Garden Vegetable Garden Ideas Marigolds Are the Ideal Companion Plant for These 22 Fruits and Vegetables Marigolds are wonderfully beneficial for many other plants, making them the perfect companion for any garden. By Haniya Rae Haniya Rae Haniya Rae is a gardening writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about plants, gardening, and landscape design. She's worked on plant and garden features for Landscape Architecture Magazine, Consumer Reports, and Cottages & Gardens. Editorial Guidelines Published on June 24, 2024 Close Photo: lazybones1987 / Getty Images Marigolds are not only a beautiful addition to any garden, they also provide many benefits, from deterring pests to attracting pollinators. Because of their many helpful traits, marigolds make the ideal companion plant for many other flowers, vegetables, and plants. So, what can marigolds do? They have been shown to repel whiteflies, kill plant-parasitic nematodes, and work as guardians by attracting harmful pests away from other plants—in addition to other benefits. While marigolds won’t deter everything, they are a must in any edible garden—and they can also be an edible crop themselves. "You can eat the petals," says Laura Irish-Hanson, a horticulture educator at the University of Minnesota Extension. "Get the signet marigolds, they’re so tasty as they have a citrusy flavor to them!" We asked garden experts to share which fruits and vegetables benefit most from having marigolds as neighbors. How to Plant and Care for Marigolds, Splashy Bedding Plants That You Can Grow in Almost Every Hardiness Zone 01 of 22 Tomatoes Westend61 / Getty Images Whiteflies can be very destructive, taking down your tomatoes in no time, but planting marigolds nearby offers a colorful distraction. "A flower may be more attractive to an insect than a tomato plant due to color, scent, or even petal shape," says Isabel Branstrom, vegetable product development manager for PanAmerican Seed. "French marigolds contain the chemical limonene, which can deter whiteflies, another sap-sucking insect often found in vegetable gardens." Zones: 3 to 10Mature size: VariesCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately Find Your Gardening Zone 02 of 22 Strawberries Getty Images Like with tomatoes, French marigolds can help repel pests that are common to strawberries, such as Western flower thrips and nematodes. In this case, the marigolds act as a guardian plant, attracting the thrips and nematodes to the marigold instead of the strawberry. "Taller varieties of the plant, such as African marigolds, can be planted with tomatoes, potatoes, and strawberries and help decrease root diseases caused by nematodes (microscopic worms)," says Judy Elliott, community education director for Denver Urban Gardens. Zones: 4 to 10Mature size: 6 to 12 inches tall x 1 foot wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 22 Companion Plants to Help Your Strawberry Crop Thrive 03 of 22 Potatoes OLEKSANDR KOZACHOK/Getty Images Along with other root crops, potatoes are susceptible to root-knot nematodes. With potatoes, you’ll need to plant the marigolds ahead of time of where you want to plant the potatoes, then transplant the marigolds elsewhere and plant the potatoes. Marigolds tend to be hosts for root-knot nematodes, so they will essentially control the population in the soil beforehand (and can kill the root-knot larvae) instead of killing the nematodes when planted alongside the potatoes at the same time. Zones: 3 to 9Mature size: VariesCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining, slightly acidic soil; water moderately 10 Companion Plants to Grow Next to Potatoes for a More Robust Crop 04 of 22 Kale Veronique Duplain / Getty Images Not only does that miracle scent of limonene repel whiteflies, but it may also repel deer from eating your leafy veggies. "Marigolds are also really good among brassicas, like kale, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts," says Irish-Hanson. Stick to low-growing marigolds, however—Irish-Hanson advises against growing taller varieties because they could potentially provide too much shade for your kale. Plant marigolds as a border plant as well as interspersing them with your kale crop to make sure that your greens don’t get munched. Zones: 2 to 10Mature size: 1 to 3 feet tall x 3 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun to partial shade; well-draining soil; water moderately 05 of 22 Cabbage PhotoAlto/Laurence Mouton / Getty Images When planted with onions and nasturtium nearby, marigolds can help reduce cabbage worms, leaving your cabbage fuller and healthier. As with kale, marigolds may also prevent deer from nibbling cabbage leaves, saving your summer salads from lackluster greens. Zones: 4 to 10Mature size: 1 to 3 feet tall x 1 to 3 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 06 of 22 Brussels Sprouts Little Kiss Photography Delicious roasted, sauteed, or steamed, Brussels sprouts are an easy-to-grow member of the Brassica family. Marigolds are great companion plants for Brussels