Thanks to their strongly scented leaves, chives make excellent companion plants that can repel garden pests. They also attract pollinators and other beneficial insects with their pinkish-purple flowers. While chives don’t grow well beside beans and peas, they get along with most other vegetables, herbs, and flowering plants in garden beds or containers. Here are some of the best chive companion plant pairings to try, along with companion planting tips for a pest- and hassle-free garden.
Strawberries
At first glance, strawberries and chives may seem like an odd plant pairing. However, these two plants have similar growing needs, and the sulfur-like odor of chives can repel an assortment of common strawberry pests, including slugs and aphids. On top of that, studies have shown that interplanting strawberries with chives and other alliums can reduce soil pathogens and help protect strawberry plants from fungal diseases.
Carrots and Parsnips
Mike Dieter
When carrot rust flies invade crops of carrots and parsnips, they can cause stunted plant growth and wilted leaves and render growing carrot roots inedible. However, keeping chives near your root crops can repel these troublesome pests and help carrots and parsnips grow better. If you want to make your garden more attractive to predatory insects like ladybugs, let your chive plants flower and remove their blooms only when they start to fade.
Tomatoes
Chives also enhance the growth of tomatoes, and they naturally repel tomato pests such as aphids and slugs. Whether you grow tomatoes in pots or in the garden, chives can be slipped into the soil beneath taller tomato plants, and they grow beautifully in the full sun and moist earth that tomatoes crave. Best of all, chives also pair well with tomatoes in the kitchen, and you can use these two ingredients together in salsas, salads, pasta dishes, and other tasty treats.
Roses
Matthew Benson
Like tomatoes and strawberries, roses are sometimes targeted by aphids, slugs, and Japanese beetles. However, keeping rose plants near chives can reduce these pesty problems and protect rose blooms from serious damage. Even better, chives bring a unique look to flower gardens and rose beds, and growing chives near rose plants can protect roses from fungal issues like black spot.
Basil
Peter Krumhardt
Whether you grow herbs outdoors in your garden or indoors in pots, keeping basil with chives makes sense. These two herbs have similar care needs, and chives’ pest-repelling properties can keep basil plants safe from aphids and other pests. Just keep in mind that chive plants grow perennially in most areas, while basil is usually grown as an annual and will need to be replanted each spring.
Brassicas
Kindra Clineff
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and other brassicas are some of the most pest-prone plants in the garden. However, growing brassicas with chives can deter slugs, aphids, and other pests that riddle brassica leaves with holes and ruin vegetable harvests before they mature. If you allow chive plants to flower, you can also entice predatory insects like hoverflies to visit your garden and feed on cabbage loopers.
Lettuce
Lettuce plants also benefit from the strong scent of chives, which repels many common lettuce pests. Beyond that, chives and lettuce are both low-growing and light-feeding plants that won’t compete with each other for soil nutrients or sun. Plus, you can use fresh chives and chive flowers as delicious salad toppers every time you make a fresh garden salad with your lettuce crop.
Parsley
Robert Cardillo
While woody-stemmed herbs like lavender and rosemary prefer drier conditions than chive plants, tender-stemmed herbs like parsley usually thrive with chives. Like chive plants, parsley grows best in moist soil and sun and doesn’t take up much space in herb beds or container gardens. However, parsley is usually grown as a biennial, so you’ll need to replant parsley seeds every one to two years to keep this companion plant pairing together.
Fruit Trees
Brie Williams
Many gardeners never think about companion planting with trees, but apple trees and other fruit trees can gain just as many benefits from companion planting as lower-growing vegetables and flowers. For example, growing chives near fruit trees reduces the incidence of apple scab and repels certain types of tree borers that might otherwise do major damage to home orchards. For best results, grow a ring of chives near the base of the fruit trees you’d like to protect and allow the chive plants to bloom.
Mums
Kritsada Panichgul
If you’re planning to grow mums in your garden, window boxes, or flower pots this year, save some space for a few chive plants. Mums or chrysanthemums are particularly appealing to aphids, but keeping chives nearby can repel these pest insects and maintain the good looks of your mum plants.
Brew chopped chives in hot water, let the mixture cool, and spray this “chive tea” on your mums to reduce the incidence of powdery and downy mildew.
