Chives can be excellent companion plants for herbs, flowers, and vegetables that like full sun, rich soil, and regular watering. They also attract beneficial insects and give off a strong scent that can help protect nearby plants from pests. Here are the best vegetables, flowers, and herbs to plant with chives and what to avoid planting with chives for a healthy harvest.
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Chives benefits and pests
Like other herbs, chives attract parasitoid insects (wasps and flies) that prey on pests like aphids, whiteflies, and caterpillars. Along with chives' scent, which can confuse pests looking for other garden plants, this makes chives a beneficial plant for any garden.
On the other hand, claims that chives ward off specific pests-- like Japanese beetles, for instance-- are largely anecdotal. In fact, chives themselves are susceptible to thrips, black aphids, and onion maggots.
The best companion plants for chives
The herbs and vegetables that are most likely to grow well with chives like a thorough, weekly watering, rich soil, and full sun. This includes herbs that share the same growing conditions and vegetables that benefit from planting chives nearby.
Here are some of the best chive companion planting options:
- Basil
- Parsley
- Cilantro
- Carrots
- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Radishes
- Potatoes
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Kale
Read More: How to Grow Chives from Seed to Harvest
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Basil, parsley, and cilantro all need full to partial sun, need rich soil, and weekly waterings. All four herbs are fantastic additions to a pollinator garden and can help to improve the species richness of predatory insects in a vegetable garden.
Read More: The Best and Worst Companion Plants for Parsley
Carrots are prey to cutworm, armyworms, and caterpillars. While chives might not attract the specific predatory insects that attack those pests, they will help to mask the scent of growing carrots and make it more difficult for pests to find the crop.
Lettuce planted near chives may see less damage from aphids. Radishes and potatoes, which are both root crops, may similarly benefit. Their deeper roots (or tubers) can also grow well alongside chives' shallower roots.
Tomatoes are rumored to taste better when planted with chives, though you'll have to confirm that independently. Chives can benefit from the partial shade cast by the tomatoes in high summer. Chives, basil, tomatoes, and marigolds all make great companions through peak summer.
Brassicas (kale, cauliflower, cabbages, and broccoli) often struggle with cutworm, aphid, and caterpillar damage. Planting brassicas with chives can help to reduce this damage by masking the scent of the brassicas as well as attracting insects that prey on aphids and caterpillars.
Chives companion flowers
The companion flowers that grow well with chives are the same flowers that typically grow in a vegetable garden. These are all annuals that either attract beneficial insects, deter pests through scent or their interaction with the soil, or cast shade for chives in the summer.
Here are the best flowers to plant with chives:
- Calendula
- Marigolds
- Nasturtium
- Cosmos
- Zinnia
What not to plant with chives
Though chives will grow well with most summer vegetables and herbs, some plants are either too closely related or too dissimilar to do well alongside it. Here's what not to plant near chives:
- Garlic
- Onions
- Shallots
- Mediterranean herbs
- Lavender
- Mint
Some members of the onion family-- garlic, onions, and shallots-- could rot or become malformed from the watering that chives enjoy. Similarly, Mediterranean herbs like sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender, and oregano need sharply draining soil and infrequent watering.
Mint plants thrive in the same conditions as chives but quickly spread to choke out nearby plants. For that reason, mint is best planted in a container.
Are chives perennial?
Chives are perennial down to zone 3 and can continue growing in temperatures as low as 40ºF (4ºC). They will overwinter through hard frosts and are some of the first perennials to resume growth in the late winter.
Companion plants for garlic chives
Garlic chives are similar to chives but are technically a different species (Allium tuberosum). Garlic chives share many of chives' companion plants, including carrots, parsley, cilantro, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower.