broccoli in a bowl

The 10 Best Broccoli Companion Plants

Broccoli is one of my all-time favorite vegetables to grow and eat. The plants are beautiful, the foliage adds a rich, dark green color to my garden, and a fresh broccoli floret is delicious and nutritious. Steam it up with a little butter, add salt and pepper, and you have yourself a delicious treat. When growing broccoli in your garden, planting a few companion plants around it can help it grow better. These are the best broccoli companion plants as well as a few you should avoid.

The best broccoli companion plants

Choosing companion plants for your broccoli is important. Some of the plants on this list grow well under similar conditions, others add important nutrients to the soil or don’t take the nutrients that broccoli needs most, like calcium for example.

Some of the vegetables on this list help broccoli grow but can’t be grown in the same place at the same time. Potatoes are a good example of this. The foliage for potatoes grows very tall very quickly, which can block light to your broccoli plants. What I’ll sometimes do is alternate the two, so do a potato crop very early in the season and then follow it with a broccoli crop.

Some argue that you can set your potatoes in an adjacent row to your broccoli, but I think that renders the benefits of companion planting a bit moot. What the potatoes return to the soil won’t be enjoyed by plants planted further away.

These are the best herb and vegetable companion plants for broccoli:

  • Spinach
  • Cauliflower
  • Basil
  • Rhubarb
  • Potatoes
  • Rosemary
  • Shallots
  • Celery
  • Chamomile
  • Lettuce
  • Celery
  • Beets
  • Mint
  • Garlic
  • Swiss chard
  • Shallots

Read More: Winter Vegetables You Can Grow In Cold Weather

The worst companion plants for broccoli

Some plants don’t work well with broccoli. They have different nutrient needs and growth profiles.

Plants like tomatoes and peppers take nutrients from the soil that are in high demand for broccoli. Strawberries grow much shorter and won’t thrive well with broccoli. Plants like corn and beans tend to grow very tall and don’t make good companions for broccoli.

Others on this list, like pumpkins and watermelon, are spreaders with a huge intake of nutrients from the soil to make their large fruit. The nutrient demand of these plants will take a lot from your broccoli.

Avoid planting these with your broccoli:

Keep Reading: 10 Shade Tolerant Vegetables That Don’t Need Full Sun

Julie Hambleton
Freelance Writer
Julie Hambleton has a BSc in Food and Nutrition from the Western University, Canada, is a former certified personal trainer and a competitive runner. Julie loves food, culture, and health, and enjoys sharing her knowledge to help others make positive changes and live healthier lives.