Growing peppers? Don’t just grow them alone. You could use some great companion plants for peppers to maximize the benefits. The good thing with peppers is that you can plant them together with some herbs, vegetables, and even flowers (listed below).
The best companion plants for peppers include carrots, eggplant, petunias, tomatoes, dill, and carrots. Some companions provide peppers with shade, act as a barrier to the wind, deter certain weeds and pests, aid in moisture retention, or act as a trellis.
Other times, a plant may have a neutral companionship with the primary crop.
Best companion plants for peppers
Many plants suit the growth of peppers including herbs like basil, parsley, and dill; vegetables like tomatoes, carrots, and eggplant; and flowers like nasturtiums, geraniums, and petunias. Avoid plants in the Brassica family, fennel, and apricots.
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10 best companion plants for peppers include the following:
1. Basil
Basil is a popular summer herb that can do well on its own. However, combining it with pepper has many benefits, especially for peppers. One of the main benefits is that basil boosts the flavor of peppers.
Besides, basil deters most garden pests including them flies, mosquitoes, thrips, aphids, and spider mites. This is a great way to grow them whether they’re for your consumption or the market.
2. Carrots
Besides being tasty together on your plate, carrots can also be combined with your peppers in the garden to provide a living mulch for the peppers.
Even better, they are great at controlling weeds in the garden to give your peppers a good chance to grow vigorously. Lastly, they help in spacing out the peppers in the right way.
3. Chard
Swiss chard has many benefits when combined with peppers in the garden. One such benefit is that they offer protection from the winds and shade from too much sunlight. They also keep weeds at bay. Chards also add great color to your garden.
4. Spinach
Spinach, when combined with peppers in the garden, offers benefits such as keeping weeds at bay. They also help in the spacing of the peppers while not competing with the peppers for sunlight or water. Their low growth habit is beneficial to the peppers that may require growing into larger plants.
5. Leeks
Leeks belong to a family of plants whose other members are onions and garlic. While not as popular as their siblings, they are quite good when combined with peppers since they take up very little space and repel insects such as carrot flies. They have a small stature and are thus great at spacing out the garden.
6. Radishes
Combining radishes with peppers is a great way of maximizing the space in your garden. While they don’t offer direct benefits like the other plants on this list, they’re good with space utilization as they grow fast and, in about 4 weeks, give you a crop as you wait for the peppers to mature.
7. Okra
Okra helps peppers grow better by providing partial shade and protecting them against strong winds. They’re also known to deter pests such as aphids from infesting the garden. They’re thus a great companion for your peppers in the summer.
8. Lettuce
Lettuce, being of small stature compared to other companion plants for pepper, is among the best options to make use of the space between pepper plants. They also do a great job crowding out weeds from infesting your garden.
9. Onions
Besides being among the few plants whose leaves and roots are edible, onions do a great job as companion plants for pepper and other plants. They also help keep off pests such as cabbage worms, slugs, aphids, and many others from the garden.
10. Chives
Chives are among the best companion plants for peppers as they improve the yields and flavor of your peppers. They also deter pests such as most insects and aphids.
Other plants that do well as companion plants to peppers include beets, corn, beans, tomatoes, asparagus, garlic, squash, oregano, dill, parsley, marjoram, buckwheat, cucumbers, rosemary, eggplant, peas, geraniums, marigolds, lovage, petunia, and nasturtium.
What can I plant next to jalapeno peppers?
For jalapeno papers, the best companion plants include the following:
- Carrots
- Marjoram
- Parsley
- Chives
- Oregano
- Coriander
- Dill
- Garlic
- Asparagus
- Eggplants
- Cucumbers
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A lot of the companion plants for other peppers are also available for the jalapenos.
What not to plant with peppers
The plants to never plant close to all types of peppers are as follows:
- Beans (for jalapenos)
- Peas (for jalapenos)
- Cauliflower
- Kohlrabi
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Kale
- Brussels sprouts
- Fennel
- Apricots
These plants are harmful to peppers in different ways. Some compete with the peppers for similar soil nutrients while others attract pests and diseases which may affect the peppers.
