Companion Plants for Carrots

Traditional companions for carrots include bush beans, calendula, cherry tomatoes, chives, garlic, green onions and 12 more in the table below.

Keep dill away from them.

These are garden traditions, collected from 13 US extension guides. Few have been tested in trials, so treat them as a starting point: spacing, sun and rotation matter more.

Good companions for carrots

Spacing is per square foot, for a raised bed planted square by square. Cool-season companions can share the bed before or after a warm-season crop, or grow in its shade.

Traditional companions for carrots
Plant	Kind	Spacing	Season
Bush Beans	Vegetable	9 per sq ft	Warm season
Cherry Tomatoes	Vegetable	1 per sq ft	Warm season
Garlic	Vegetable	4 per sq ft	Cool season
Green Onions	Vegetable	16 per sq ft	Cool season
Head Lettuce	Vegetable	1 per sq ft	Cool season
Leaf Lettuce	Vegetable	4 per sq ft	Cool season
Leeks	Vegetable	4 per sq ft	Cool season
Onions	Vegetable	9 per sq ft	Cool season
Peas	Vegetable	8 per sq ft	Cool season
Pole Beans	Vegetable	8 per sq ft	Warm season
Radishes	Vegetable	16 per sq ft	Cool season
Romaine Lettuce	Vegetable	1 per sq ft	Cool season
Shallots	Vegetable	4 per sq ft	Cool season
Tomatoes	Vegetable	1 per sq ft	Warm season
Chives	Herb	4 per sq ft	Cool season
Rosemary	Herb	1 per sq ft	Warm season
Sage	Herb	1 per 2 sq ft	Warm season
Calendula	Flower	1 per sq ft	Cool season

What not to plant with carrots

Dill: in the same family (carrot family), so it shares pests and diseases and belongs in a different bed in the crop rotation.

What the evidence says

Companion planting charts come from long garden experience, and most pairs have never been tried in a replicated trial. Several extension services say so directly; one review gives traditional charts more entertainment than scientific value.

What reliably helps carrots: the right planting dates, enough space, and moving crops to a new bed each year (crop rotation).

Plant them side by side

Draw your beds, tap squares to plant carrots next to their companions, and get every crop's planting dates for your ZIP code. Free, in your browser.

Open the garden planner When to plant carrots

Questions

What can I plant with carrots?

The traditional companions are bush beans, calendula, cherry tomatoes, chives, garlic, green onions, head lettuce, leaf lettuce and 10 more listed above. Plant companions in neighbouring rows or squares rather than in the same hole.

What should not be planted with carrots?

The guides keep dill apart from carrots. Give it a different bed, especially the crops from the same family, which share pests and diseases.

Does companion planting with carrots work?

Most pairings are tradition rather than tested results: extension services call companion planting promising but largely unproven. None of the pairs for this crop has been tested in a trial we could find. Good spacing, sun, water and rotation do more for a harvest than any single pairing.

How close can calendula grow to carrots?

In a raised bed planted by the square foot, give carrots 16 per sq ft and calendula 1 per sq ft, in neighbouring squares. In rows, carrots need 2 in between plants.