Companion Planting with Zucchini
Zucchini is so rewarding and easy to grow, I included it on my list of the ten plants I grow in every garden, no matter where I'm gardening. But even these productive plants can run into issues like pests, disease, poor pollination, and nutrient depletion. That’s where companion planting comes in.
By pairing zucchini, a type of summer squash, with the right neighbors, you can protect it from pests and disease, attract pollinators, improve the soil, and maximize your garden space.
Ready to grow better zucchini? Let’s dive into the benefits of companion planting, what to plant (and what not to plant) with zucchini, and a few tips to make your garden thrive.
What Is Companion Planting?
Companion planting is part of an integrated pest management system. It encourages more plant diversity in order to turn your garden into a healthy little ecosystem that can largely maintain itself, without the need for a bunch of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The idea behind companion planting is to grow specific crops near each other to provide certain benefits and improve overall garden health.
Benefits of Companion Planting
Growing zucchini with the right herbs, vegetables, and flowers comes with many benefits, including the following:
- CONTROL PESTS WITHOUT PESTICIDES - Certain plants naturally repel pests likely to prey on zucchini plants, such as squash bugs, cucumber beetles, and aphids. Aromatic herbs keep bugs away with their strong scents, while flowers like nasturtiums attract pests away from your zucchini (acting as “trap crops”).
- ATTRACT POLLINATORS - Zucchini flowers need to be visited by pollinators like bees to produce fruit. Planting nectar-rich flowers like borage, sweet alyssum, and calendula can encourage these essential insects to visit your garden. The pollinators get good food, and you get a bigger harvest.
- IMPROVE SOIL - Plants like beans and peas are nitrogen-fixers, meaning they enrich the soil for heavy feeders like zucchini. Clover works as a living mulch, preventing weeds and retaining moisture, while also adding nitrogen.
- IMPROVE GROWTH AND TASTE - Herbs like basil, chamomile, and dill are said to enhance the flavor and growth of zucchini by releasing certain chemicals into the soil.
- SERVE AS GROUND COVER - Low-growing plants like thyme and sweet alyssum act as a natural mulch, keeping the soil cool and moist. They also suppress weed growth. In return, the bushy growth of zucchini can provide much-needed shade on warm days.
- GIVE YOU MORE HARVESTS - Fast-growing herbs give you lots of harvests while you're waiting on your zucchini plants to mature.
Now let's look at the best plants to grow with zucchini.
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What to Plant with Zucchini
Zucchini plants are super productive, so much so that I find myself giving harvests to neighbors by the end of summer. Just one or two plants are likely to produce enough fruit for your family, so that leaves lots of extra growing space to fill with good companions. Let's look at the best herbs, veggies, and flowers to grow with zucchini.
The Best Herbs to Grow with Zucchini
Aromatic herbs make wonderful companions in your vegetable garden. Not only are they easy to grow and productive, but they also do a lot as far as organic pest control. Their essential oils mask the scent of your most appetizing veggies from pests that use smell to locate their next meal. They also straight-up repel certain pests with their strong aroma. And when they flower, they attract tons of beneficial insects.
Dill & Parsley
These herbs become magnets for beneficial insects when they send up their dainty little flowers. They'll bring in pest predators like ladybugs, hoverflies, and parasitic wasps, which will take care of common zucchini pests like aphids, thrips, and cucumber beetles.
Some gardeners swear that having dill or parsley nearby zucchini seedlings improves their growth.
Mint, Oregano, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme
These perennial herbs in the Lamiaceae family give off a strong scent that keeps pests like squash bugs and aphids away. I like to plant oregano, sage, rosemary, and thyme around the outer edges of my raised beds to deter pests. You have to be a bit more careful with mint, which spreads aggressively. Grow mint in the ground, where it can spread, or in a container near your zucchini plants. Mint's strong smell makes giving it special treatment worth it.
If you only grow one of these herbs, let it be sage. The earthy smell of sage protects plants in the squash family from the dreaded squash vine borer.
Thyme also deserves a special shoutout here because its anti-fungal properties can protect your zucchini from fungal disease like powdery mildew and other soil-borne pathogens. Its smell is particularly effective against aphids, as well.
Lavender
Lavender is another perennial herb in the Lamiaceae family. Lavender’s lovely scent not only repels pests but also attracts bees for better squash pollination.
Basil
Basil helps keep pests like whiteflies away and can even prevent mildew from spreading on zucchini leaves.
The Best Vegetables to Grow with Zucchini
Zucchini is part of the OG companion planting trio, the three sisters, or milpa planting of Mexico and Latin America: corn, squash, and beans. The idea is that each crop benefits the others. The squash acts as ground cover to repress weeds and retain soil moisture. The beans enrich the soil with nitrogen. And the corn provides support for the beans. All three plants have different growing habits, so they make efficient use of the space.
Garlic, Onions, & Chives
The pungent sulfury smell of these alliums repels pests like aphids and cucumber beetles. If you're not interested in growing full garlic or onion bulbs, try low-maintenance chives plants, which smell like their garlic and onion cousins.
Beans & Peas
These legumes are nitrogen-fixing plants that make the soil more fertile for your zucchini plants. Beans and peas basically work with soil microbes to make atmospheric nitrogen bioavailable to plants. I recommend growing pole beans and peas so that you can train them up a trellis. Bush beans and peas don't work as well space-wise with zucchini.
Corn & Sunflowers
These tall plants act as natural trellises for zucchini to climb (with help), maximizing your garden space. Corn and sunflowers are ideal companions if you're growing zucchini in the ground.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes and zucchini grow well together, as they both attract pollinators with their blooms and complement each other’s growth habits. In a raised bed, I'd plant indeterminate tomatoes next to a strong trellis for support, and then grow bush zucchini plants near their base. That way, you won't have to worry about either plant shading the other or competing for space.
