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Does the old concept of companion planting have any science behind it?

The belief that adding certain plants around crops will boost their growth is an old one, but will your tomatoes' yield and flavour really be improved by growing tasty herbs alongside them? James Wong investigates

By James Wong

28 May 2025

Lovely small cherry tomato plant together with basil herbs with ripe and tasty tomatoes on it.; Shutterstock ID 2340020523; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Planting herbs with your tomatoes may lift yields and deter pests

Shutterstock/Irina WS

As an obsessive plant collector with little impulse control, I will take any excuse to cram a few more species into my tiny plot. So the concept of companion planting, an old belief that adding certain plants around existing crops can boost pest resistance, yields and even flavour, is one that has always appealed to me. But as a sceptical scientist, I’m curious about how well these claims actually stack up. Let’s dive in.

The tricky thing with examining the science around companion planting is quite how…

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