Companion Plant with Your Dill

Dill is a wonderful herb to grow as a companion plant for so many different vegetables in your garden space. Companion planting means filling your garden with plants that work together to create a healthy growing space, one that doesn't rely on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

Dill, from the Apiaceae family, provides three major benefits to its neighbors. First of all, its strong smell discourages cabbage loopers and aphids. Then, its dainty yellow flowers attract tons of pollinators like bees and butterflies to increase the productivity of your fruiting plants. Lastly, those same flowers attract beneficial insects, like ladybugs and hoverflies, which pray on garden pests like aphids, squash bugs, and flea beetles.

Let's look at the best plants to grow in your garden alongside dill to take full advantage of the benefits it can offer.

How Dill Grows Best

The biggest thing to consider when companion planting is plant preferences like temperature and space requirements. That way, you can match your plants based on things they have in common. Let's look at what dill prefers.

DILL TEMPERATURE PREFERENCE

Dill grows best during the cool season (when temps are between 35°F and 65°F) and can handle some frost. You can begin sowing dill seeds as soon as your soil is workable in the spring. Take a break in the summer if your temps are in the 80s or 90s. Wait till it starts cooling off to grow dill again in the fall. (Download our free Garden Calendar to learn when you can plant dill based on your frost dates.)

Dill will bolt, or form flowers in preparation for seed production, in warm weather. Even though the dill harvests are over, this is when your plants really earn their keep in your garden. Those pretty yellow flowers are what attract all the beneficial insects.

DILL SUNLIGHT NEEDS

Dill only needs about 4 hours of sunlight a day to grow. Don't worry about putting dill somewhere it might be shaded by taller plants. In fact, giving dill shade as the weather warms up can keep your plant happy and productive a little longer.

DILL WATERING PREFERENCES

Dill likes to be watered regularly. If the soil dries up too much, your dill herb can feel stressed out and start to bolt.

DILL NUTRIENT NEEDS

If you're growing dill in nutrient-rich soil, you don't really need to add extra fertilizer. I typically add some compost to the planting area and then sprinkle some earthworm castings around the base of the plant after about 30 to 45 days in the garden. You can add an organic fertilizer high in nitrogen if you think your dill plants need extra nutrients. Nitrogen is what helps plants produce lots of healthy leaves.

DILL SPACE REQUIREMENTS

Dill doesn't take up much space in your garden because it grows more up and down than side to side. You can pack about 9 dill plants into 1 square foot of garden space. You can even companion plant with dill in a container garden. You'll need a pot or container at least 12" deep and wide with a drainage hole in the bottom.

The 20 Best Dill Companion Plants

Here's a list of the 20 best plants to grow with your dill herbs this cool season.

• Arugula
• Basil
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Calendula
• Cilantro
• Garlic
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Marigolds
• Nasturtiums
• Onions
• Parsley
• Peas
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard

Now, let's look at how these plants make great dill companions.

The Best Herbs to Grow with Dill

Fragrant herbs are wonderful to plant in your garden space. You'll be able to harvest tons of leaves for your kitchen, but the really fantastic part of companion planting is that the strong scents of these herbs can actually keep pests off your vegetables. For this reason alone, I recommend planting lots of different herbs in each and every one of your garden beds.

You can grow dill with perennial herbs in the mint family, but keep in mind that dill needs to be watered much more frequently. Plant these perennial herbs around the edge of your raised bed or container, where the soil will dry out faster. Plant dill in the middle, where the soil will retain moisture longer. Near dill, you can plant other herbs like basil, cilantro, and parsley, which also like a bit more water.

Basil

Even though basil is in a different plant family than dill, it has similar watering preferences. Now, basil and dill do have different temperature preferences since basil likes to grow in warm weather and can't handle any frost. Your dill and basil plants can still overlap in your garden right after your last frost date in the spring and in the weeks leading up to your first frost in the fall.

Cilantro

Cilantro is dill's cousin in the Apiaceae family. You can plant cilantro at the same time as dill, and because it's also an annual, it too will produce flowers as soon as the weather warms. These umbel-shaped flowers will attract every single beneficial insect around. There are few things better you can do for organic pest control in your garden than let these Apiaceae herbs flower.

Note: Some gardeners say not to plant cilantro close to dill due to cross pollination creating a weird, bitter hybrid. I've never found that to be an issue, but if you want to save seeds from your herbs, maybe give them some space.

Parsley

Parsley is another Apiaceae family herb that grows really well with dill. Parsley, like dill, grows best during cool weather, but parsley is actually a biennial. You'll be able to enjoy it in your garden space much longer than dill.

The Best Leafy Greens to Grow with Dill Plants

Dill grows great alongside leafy greens like lettuce and kale. These leafy greens also thrive in cooler temps with plenty of moisture in the soil. When the weather warms up in late spring or early summer, many of these leafy greens will start to feel all stressed out and attract pests like caterpillars and aphids. Fortunately, this is right around the same time your dill plants will flower. Those flowers will attract beneficial insects like ladybugs and parasitic wasps to help you take care of the pests attacking your leafy greens.

Lettuce

Lettuce really benefits from growing near fragrant herbs like dill. Some pests won't be able to locate your lettuce plants thanks to dill's stronger scent. Other pests might be put off by dill's smell.

Spinach & Swiss Chard

Spinach and Swiss chard are two frost-hardy greens from the Amaranth family. Like dill, they can go in the garden as soon as your soil can be worked in the spring. They'll enjoy all the benefits of growing near an aromatic herb like dill.

