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Best and Worst Companion Plants for Basil

Basil is a great companion plant that enhances flavor, repels pests, and attracts pollinators. It grows well with tomatoes, peppers, and herbs like oregano and parsley.

Basil, Companion Plant, Companion Planting, Ocimum basilicum

Easy to grow, Basil is an excellent addition to the herb garden and a valuable addition to the vegetable garden. Its sweet aroma and strong flavor make it popular in various cuisines. Sweet Basil is the quintessential Italian culinary herb, most famous for its use in pesto. Basil leaves are also used fresh or dried to flavor meats, fish, salads, and sauces.

Use Basil as a companion plant in your garden to help attract beneficial insects for your other crops or enhance their flavor.

What Is Companion Planting?

Companion planting is an organic method of preventing or protecting plants from pests and diseases, attracting the right types of insects for pollination, enhancing nutrient uptake, and increasing crop production simply by growing specific plants near each other. In essence, companion planting helps bring a balanced ecosystem to your landscape, allowing nature to do its job.

Benefits of Companion Planting

1. Organic Pest Control
Some plants can emit scents that either repel insects, attract them, or confuse insects or disease organisms in search of their favorite host plants. They make insects less likely to land on your garden vegetables.

Basil naturally repels asparagus beetle, aphids, tomato hornworm, mosquitoes, fruit flies, and thrips

2. Attracts Beneficial Insects
Some plants help attract beneficial insects, such as ladybugs, bees, and butterflies, that pollinate and help control harmful bugs. Beneficial insects feed on common garden pests like aphids and caterpillars.

3. Provides Necessary Shade
Tall sun-loving plants offer shade to smaller shade-loving plants. This results in better products and can also potentially provide pest control. A good example is The Three Sisters Garden. Practiced by Native Americans thousands of years ago, this garden includes corn, beans, and squash. The tall corn provides shade for the lower squash but also stops the squash vine borer beetle.

4. Shelters Plants
Some plants can provide windbreaks and prevent soil erosion. Strong winds can damage gardens by removing mulch, topsoil, and eroding beds and hillsides. Rain can also cause severe damage by beating down young seedlings. By carefully selecting the right ground cover, you can help prevent soil erosion.

5. Provides Natural Supports
Some companion plants can physically support each other, reducing the need for staking. The example of planting corn, beans, and squash together applies here again. Corn provides tall stalks for the beans to climb so that they are not out-competed by sprawling squash vines.

6. Saves Space
Interplanting different crops greatly maximizes space and improves productivity in small gardens.

7. Enhances Flavors
Some plants can subtly enhance the flavor of other plants. Most herbs have been found to enhance the flavor of fruits and vegetables grown nearby, and basil grown beside tomatoes is an excellent example. Similarly, chamomile has an aromatic scent that is believed to improve the growth and flavor of cabbage, cucumbers, and onions when grown beside them.

8. Better Soil Quality and Fertility
Some crops help fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and reduce fertilizer needs. Similarly, planting plants with different root structures together can aerate the soil and allow plants to pull nutrients from different parts of the soil. Not only can companion planting help your plants to grow better, but it also makes the vegetable garden more attractive, thanks to the addition of colorful flowers that help or hinder nearby vegetables. Companion planting combines beauty and purpose to create an enjoyable, healthy environment.

