Dill companion plants offer an array of benefits to the main crop. They help you make out of your tiny garden parcel, picking fresh produce of various crops without the need to go to a grocery store! Perhaps the most enticing advantage is that they are guardians against pests. If you are thrilled to know these plants, join us in botanical research to learn the story of these garden legends!
What Is Companion Planting?
Companion planting is a gardening practice that uses other food and ornamental plants to accompany your lone main crop. This technique is usually used to boost the yield per square meter and to make your garden generally pest-resilient.
What Is the Best Kind of Dill to Grow?
There were countless dill varieties developed that make it difficult to choose one! However, itâs best to choose what's high-yielding, adaptive to the local condition, and pest-resistant. For example, Bouquet, Compatto, or Delikat offers such advantages, including a better aroma and fast-growing characteristics.
Benefits of Companion Planting with Dill
Perhaps the most thrilling feature of companion plants for dills is the countless benefits of a home-based gardener. Some advantages include:
- Sustainable use of land resources
- Better yield for consociated species
- Buffers production risks and losses
- Reduction of pests and diseases
- Improvement of soil fauna
- Enhancement of soil properties
What Grows Well with Dill
Fennels, aromatic herbs, leafy veggies, and flowers are the best companion plants. But it is still your wise decision that matters. If you want to enrich your garden with a self-sustaining and pest-resilient garden, we will choose aromatic herbs like basil, onion, or garlic. This can also be combined by planting flowering plants along the borders, including marigolds and nasturtiums.
Best Companion Plants for Dill
Among the bunch of plants that feel completely ok with dill lies one that is the most beneficial for this fragrant herb. This plant is also fragrant, and its name is fennel! Belonging to the same family, these two plants have similar growing preferences, which lets them thrive when planted together.
Best Dill Companion Plants
With companion planting, dill not only boosts food crops but also nurtures other ornamental plants. Letâs inspect them more closely.
Vegetables
If you are thinking what grows well dill, then vegetables should be on the green roster:
Lettuce
As the primary salad ingredient, lettuce pairs well with dill. Besides, other leafy greens like spinach and Swiss chard are good companions. They have a relatively similar body structure, so sunlight competition wonât be a problem. Along with dill, these plants can spoil the intention of pests like cabbage worms and aphids to go on food-hunting.
Benefits: Most leafy greens have a relatively short growing cycle and can be harvested before dill. This advantage can help you sow twice while your dill is growing.
Broccoli
Broccoli is one of the pest-prone vegetables in your garden. Although dill might not get much from broccoli, beneficial insects like lacewings will be regular visitors if they are planted together.
Benefits: Broccoli and its family members (cauliflower, mustard, Brussels sprouts) may not boast competitive advantages, but they are thought to be non-aggressive plants for dills.
Asparagus
Asparagus is a perennial plant that sprouts yearly. When it's grown next to dill, you can enjoy its pest-proof potential! The dill's flowers invite many beneficial insects, reducing the bug's incidence in your garden.
Benefits: Like other veggies, dill may not get in return for its unwavering pest control service. However, asparagus is considered a neutral partner, which guarantees the sharing of space and nutrients.
Onion
An explosion of oniony essence is pretty notable when they're growing, and dill-eating insects fear it! Working together, they create a pest barrier that benefits the entire crop community.
Benefits: Due to its tubular-like leaves, onions donât compete for sunlight with dills. Plus, they need little space, which puts them on the A-list of plants for tight gardens.
Herbs
Herbs are an all-time favorite companion plant as they serve two purposes: emitting a calming smell to humans and simultaneously tear-gassing pests!
Fennel
Fennel is one of the dill companion herbs. While it is a generalized narrative to not plant members of the same family, fennel is a living example that can dispel this myth. A Sicily-based horticultural trial found that both dill and fennel live together.
Benefits: The presence of fennels helps improve the yield of dill. There is also no notable difference in taste based on the smell profile emitted by the dill-fennel growing system.
Basil
Wondering whether can dill and basil be planted together, the answer is simple. They are easy-to-grow companion plants that can help confuse the feeding bugs. Although they can spread and block the sunlight, their growth is easily controlled by regular harvesting of leaves or cutting the branches.
Benefits: Some gardeners claim that the taste of its companion improved, although it may not be more than perceptible. Its main job is to protect the entire garden from voracious insect herbivores.
Flowers
Many flowers grown in the garden may have less gastronomic value, but some of them can take down pests like a garden sniper:
Nasturtiums
Nasturtium makes a good dill companion. Whatâs unique about this trailing plant is that it lures parasitic wasps and pollinators with its orange-petalled blooms. As a result, it becomes a breeding haven for beneficial insects which can control garden pests.
Benefits: They help protect the soil from erosion and conserve water. This advantageous characteristic is what makes nasturtium a climate-smart companion in water-scarce gardens.
Marigold
Crowned with fluffy golden flowers, marigold also joins in the best dill companion plants. They are rooted to the ground with special abilitiesâexuding chemical substances, eventually killing nematodes that may cause root diseases in the main crop.
Benefits: Its beautiful display of pom-like flowers attracts many garden visitors, like bees, butterflies, and parasitic wasps that can bring down the nuisance creatures.
