Mint Companion Planting
(tips on growing mint in your garden)
Mint is a great plant for companion planting. It aids in the growth of at least sixteen different vegetables but makes a bad companion plant for a pair of herbs.
On this page, we talk about the benefits of adding mint to your garden but we also have a pair of guides on growing mint and companion planting with herbs.
Mint Companion Plants.
Mint, when planted nearby will help beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, chili and bell peppers, Chinese cabbage, eggplant, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, salad burnet and squash. Planting mint near peas, cabbage or tomatoes will improve their health and flavor.
Mint is quick spreading. Take advantage of its vigorous growth habit by mulching your beet plants with mint clippings. (Unfortunately, our source did not provide a reason for why mint clippings will aid beets, but it seems like a great solution for excess mint and if it helps your beets - all the better.)
Mint plants will become more vigorous if broccoli or brussels sprouts are planted nearby.
It is a bad idea to grow parsley or chamomile near mint as they are bad companions for each other.
Mint & Insect Control.
There are a number of commercial insecticidal soaps which include pulegone. Pulgone is found in mint oil and can be effective in repelling ants, aphids, earwigs, mealybugs, slugs, snails and spider mites. Other gardeners have extolled the virtues of mint oil as a insecticide. But, they warn to not get get the spray on flowers, including tomato flowers as butterflies and bees will avoid them as well.
Several folks have reported mint is also a great deterrent against deer flies and other stinging insects. Others use it inside to combat roaches and ants.
Additional Mint Information
(Mentha viridis, Linn.)
To learn more about growing mint be sure to check out our mint fact sheet.
Mint was used in a variety of ways throught history and our mint history page talks about the herbs origin, migration and early uses.