It’s heaven when you can find fresh chives to decorate meats and cheeses, season breads and soups, or just add to a salad for a fresh, slightly oniony taste. Chives are an essential part of any culinary garden and dry wonderfully for winter use. If you are planning a kitchen garden and wondering what to grow near chives, wonder no more. There are a host of perfect chive plant companions for texture, color, and flavor.
With their delicate purple blossoms and grassy green blades chives bring beauty and flavor to any garden. But did you know these plants offer even more benefits when paired with the right companion plants?
Chives’ pest-repelling properties and growth boosting effects make them a versatile companion. By planting chives alongside specific vegetables, herbs, and flowers, you can enhance the health and productivity of your entire garden.
In this guide, you’ll discover the best companion plants for chives and how to use these partnerships to transform your garden into a vibrant, pest-free ecosystem.
Why Chives Make Great Companions
Before diving into perfect pairings let’s look at why chives play so well with others
Natural Pest Deterrent
Chives contain compounds that help mask the scent of desirable crops like carrots and tomatoes from pests like carrot flies and aphids. Interplanting chives canreduce pest damage without chemicals.
Possible Growth Enhancer
Some gardeners report improved growth and flavor when planting chives near certain vegetables and herbs. This may be due to nutrients from chives leaching into the soil.
Attracts Pollinators
The nectar-rich purple flowers invite beneficial pollinating insects. More pollination improves fruit and seed production.
With benefits like these, it’s clear why chives deserve a spot in every garden bed!
The Best Herbs to Plant with Chives
Herbs share needs for sun, well-draining soil, and frequent harvesting. This makes them ideal chive companions.
Parsley
Parsley and chives thrive in the same conditions. Chives help shield parsley from pests with their strong aroma.
Dill
Let chives and dill complement each other. Dill attracts beneficial insects while chives mask crops from pests.
Cilantro
Deter pests away from cilantro by pairing it with pest-repelling chives. Both thrive harvested often.
Basil
Planting basil with chives may enhance the flavor and growth of both while deterring aphids.
Rosemary
Chives help repel aphids and blackspot disease on roses. Anecdotal reports say rose health improves near chives.
Best Vegetables to Pair with Chives
Chives lend a hand to many vegetable crops through pest control and possible growth enhancement:
Carrots
Chives disguise carrots from carrot flies. Their pest protection helps reduce tunneling damage to roots.
Tomatoes
Pairing chives with tomatoes may improve tomato health and growth. Chives also deter aphids from tomatoes.
Potatoes
Scattering chive plants through potato rows helps deter aphids, mites, and fungus.
Cabbage
Try planting chives around cabbage crops. They may protect against common pests like cabbage worms.
Cucumbers
Help foil cucumber beetles by planting cucumbers alongside pest-repelling chives.
Flowering Companions for Chives
Ornamental flowers that complement chives offer beauty and shared pest resistance:
Marigolds
Marigolds and chives make ideal bedfellows, synergizing their ability to repel harmful insects.
Nasturtiums
Peppery nasturtiums help shield crops from pests. With chives, they create a Dynamic Duo against insect damage.
Roses
Chives near roses improve their bloom and help suppress aphids and blackspot disease.
Calendula
The bright flowers of calendula attract pollinators already visiting chive blossoms.
Cosmos
Pretty cosmos flowers complement purple chive blooms while also drawing in more pollinators.
Plants to Avoid Planting Near Chives
When orchestrating your garden, it’s also important to know which plants to position away from chives:
Peas and Beans
Plant pole beans and peas apart from chives. Chives may stunt their growth through chemical inhibition.
Onions
Onion family members compete for nutrients. Allow them space from each other to prevent stunted growth.
Asparagus
Chives may inhibit asparagus growth. Keep them separate to allow both plants to thrive.
Tips for Successful Chive Companion Planting
With smart pairings, planning, and care, your chives will transform from garnish to garden guardian:
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Use containers to create mini-companion plantings if space is limited.
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Seek out compact chive varieties like ‘Fine Leaf’ if planting in tighter spaces.
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Cut chive flowers to prolong the harvest season. Let some bloom to attract pollinators.
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Scatter chive plants throughout garden beds for maximum pest protection.
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Rotate chives to new areas each year to prevent nutrient depletion in soil.
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Refresh chive patches every few years by dividing overcrowded clumps.
Reap Nature’s Bounty with Chive Companions
Creating plant partnerships with chives helps guide your garden toward balance, diversity, and mutual benefit between plants. What chive companion will you try this season?
Companion Planting with Chives
Chives are such attractive plants it is a shame to keep them in the vegetable garden alone. It might seem like chives help their neighbors just by being nearby, but they can also help you in the garden and at home in other ways. Dried chive flowers are wonderful in an everlasting bouquet and keep much of their purple color. To keep pests away from most plants and powdery mildew away from vegetables, blend chives, water, and a little dish soap in a blender. Chive plants look great as decorations because they have lively, thin green leaves and those lovely fluffy flowers. They look great in a perennial garden or herbal container. As an added bonus, chives can be cut and come again several times in one season. Dry them or cut them into small pieces and freeze them so you can enjoy them year-round.
What to Grow Near Chives
Companion planting isnt anything new. Our ancestors knew which plants did better when they were close to each other, whether it was to keep pests away, show signs of disease, provide support, improve the soil, or for some other reason. The sulfur-based oil in chives is what gives them their flavor and can also keep many pests away. Also, they have big, tufted purple flower heads that keep bees coming back to your garden. It really doesn’t matter what you plant them next to because planting chives with other plants has a lot of benefits. Many gardeners swear by using chives near roses to help repel black spot and enhance growth. Chives are also said to ward off Japanese beetles, a common pest of roses and other ornamentals. If you plant chives next to apple trees, they seem to be able to keep apple scab and borers away. Grapes do very well with chives because the allium seems to keep insects away and bring in more pollinators, which increases crop yields. If you do add chives to the vegetable garden, you will see a number of benefits. A lot of insects stay away from the plant’s oils, and the pollinators it attracts help the crops grow better. For example, chives can make carrots longer and taste better when they are close by, and they can keep aphids away from celery, lettuce, and peas. They also repel cucumber beetles, which can make a mess of your Cucurbit crop. Tomatoes benefit from their odorous oils and attractive flowers. Herbs seem natural companion plants for chives and, indeed, they are. Place chives in your herb pots for quick, delicious additions to any dish.
How To Grow Chives!
FAQ
What should I not plant next to chives?
What is the best herb to plant with chives?
Do chives like full sun or part shade?
Can you plant marigolds with chives?
What is the best way to grow chives?
Chives will grow best in a well-draining soil, rich in organic matter with a pH of 6-7 and will perform optimally when positioned in full sunlight but will tolerate partial shade. Propagation Starting from seeds Chives can be grown directly from seed or new plants can be produced by dividing an established plant.
How long do chives take to grow?
Chive seeds take a long time to grow. It can be as many as two to four weeks before sprouts emerge. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t see sprouts popping up in a few days, it’s totally normal! To keep chives healthy, make sure the soil stays moist, especially around the roots.
How often should you harvest chives?
Newly transplanted chives can be harvested every three to four months. This means you can harvest the fresh chives 3 to 4 times during the first year. Two to three-year-old chives can be harvested every month to maintain their shape and vigor for growth and development.
What kind of soil do chives need?
Basic requirements Chives are easy to grow and tolerate a range of soil types and conditions. Chives will grow best in a well-draining soil, rich in organic matter with a pH of 6-7 and will perform optimally when positioned in full sunlight but will tolerate partial shade.