Best Basil Companion Plants

Asparagus Asparagus
Basil and asparagus support each other well. Basil repels asparagus beetles and mosquitoes, while asparagus provides shelter from wind and attracts beneficial insects.
Beets Beets
Basil’s aromatic foliage helps repel pests, while also enhancing beet flavor and growth.
Borage Borage
Borage attracts pollinators and beneficial insects, while its deep roots bring up minerals that enhance basil’s growth and flavor.
Chamomile Chamomile
Chamomile boosts basil’s essential oil content, enhancing flavor and pest-repelling ability.
Chives Chives
Chives enhance basil’s flavor and essential oil production while helping deter aphids and common garden pests.
Garlic Garlic
Garlic and basil are a pest-repelling duo, warding off spider mites, aphids, and whiteflies. They may also improve each other’s flavor.
Grapes Grapes
Basil helps protect grapes by deterring unwanted insect pests and encouraging pollinators.
Marigolds Marigolds
This classic pair naturally repels aphids, beetles, nematodes, and slugs, offering color and pest control in tandem.
Nasturtium Nasturtium
Acts as a trap crop by attracting aphids and pests away from basil. Edible flowers bring vibrant color to the garden.
Oregano Oregano
Oregano boosts basil’s essential oil content and may attract pollinators when in bloom.
Parsley Parsley
Basil and parsley thrive in similar growing conditions and make excellent companions for attracting beneficial insects.
Peppers Peppers
Basil boosts pepper flavor and growth while repelling pests like aphids, thrips, and flies.
Petunias Petunias
Petunias repel aphids, tomato worms, and beetles, while adding vibrant blooms that pair beautifully with basil.
Radishes Radishes
Radishes benefit from basil’s pest-repelling traits and can serve as handy row markers for basil planting.
Tomatoes Tomatoes
A classic pairing: basil enhances tomato growth and flavor, repels insects like hornworms and aphids, and boosts pollination by attracting bees and butterflies.

Worst Basil Companion Plants

Cucumber, Gherkin, Khira, Vining Cucumbers, Bush Cucumbers, Slicing Cucumbers, Pickling Cucumbers, Cornichons, Burpless Cucumbers Cucumbers
Aromatic herbs like basil are believed to affect the flavor of cucumbers. While not harmful, it’s best to keep them separate if you’re concerned about taste.
Salvia Officinalis, Common Sage, Garden Sage, Sauge, Salvia officinalis 'Greek', Purple Salvia, Evergreen shrub, Fragrant Shrub Sage
Sage and other drought-tolerant herbs prefer dry soil, which conflicts with basil’s moisture needs. Grown together, they may stunt each other’s growth.
Ruta graveolens, rue, common rue, herb-of-grace Rue
Rue and basil are considered antagonistic companion plants. Rue’s strong bitterness may interfere with basil’s growth, so they are best kept apart.
Fennel, Sweet Fennel, Common Fennel, Florence Fennel Fennel
Fennel releases compounds that inhibit the growth of nearby plants, including basil. It’s best planted far from other herbs or vegetables.
Thymus, Thyme, Garden Thyme, Lemon Thyme, Creeping Thyme Thyme
While both are aromatic herbs, thyme prefers dry, sandy soil, while basil thrives in moist, fertile conditions. Their growing needs are incompatible.

Guide Information

Hardiness 3 - 11
Plant Type Annuals, Herbs, Perennials
Genus Ocimum
Exposure Full Sun
Season of Interest Spring (Late), Summer (Early, Mid, Late), Fall
Maintenance Low
Water Needs Average
Soil Type Loam, Sand
Soil pH Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
Soil Drainage Well-Drained
Characteristics Fragrant
Tolerance Deer, Rabbit
Attracts Bees, Butterflies
Landscaping Ideas Patio And Containers, Beds And Borders
Garden Styles City and Courtyard, Informal and Cottage, Mediterranean Garden

Discover These Helpful Guides for Further Reading

Basil: Planting, Growing, and Harvesting
18 Best Plants That Repel Mosquitoes
Companion Planting With Annuals
Best and Worst Companion Plants for Tomatoes
Wonderful Plants That Repel Insects
Companion Planting With Herbs
Best and Worst Companion Plants for Bush Beans
Best and Worst Companion Plants for Cucumbers
Ocimum basilicum (Basil)
Compare All Ocimum (Basil)
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Ocimum (Basil)
While every effort has been made to describe these plants accurately, please keep in mind that height, bloom time, and color may differ in various climates. The description of these plants has been written based on numerous outside resources.

Guide Information

Hardiness 3 - 11
Plant Type Annuals, Herbs, Perennials
Genus Ocimum
Exposure Full Sun
Season of Interest Spring (Late), Summer (Early, Mid, Late), Fall
Maintenance Low
Water Needs Average
Soil Type Loam, Sand
Soil pH Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
Soil Drainage Well-Drained
Characteristics Fragrant
Tolerance Deer, Rabbit
Attracts Bees, Butterflies
Landscaping Ideas Patio And Containers, Beds And Borders
Garden Styles City and Courtyard, Informal and Cottage, Mediterranean Garden
Compare All Ocimum (Basil)
Compare Now
Guides with
Ocimum (Basil)

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