sprouts because they attract pollinators, like native bees, to cross-pollinate the flowers, as these plants don’t self-pollinate. Zones: 2 to 9Mature size: 1 to 3 feet tall x 1 to 2 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun, well-draining soil, water moderately How to Grow Brussels Sprouts at Home—Plus the Secret to Ensuring a Healthy Crop Each Year 07 of 22 Green Beans jxfzsy / Getty Images Marigolds love nitrogen, and legumes of any sort provide a lot of it. "As legumes improve the soil's nitrogen, planting them before marigolds will give the marigolds a boost following the legume's harvest," says Will Conway, farm director at Wildflower Farms, Auberge Resorts Collection, in the Hudson Valley. Plant your beans before the marigolds to give your marigold plants a boost. Zones: 3 to 9Mature size: 20 inches tall x 3 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 10 Green Bean Companion Plants for Your Tastiest Crop Yet 08 of 22 Edamame liu mingzhu / Getty Images Many types of beans, including soybeans, are susceptible to Mexican bean beetles, which will feed on every part of the plant and ruin your crop, but marigolds can help here. "Planting them with beans helps to protect against the Mexican bean beetle," says Elliott. Zones: 3 to 9Mature size: 2 feet tall x 2 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 09 of 22 Mustard Pakin Songmor / Getty Images Flea beetles are one common pest of mustard greens, but marigolds can also be planted nearby to keep flea beetles at bay. You may also want to include dill or bunching onions nearby to further keep the flea beetles off your greens. Zones: 2 to 10Mature size: 3 to 6 feet tall x 3 to 6 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun to partial shade; well-draining soil; water moderately 10 of 22 Radishes Roger Sherman / Getty Images Similar to potatoes and carrots, radishes may suffer from root-knot nematodes that will make your crop unsightly, if still edible, and reduce the yield. As with potatoes, you’d need to plant the marigolds first and then move them elsewhere to reduce the nematode population in that spot before planting the radishes. Zones: 3 to 10Mature size: 6 to 8 inches tall x 6 to 8 inches tallCare requirements: Full sun to partial shade; well-draining soil; water moderately 11 of 22 Basil Ewa Saks / Getty Images If you plant basil near your marigolds and tomatoes, it can work in tandem with the marigolds to repel insects. Basil tends to repel flies and maggots, and both basil and marigolds repel mosquitoes. Zones: 3 to 10Mature size: 3 to 6 feet tall x 3 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately How to Grow and Care for Basil Plants—Indoors and Outside 12 of 22 Sage RayTango / Getty Images If you haven’t noticed yet, strong-smelling plants, like sage, are the best for stopping unwanted pests from devouring your veggies. Sage can deter cabbage moths when planted with cabbage plants and should be planted alongside marigolds for an extra boost of protection. Zones: 4 to 10Mature size: 2 feet tall x 1 foot wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 13 of 22 Onions Nikita Burdenkov / Getty Images Thrips can be a common issue for young onion plants and can damage the leaves. Marigolds can trap thrips and keep them away from your young onion and tomato plants. "Planting them around onions can help deter these pests and protect the onion crop," says Carrie Spoonemore, co-creator of Park Seed's From Seed to Spoon app. Once the thrips have congregated on the marigold blooms, you can release predatory insects to kill them off. Zones: 2 to 9Mature size: 2 feet tall x 6 to 12 inches wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately Your Guide to Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Onions 14 of 22 Sweet Alyssum Getty Images Not only does sweet alyssum smell amazing to humans, but it does to beneficial insects as well. Though marigolds and sweet alyssum don’t directly affect each other, sweet alyssum will work to bring in hoverflies and ladybugs, and marigolds can work as a trap plant that graphs pests and holds them for the predatory insects to feed upon. "Think of it like a tier system," says Irish-Hanson. "Something low-growing like alyssum is beneficial to attract pollinators." Plant sweet alyssum around the border to utilize your garden space and have the marigolds interspaced between your crop plants. Zones: 3 to 10Mature size: 2 to 5 inches tall x 6 inches wideCare requirements: Full sun to partial shade; well-draining soil; water moderately 15 of 22 Yellow Squash Steve Cicero / Getty Images Planting marigolds near yellow squash has two positive results. The first is that marigolds can deter squash bugs, which will eat your squash plants in no time. The second is that marigolds will attract those beneficial pollinators to the squash plant blooms. Zones: 3 to 10Mature size: VariesCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 16 of 22 Arugula letterberry / Getty Images Yet another member of the Brassica family, arugula is similar to mustard in that