Companion Planting Herbs and Vegetables
In the world of companion planting, a good number of herb plants benefit from being planted next to vegetables and vice versa. Sometimes the vegetables taste better, and other times the herbs taste better. The classic example is to plant three sweet basil plants next to one of your tomato plants. The tomatoes are supposed to come out tasting sweeter.
There are certain herb plants that can also help insects and animal pests from attacking your vegetable patches. This can be really important to a gardener who is trying to grow a good vegetable crop. Since some vegetables help some herbs and other herbs help vegetables, some gardeners choose to plant one row of vegetables next to a row of herbs and then another row of vegetables. They continue alternating herbs and vegetables throughout the garden in combinations of mutual benefit, or benefit to one with no harm to the other. This helps even out the herb and vegetable benefits.
Just like some herbs do not do well together, though, some herbs should not be planted next to certain vegetables. For example, carrots should not be planted next to dill because a change in quality will occur. Chives are what should be planted next to carrots in order to help both grow and attain perfect flavoring.
As mentioned before, companion planting is not backed by science but many seasoned gardeners swear by it. The choice to companion plant is entirely up to you. Give it a try to see if it works better for your garden. Included in the list of companion herbs are some vegetables that make good or bad companions towards herbs. This will help you if you would like to have a vegetable garden as well as an herb one. It is not uncommon, and if you've mastered an herb garden, growing your own vegetables will not be too difficult.
