new successions of vegetable seeds from sprouting.

Broccoli: Growing chile peppers after a crop of broccoli may reduce populations of southern root-knot nematode in the soil. For best results, incorporate the plant residue into the soil after harvesting the broccoli florets.

Corn: Grow peppers with corn to decrease Phytophthora blight and increase yields. Phytophthora fungal spores are attracted to both pepper and corn roots; however, corn roots exude antimicrobial substances which can decrease the disease population in the soil. Researchers found that in field conditions, corn plants can form a “root wall” that limits the spread of Phytophthora to vulnerable crops.

Winter wheat: Plant bell peppers after a cover crop to decrease the incidence of Phytophthora disease. Transplant pepper seedlings directly into the cover crop residue without tilling for best results. The wheat residue will also work as a mulch by suppressing weed growth and preventing water loss due to evaporation.

Grow a gorgeous crops of potatoes by planting companions like onions, tansy, and rye to control common pests and diseases. You can also grow potatoes alongside beans for mutual benefit — hungry potato plants benefit from the nitrogen-fixing beans.

Garden beans: Potatoes grown with beans may produce larger tubers. Beans and other legumes partner with Rhizobium bacteria in the soil to capture nitrogen from the air. Beans are able to share this nitrogen with other crops when planted closeby. Alternate rows of beans and potatoes or actually alternating species within rows.

Onion or garlic plants: Growing potatoes with healthy onion or garlic plants improves resistance to aphids.

Tansy or catmint: Planting These herbs among potatoes can deter the Colorado potato beetle, a common pest. The strong fragrance of the foliage of these herbs masks the potato plants from the Colorado potato beetle, which relies (in part) on scent to detect the crop.

Alfalfa and barley: Large plots should include a strip crop to provide habitat for predators of potato pests. Alfalfa provides great habitat for predators of the Colorado potato beetle, and barley does the same for aphid predators.

Oats or winter rye: Planting potatoes after a cover crop of oats or winter rye decreases pressures from Verticillium wilt. Beneficial mycorrhizae fungi will displace the Verticillium fungi in the soil. Incorporate the cover crop into the soil a few weeks before planting, or plant seed potatoes directly into the cover crop. If you choose to plant directly into the cover crop, note that oats will be killed by winter cold, but rye will need to be cut back when it begins to flower.

All varieties of squash, both summer and winter types, suffer from problems with pests and diseases. But several companion plants and techniques can aid pollination, deter pests, and help you get a better harvest.

Squash, corn, and beans: Squash shades the soil and suppresses weeds, corn serves as a living trellis for beans, and beneficial rhizobia bacteria that live in bean roots fix nitrogen from the atmosphere for corn, squash and beans to use. Researchers have found that squash grown with corn and beans actually have more visits from many predators than squash grown on its own. For best results, give corn a head start. Plant the beans and squash when corn seedlings are 4 to 6 inches tall.

Beans or cowpeas: Grow a crop between rows of pumpkin early in the season for a quick succession before pumpkin vines spread out. The early companion crop will cover and use the empty space and fix nitrogen from the atmosphere for the pumpkin crop to use.

Yellow mustard: Cultivate a living mulch around summer squash to improve crop growth, limit weed competition, attract beneficial insects, improve soil quality, and even limit pest and disease pressures.

Winter wheat, oats, vetch or crimson clover: Grow squash and pumpkins after a winter cover crop such to improve the soil. Do not till the cover crop — just roll or cut back if needed, and leave the residue on top of the ground as a mulch.

Cowpeas or a mixture of prolific flower plants: Cowpeas or a combo of buckwheat, dill, coreopsis, cosmos and sweet alyssum attract beneficial insects like pollinators and predators such as parasitic wasps, ladybugs, lacewings and minute pirate bugs. Combine species that flower over a longer period and offer a variety of flower shapes to attract more beneficial insects.

Buckwheat, red clover, sunn hemp or a mixture of oats and vetch: Grow squash and pumpkins in a living mulch to attract predators like lacewings, big-eyed bugs, minute pirate bugs, ground beetles, coccinellid beetles, Pennsylvania leatherwing, and spiders. These living mulches feed the soil and limit weed competition too.