you may see flea beetles on your plants, leaving small holes in the leaves. Arugula also attracts whiteflies which will dry your leaves out if you’re not paying attention to an infestation. Both of these pests can be repelled by marigolds if planted closely enough. Zones: 2 to 10Mature size: 6 to 12 inches x 6 to 12 inchesCare requirements: Full sun to partial shade; well-draining soil; water moderately 17 of 22 Zucchini Yelena Shander / Getty Images If you’ve ever tried to grow zucchini, you’ll be aware that squash bugs can devastate the plant. Marigolds smell so strongly that squash bugs hate hanging around nearby, along with providing other beneficial benefits. "Companion plants such as marigolds, nasturtiums, and radishes can help improve zucchini growth, flavor, and pest resistance by attracting beneficial insects and repelling harmful pests," says Spoonemore. Zones: 3 to 10Mature size: VariesCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 9 Zucchini Companion Plants That Help Keep the Pests and Weeds Away 18 of 22 Cucumbers Garsya / Getty Images Part of the Cucurbita family, cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini can all fall prey to squash bugs alongside other common garden pests like aphids and cucumber beetles. "Marigolds contain pyrethrins that repel pests such as aphids, spider mites, and cucumber beetles," says Linda Langelo, horticulture specialist at Colorado State University. "They also attract beneficial pollinators such as bees and butterflies." Zones: 2 to 10Mature size: 3 to 4 feet tall x 3 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 16 Companion Plants You Should Grow Next to Cucumbers—and 7 You Shouldn't 19 of 22 Peppers YuriyS / Getty Images Marigolds help peppers in the same way that they help tomatoes—both crops belong to the nightshade family. Just remember to keep a crop rotation going to keep your plants at their healthiest. "To prevent the buildup of diseases, don’t grow the same crop family, especially the tomato family, which also includes peppers, potatoes, and eggplants, in the same place each year,” says Elliott. "Plant your marigolds several weeks after planting the crops which they are grown to protect." Zones: 4 to 10Mature size: VariesCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately The Best Companion Plants for Peppers, Plus Tips to Ensure a Flourishing Crop 20 of 22 Eggplant Costache Hurgoi / 500px / Getty Images As noted by Elliott, eggplants, as members of the nightshade family, receive the same benefits from marigolds as peppers and tomatoes do. Keep your plants spaced appropriately, and don’t plant your nightshades in the same area each year. This keeps pests from multiplying in the same spot and keeps your plant yields higher, as the soil is allowed to replenish nutrients. Zones: 2 to 10Mature size: 2 to 4 feet tall x 1 to 3 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately 21 of 22 Broccoli tioloco/ Getty Images Depending on what species you have, some types of flea beetles can attack anything in the Brassica family, including broccoli. If you have a bed of cruciferous veggies growing, marigolds can help keep beetles away from your broccoli by deterring them with their smell. You may still need other ways of trapping and killing the beetles, though, so that they don’t harm other plants in the vicinity. As with kale and other brassicas, you'll want to be mindful about too much shade from a companion plant. "Be sure to select compact types [of marigolds], not the taller cut flower types when using as a broccoli companion," says Heather Kibble, homegrown sales manager for Sakata Seed America, Inc and a National Garden Bureau member. Zones: 3 to 10Mature size: 2 feet tall x 2 feet wideCare requirements: Full sun; well-draining soil; water moderately How to Grow Broccoli Plants in Your Own Backyard, No Matter the Season 22 of 22 Thyme Yulia Naumenko / Getty Images Though thyme and marigolds don’t directly benefit each other in the same way some other companion plants might, they can work together to repel pests you’d rather not have in your garden, like mosquitoes because of their strong scent. Zones: 2 to 9Mature size: 4 to 8 inches x 4 to 8 inchesCare requirements: Full sun to partial shade; well-draining soil; water moderately 12 Plants That Repel Mosquitoes, According to Gardening Experts Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources Martha Stewart is committed to using high-quality, reputable sources—including peer-reviewed studies—to support the facts in our articles. Read about our editorial policies and standards to learn more about how we fact check our content for accuracy. Frank Sullivan, Cheryl E.; Parker, Bruce L.; Skinner, Margaret; "Murdering Thrips with Marigolds, Fungi, and Mites." Research Summary—University of Vermont Entomology Research Laboratory. University of Florida IFAS Extension. Ask IFAS - Powered by EDIS. “ENY-056/NG045: Marigolds (Tagetes Spp.) for Nematode Management.” Newcastle University Press Office. “How the Humble Marigold Outsmarts a Devastating Tomato Pest.”