Brassicas

Dill is a useful herb to grow near cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, arugula, mizuna, mustard greens, collard greens, cauliflower, and cabbage. Dill flowers attract predators like ladybugs, hoverflies, and parasitic wasps to help you take care of pests like aphids and cabbage looper caterpillars, which are especially attracted to these brassicas. Dill has, in fact, been scientifically proven to reduct the number of aphids on cabbage leaves when interplanted.

Though I haven't found scientific evidence, a lot of gardeners swear that just planting dill near young brassicas makes them more robust.

The Best Alliums to Grow with Dill Plants

Dill grows well alongside plants form the allium family, like onions, garlic, leeks, and chives. These plants are all excellent companion plants for your entire vegetable garden thanks to their strong scent, which many pests find repellent. They also grow best in nice, cool weather.

Onions

The scent of onions does wonders for the things growing around it, dill included. It can repel carrot flies, which impair the growth of plants in the Apiaceae family. I recommend growing green onions if you don't care about growing a full bulb. Green onions go into the garden at the same time as your dill and will give you lots of leaves to harvest.

Garlic

Garlic is planted in the fall and harvested in the late spring or summer. I plant garlic cloves all around my leafy greens for added pest protection. Since the bulb underground is a bit smaller than an onion, you can really pack garlic in with herbs like dill.

The Best Root Crops to Grow with Dill

Root crops and cilantro share the same growing season—as well as growing preferences—so it's only natural to grow them together.

Beets

Beets are frost-tolerant roots that grow best in the same season as dill.

Radishes

Radishes are the fastest-growing root crop and can be packed into the garden alongside dill. I love to succession sow radishes, dill, and cilantro every couple of weeks so that I have a more continuous harvest from these plants.

The Best Fruiting Plants to Grow with Dill

Though their time in the garden will really only overlap as you transition between your cool and warm seasons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant can benefit from growing near dill. In the late spring or summer, dill flowers will attract pollinators and other beneficial insects to your garden just as your fruiting plants are taking off. Dill can, for example, attract predators that eat pests like cucumber beetles, flea beetles, and tomato hornworms.

So leave some flowering dill in your garden space to boost its overall health and productivity well into the summer months.

Then in the fall, these large fruiting plants will cast some shade over the spots in your garden where you're planting dill seeds. That'll keep the soil a little cooler so that you can start growing dill as early as possible.

Peas

The best fruiting plant to plant at the same time as dill is peas thanks to their similar temperature preferences. You can direct sow pea seeds as soon as your soil can be worked in the spring. Peas will actually fix nitrogen in the soil, which will help your dill plants produce even more feathery leaves.

The Best Flowers to Grow with Dill

Even though flowering dill performs pretty much the same function as other flowering plants, I still like to add lots of flowers to my cool season beds for their beauty. Calendula, chamomile, snapdragons, pansies, violas, and dianthus are frost-tolerant flowers that can be planted with dill before you pass your last frost date in the spring. Once the threat of frost has passed, you can grow marigolds and nasturtiums.

These flowers are all edible and have so many benefits for your garden.

Calendula

Calendula thrives in cool weather. It's a wonderful flower to grow for organic pest control, and the blooms look so pretty next to dill.

Marigolds

Marigolds are pretty much a universal companion plant. That's largely due to the fact that they repel pests like aphids, nematodes, and whiteflies while attracting tons of beneficial insects.

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums also help repel certain pests while attracting tons of beneficial insects.

What Would a Raised Bed Filled with Dill & Good Companion Plants Look Like?

Here's a simple planting plan for a 4' x 4' raised bed. I put pansies and thyme around the edge of the raised bed to help with pest control. I added rows of radishes around the outside, as well, so they'll get plenty of sunlight.

Then I placed some purple mustard in the middle of the bed, interplanted with dill. This bed would give you so many leaf harvests.

This planting plan will be super productive and beautiful during the cool season.

Can You Grow Dill with Herbs Like Rosemary & Thyme?

Some gardeners avoid planting dill with perennial herbs from the Lamiaceae family like rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and lavender. Woody herbs, they argue, have totally different watering needs than soft herbs like dill.

I actually love to grow all my herbs together in one large container or raised bed. There's a simple way to get around their different water needs. You just plant all your perennial herbs around the edge of the container, where the soil will dry out faster. Then, you plant all your annual herbs like basil, cilantro, and dill in the middle of the container, where the soil will hold more moisture.

In my experience, these herbs all thrive in a sandy loam soil (think compost and coarse sand mixed in with topsoil). Trust me—I've grown my herbs together like this for years, and they're always perfectly happy.

Can You Grow Dill with Carrots?

Many gardeners also caution against planting dill with other members of the Apiaceae family, namely carrots. The main reason is because they'll attract the same pests, like the carrot rust fly. I've never found this to be an issue.

If you're interested in saving seeds from your dill or carrot plants, however, you should avoid growing them close by. They can actually cross-pollinate and produce seeds for a hybrid that's unlikely to taste very great.

Fill Your Garden with Leaves, Roots, & Fruit!

I hope this helps you plan out your vegetable garden to take full advantage of your next cool growing season. Grow your favorite herbs, leafy greens, root crops, and fruiting plants near your dill, and you'll have a thriving garden that naturally deters pests and takes advantage of every single square inch of space.

Thanks for being here and helping to make gardening ordinary!

Sources

New Zealand Journal of Experimental Agriculture

Organic Farming Research Foundation