Companion Planting With Basil

This year you will find that I’m continuing with the companion planting. I expect I mostly use companion planting as a repellant but if you think on it awhile companion planting is basically done to increase yields. 

We have sweet basil in with our tomatoes. Basil is known as Saint Joseph's Wort. It's a herb belonging to the mint family and is used in cooking and some say it offers many health benefits. 

Sweet basil (the most commercially available basil is used in Italian food). The one above is labeled large leaf Italian Basil. It has the familiar clove scent while there are other varieties like lemon and lime basil have a strong scent of citrus.

We use Sweet Basil for our pesto, tomato sauce, and in vinegar. Basil helps repel the flies and mosquitoes from our tomatoes, and we also plant it with our peppers as it helps strengthen their flavor and keeps away the aphids and spider mites.

Companion planting has been around for a long time. If you recall from history class, Native Americans planted beans, corn, and squash on the same field. Known as the three sisters, these main agricultural crops, were excellent companions. The beans provided nitrogen for the corn, the corn provided the beans with support, and the squash acted as a mulch suppressing weed growth.

In our garden, we also grow corn and beans together. The corn provides some shade to the beans as they are developing and it gives the beans support for vining.

If you're looking for a companion planting chart you may wish to try this link or type companion planting chart into your search engine and see what's available