The Best Flowers to Grow with Zucchini
Zucchini and other types of summer squash need to be visited by as many pollinators as possible to ensure each flower gets pollinated. That means you should plant lots of flowers nearby to attract bees to your garden to boost your harvest. As a bonus, flowers also attract beneficial insects that prey on pests.
Marigolds
Marigolds, particularly French marigolds, are one of the best flowering herbs to grow for pest protection. Marigolds fend off pests that attack below ground, like nematodes, and those that attack aboveground, like squash bugs and even rabbits, by releasing a compound called pyrethum that's basically nature's bug spray. But don't worry—this compound doesn't have any effect on beneficial insects like ladybugs and hoverflies, which flock to fragrant marigold plants.
Sweet Alyssum
These beautiful little flowers attract pollinators and predatory insects like ladybugs and parasitic wasps. In one older study, sweet alyssum proved most effective at controlling aphid populations out of all the different flowers studied. Their effect can cover up to 50 feet of garden space!
Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums help with pest control in three key ways. First, their beautiful hibiscus-like flowers attract beneficial insects that will help you take care of pests. Second, their peppery scent repels some pests. And third, they act as a trap crop for aphids and squash bugs. If you plant nasturtiums near zucchini, these pests will be drawn away from your fruiting crop.
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Borage
The beautiful star-shaped blue flowers attract tons of bees and other pollinators. They also bring in parasitic wasps, which pray on cucumber beetles. Borage sends down long taproots, which can pull nutrients from deep in the soil and make them available to neighboring plants.
Chamomile
Chamomile can supposedly improve plant health and growth when planted near cucurbits.
Clover
If you're growing zucchini plants in the ground, clover makes wonderful ground cover to grow around your crop. These plants act as a form of living mulch to shade the soil, which helps retain moisture and suppress weeds. They also fix nitrogen in the soil and attract pollinators.
Other Flowers
Other great flower companions for zucchini include calendula, bee balm, echinacea, yarrow, and zinnias. These flowers attract pollinators and other beneficial insects like lacewings, parasitic wasps, and hoverflies to control pest populations. Some flowers, like bee balm and echinacea, also repel certain pests with their strong scent. Plus, they're not bad to look at.
Plants to Avoid Growing with Zucchini
While zucchini thrives with many companions, some plants can cause problems. Bad neighbors have a negative impact on plant growth and overall health.
Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes
Tubers and tuberous roots are heavy feeders and vigorous growers, which means they compete for both nutrients and space with zucchini. That leads to stunted growth all around. Potatoes can also spread certain disease that can affect summer squash. If you want to grow potatoes and zucchini, keep them in separate raised beds or give them plenty of space in a row garden.
Fennel
Many gardeners avoid planting fennel near their favorite veggies due to its allelopathic properties, which stunt the growth of nearby plants.
Other Cucurbits (Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Melons)
It's often the case that cousins don't make great neighbors, and that's true for zucchini's fellow members in the Cucurbitaceae family. Cucumbers, pumpkins, winter squash, and melons generally attract the same pests and diseases, so you increase your risk of facing a major issue. In some cases, you also risk cross-pollination.
Tips for Companion Planting with Zucchini
Replant Each Season
Many gardeners focus on crop rotation to prevent soil depletion and pest problems. If zucchini has grown in a spot for several years, they'll make sure to grow something else there for the next couple of years. Here at Gardenary, we focus more on replanting our gardens with each seasonal switchover. This means plants are only ever growing under their ideal conditions. It also confuses pests. If you replant each season, each section of the garden plays host to several different plant families in the course of one year.
Prune
Fruiting plants like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants pair well with zucchini, but you'll need to bust out your pruners regularly to keep your plants healthy. Pruning ensures each plant has enough space and airflow to grow to its full potential. Learn more about pruning zucchini growing in a raised bed.
Plant an Herb & Flower Border
If you're working on a planting plan for your warm season garden, start off by placing aromatic herbs and flowers around the perimeter of your raised bed. Alternate perennial herbs in the Lamiaceae family with low-growing flowers and chives. I like to think of this border as my first defense against pests.
FAQs about Companion Planting with Zucchini
Can you grow zucchini and tomatoes together?
Tomatoes and zucchini grow well together, but make sure to leave enough space for airflow to prevent diseases like powdery mildew. Even though these plants come from different families (tomatoes are part of the nightshade family), they do have similar nutrient requirements, so make sure you're adding compost or organic fertilizer throughout the growing season.
Is it okay to plant zucchini with cucumbers or pumpkins?
It’s best to avoid planting zucchini with other cucurbits since they attract the same pests, like cucumber beetles, and can cross-pollinate.
What’s the best flower to plant with zucchini?
Sweet alyssum, borage, and marigolds are some of the best flowers for zucchini. They attract pollinators and manage pests.
How do I prevent pests on my zucchini plants?
Use companion plants like sage, chives, and sweet alyssum to repel pests. You can also use nasturtiums as a trap crop to draw pests away from your zucchini.
What vegetables pair best with zucchini?
Beans, peas, corn, garlic, and onions are excellent companions for zucchini. They enrich the soil, repel pests, and maximize space.
Grow Zucchini with Lots of Friends
Zucchini is a super productive, beginner-friendly veggie to grow in your garden. If you surround your zucchini with good companions like herbs, flowers, and complementary veggies, you'll keep common cucumber pests at bay and harvest dozens of fruit from each and every plant this summer.
Companion planting is an easy way to keep your overall garden healthy and productive.
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