Chrysanthemum
Talking about companion planting with dill, who would forget about chrysanthemum? This low-lying flowering shrub produces a toxic compound called pyrethrum, which is one of the first insect-killing compounds derived from plants. This is what makes this flower unattractive to pests and shields your main crop from possible damage.
Benefits: Their multi-colored flowers enrich garden-scale biodiversity, as they are a resting refuge for many beneficial insects. Also, they are just a wonderful sight to decorate your garden!
Other plants
The plants under this section have actually been demonstrated by science to perform well with dill but are less popular among home growers. Here are some that might interest you:
Carrots
Coming from the same family, carrots can also be a neutral partner for dill. Although some references declare its bad effects on the main crop, one strong scientific study proves the opposite and can even prolong storage qualities.
Benefits: It can help improve the yield and quality of the root crop without compromising the main crops. The high-yielding performance is still determined by the nutrients, climate, and other growing factors.
Fenugreek is a lentil-like plant that pairs well with dills in many Middle Eastern dishes. Like most legumes, they can help neighboring plants grow, remembering to meet their own needs. This is all due to its third-party collaborators, such as microorganisms that aid their growth.
Benefits: Fenugreek-dill gardening companionship synergizes yield and land equivalent ratio, which is a measurement for space optimization in your garden.
Bean
Almost no one can say no to common beans! Using this protein-rich vegetable as a companion plant for dill offers a soil fertility advantage. Its roots have nodules, which are a hub for nitrogen-fixing bacteria generating plant-available nutrients for both plants.
Benefits: Both beans and dill work hand in hand for a better yield that could reach at least 160 g per square meter of cultivated land. They are also not alone! This is all due to the interaction of arbuscular mycorrhizae that improves nutrient absorption of the linked species.
Bad Companion Plants for Dill
While the list of what not to plant with dill might all boil down to personal choice, avoid gardening mayhem by knowing some plants that donât quite harmonize with this herbaceous maestro:
- Tomato. âCan you plant dill with tomatoes? ' is the question we commonly hear. The truth is that it highly depends on the local insect fauna and the soil's nutrition. As both dills and tomatoes consume high amounts of P, they can theoretically compete.
- Eggplant. Similar to tomatoes, eggplant belongs to the same family (Solanaceae), which also has a huge appetite for fertilizers.
- Cucumber. Although some reports have shown its neutral interaction with dills, if you have a small space, cucumber must be crossed out from your list. They are trailing plants that can obstruct light to dills.
- Pepper. This solanaceous plant can also outcompete your dill. So, if you are not applying enough fertilizers, peppers will be a bad choice.
What to Plant with Dill to Keep Bugs Away
It's a well-established truth that dill companions are a fool-proof pest barricade, but some have unique ways of keeping these bothersome creatures away.
- Garlic. This vegetable produces an aromatic leaf and bulbs that help keep bugs away, including spider mites, aphids, and whiteflies.
- Parsley. This garnish's favorite herb is not only good for your plate but also for planting in association with dill. It also uses its aromatic essence sprayed into the air, creating a gas defense dome that discourages pests.
- Sugar beet. Planting sugar beet with dill can increase insect diversity. This arthropod-dense agroecosystem is what makes it resistant to sugar beet flies and leaf worms, as predators like spiders and beneficial wasps guard their horticultural territory.
- Lacy phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia). This purple-flowering plant attracts beneficial insects, acting as an insectary haven for the good ones. It also barricades your horticultural space from other pests, such as Colorado potato beetles.
- Coriander. Its lemony fragrance can be a strong artillery against whiteflies. It repels bugs by confusing them with emitted scent.
Mistakes to Avoid in Your Dill Companion Planting
Aside from avoiding bad companion plants for dill, keep away from other gardening pitfalls like:
- Planting too close is a no-no for dill companion planting. Dill should get at least a glint of light during most parts of the day.
- Using pesticides will lose the sense of attracting pollinators and friendly wasps. They are more sensitive to chemicals than the target insects.
- Not providing enough care. The soil should be infused with lots of organic matter as the demand for nutrients doubles or even triples, depending on the tandem crop.
- Watering the leaves. As the canopy is twice denser than monoculture, it is best to keep the leaves dry and water directly into the soil to prevent disease development.
- Timing is also important. Some plants have longer life cycles, so consider marking the planting dates in your agenda.
- Mixing strongly scented herbs. While there is no perceptible difference in the chemical profile, if you prefer a more 'dilly' freshness, opt for less aromatic companion plants.
FAQ
Can You Plant Dill with Tomatoes?
While some sources approve tomatoes as a dill companion plant, it is important to note that both plants require higher phosphorus amounts, which might be a disadvantage to the less dominant in size plant, such as dill.
Can Dill and Basil Be Planted Together?
Various studies have demonstrated Basil to be compatible with many food crops and herbs, including dill. So do not be afraid to have them lie side by side.
Can We Grow Dill with Cucumbers?
Cucumber requires lots of phosphorus and may take up space, reducing the dillâs personal bubble. Although some studies demonstrate its pest-repelling abilities, it is best to avoid cucumbers next to dills if you have a small garden.
