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Sweet peppers—including bell peppers, banana peppers, Italian sweet peppers, and cubanelles—are among the most popular crops to grow in a home garden. Their vibrant colors, crisp texture, and naturally sweet flavor make them a favorite in salads, stir-fries, and fresh salsas. However, like all garden vegetables, sweet peppers can face challenges such as pests, nutrient deficiencies, and poor soil conditions.
The good news is that certain companion plants can help. By strategically planting beneficial neighbors alongside your peppers, you can improve their growth, deter harmful insects, and create a more balanced and thriving garden. Some plants attract pollinators, while others release natural compounds that repel common pepper pests like aphids, spider mites, and hornworms. Others help enrich the soil, improving plant health and boosting yields.
If you’re growing bell peppers, banana peppers, or other sweet pepper varieties, here are 15 companion plants that will help protect and support them for a more productive harvest.
Chives
Chives are a delicious herb with a mild onion-like smell that repels aphids. Planting small clumps of chives among sweet peppers is a good way to keep pests at bay. The large pom-pom flowers of chive plants will also attract pollinators to your bell plants.
Marigolds
This companion pairing is a favorite among gardeners and homesteaders. Cheerful marigolds planted among sweet peppers will benefit your garden all season long.
Marigolds have vibrant red, orange, and yellow flowers that attract a host of beneficial insects to the garden, from pollinating bees to pest-destroying wasps and butterflies.
Onions
Growing onions near sweet peppers is highly beneficial. Like chives, the scent of onions helps keep away pests that usually target peppers. As members of the allium family, onions have a growth habit similar to chives, so they won’t overshadow your sweet peppers or compete for water. This makes onions an excellent companion for co-planting.
Calendula
Calendula has a distinctive musky fragrance that repels hornworms, aphids, and flea beetles from your vegetable plot. It is easy to grow and perfect for your vegetable garden.
Dill
Dill is a good bell pepper companion. When it flowers, it attracts beneficial insects that feed on thrips and aphids. Dill‘s strong aroma also helps limit pests, making it the perfect productive companion for pepper beds, containers, and edging.
Overall, dill plants can enhance the growth and vigor of sweet peppers, increasing pepper yields.
Spinach
Spinach is a great companion for sweet peppers. It produces saponins, natural compounds that repel various garden pests. Additionally, spinach is a low-growing plant that complements sweet peppers well, allowing you to harvest more from a limited space without competing for resources. Planting spinach also helps retain soil moisture.
Basil
One interesting aspect of companion planting is that many crops that pair well in the kitchen thrive together in the garden. For example, basil is one of the best companion plants for sweet peppers, and they also taste great together!
Basil is a leafy herb that enjoys the shady spots under taller sweet peppers. In exchange for this shade, basil repels aphids and other bugs and attracts pollinating insects. Basil also helps to improve the flavor of sweet peppers.
Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums are fast-growing annual flowering plants that attract parasitoid wasps—tiny flying insects that feed on aphids. They can also be grown as a trap crop, luring aphids away from your vegetable crops.
Plant nasturtiums around or among peppers to fill space and repel aphids and other destructive bugs.
Parsley
When used as a companion plant in the summer, it produces an abundance of tiny flowers that attract ladybugs, a major predator of aphids and hornworms.
Carrots
Carrots grow deep into the ground, helping to aerate the soil and boost the health of sweet peppers. These two plants work well as companions as they have differing nutrient needs, avoiding any competition. Additionally,
Borage
Borage is beneficial for sweet peppers as it helps prevent worm attacks and attracts predator insects. Bees and butterflies are drawn to borage’s nectar, which aids in pollination.
Cilantro
Cilantro is a fast-growing annual herb that attracts parasitoid wasps, tiny insects that feed on hornworms. They are also excellent at attracting beneficial insects like ladybugs.
Petunia
Petunias are prolific bloomers, offering a range of trumpet-shaped flowers in purple, pink, white, and red. Their stunning display makes petunias a garden favorite. They are excellent for containers, hanging baskets, and rock gardens, blooming continuously with regular deadheading.
In addition to bringing vibrant color to the garden, petunias are highly effective at deterring pests. They repel leafhoppers, aphids, hornworms, and other common vegetable pests. Interplanting petunias among peppers helps reduce pest damage and increases flowering and fruit production.
Sweet Alyssum
It is a tried-and-true flower that attracts beneficial insects and predators to your garden. In addition, it protects your sweet peppers from pest attacks.
Garlic
Garlic is highly effective in the garden due to its strong aroma, which repels many pests and makes it a great companion for sweet peppers. Beyond its well-known culinary uses,
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