‘Blue Hubbard’ squash: If your butternut squash is plagued by cucumber beetles, squash bugs, or squash vine borers, plant a perimeter trap crop of ‘Blue Hubbard’ squash to lure squash bugs away. Buttercup squash or zucchini will also work as a good trap crop for striped cucumber beetles.

Winter rye and hairy vetch: Grow pumpkins after a cover crop of winter rye and hairy vetch to feed the soil, limit the spread of diseases like Pseudomonas leaf spot and Fusarium fruit rot, and increase yield.

Borage, fennel, cilantro, onion, and garlic are all great companion plants for strawberries, helping repel common strawberry plant pests and lure pollinators for even more ripe strawberry fruits.

Blue borage (Borago officinalis): It increases visits from pollinating flies and possibly bumblebees, which, in turn, leads to larger yields of more developed fruit.

Alfalfa: It is a trap crop for Lygus bugs, which feed on and damage developing strawberry fruits. Plant a small patch of alfalfa near the strawberries to entice Lygus bugs away from the berries.

Plants in the Amaryllidaceae family: Onion, garlic and chives discourage many pests that plague strawberries including the two-spotted spider mite.

Fennel and cilantro: These aromatic herbs may have pest repellent benefits.

Problems with garden tomatoes often arise from lack of pollination or from pests and diseases. When you grow tomatoes alongside a variety of flowers like marigolds, herbs such as basil and thyme, and other vegetables like onions, you increase the likelihood of good pollination and decrease the pressures from pests that carry disease.

Snapdragons, lupines and other members of the bean family: Large or "hooded flowers attract bumblebees to the garden. Bumblebees use buzz pollination, an efficient way to pollinate tomatoes and related solanaceous plants. Some varieties of tomatoes that are buzz pollinated may have yields up to three times higher than self-pollinated tomatoes.

French marigold, basil and lettuce: Companion planting with these plants may improve the flavor of tomato fruits without creating a serious impact on yields. Actually, tomatoes grown with basil may yield more fruit than tomatoes grown alone.

Vegetables in the Apiaceae family: The open flowers of dill, fennel, parsley and carrots are accessible and attractive to tachinid flies and parasitic wasps, which will lay their eggs in hornworm caterpillars. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the hornworm, stopping the caterpillar in its tracks. These flowers also attract many other predatory insects — including syrphid flies, lacewings and ladybugs — which eat aphids and other garden pests.

Thyme and basil: The fragrant herbs deter yellow-striped armyworm moths from laying eggs. Basil also discourages hornworms and thrips from feeding on tomatoes.

French marigold: Growing this flower with tomatoes discourages whiteflies from feeding on foliage and fruit and inhibits nematode development on tomato roots.

Cowpeas: They can serve as a trap crop for the southern green stinkbug. Stinkbugs are mobile, so be sure to plant the cowpeas several feet away from the desired crops. If stinkbugs continue to be a pest, catch and remove any stinkbugs found feeding on cowpeas.

Give your watermelon crop a good start and help make sure it sets fruit early so that melons have enough warm weather to grow to maturity. Companion planting techniques, including growing alongside a variety of flowers, will help.

Members of the aster family: Sunflowers, cosmos, coneflowers, and coreopsis attract sweat bees and other pollinators.

Herbs in the mint family: Cultivate mint, oregano, thyme, and rosemary to attract sweat bees and other pollinators.

Cowpea: It attracts pollinators and predators of pests and to increase yields. Sow cowpeas 3 or 4 weeks before planting watermelon so that both crops will be blooming at the same time.

Buckwheat and sweet clover: Grow either to attract predators of watermelon pests.

Radish, tansy, and nasturtium: Interplant with these plants to discourage cucumber beetles from feeding on watermelons.

‘Blue Hubbard’ squash: Grow a trap crop to lure pests like squash bugs and cucumber beetles away from watermelon vines.

Hairy vetch: Plant watermelon after a cover crop of hairy vetch. Cut back vetch before it begins to bloom and leave the residue on the garden bed as a mulch to diminish diseases like Fusarium wilt, anthracnose, and gummy stem blight. A hairy vetch cover crop can also improve soil quality, increase nutrient availability, and increase watermelon yield. To sweeten the deal, some research suggests that watermelon fruits grown after hairy vetch have a sugar content 10% higher than conventionally grown watermelon.

Winter wheat: Grow watermelon after a cover crop of winter wheat to suppress weeds and conserve moisture.