10 Best Oregano Companion Plants

In this article, we will discover what makes great oregano companion plants. So, that your oregano can flourish in your garden.

Are you looking for ways to spice up your oregano garden? Or do you just want to add color to an otherwise dull and colorless yard? More pointedly, are you battling space in your garden?

Consider doing some companion planting. Oregano is an excellent and low-maintenance plant, so several others do well next to it.

Companion planting, which is the practice of growing different herbs or plants in the same place, that compliment each other and makes for better gardening.

Some plants supply nutrients that make others grow better. Other plants repel pests, leaving their companion plants healthier. Generally, oregano improves the flavor of its companion plants.

Superb Oregano Companion Plants

Oregano is typically peppery and spicy. Therefore, its strong scent makes it a good companion plant for all types of vegetables and herbs. This is especially true if the vegetables are prone to attack by insects that suck sap. According to PlantDIY,

Oregano repels…”Mosquitos, Cucumber beetle, Cabbage butterfly. While oregano repels many types of insects, they are susceptible to aphids, spider mites, and leafhoopers. Plant oregano near garlic, onions or chives to protect them from these insects.”

In addition, the small white oregano flowers attract pollinators such as bees to your garden. Thus, plant oregano next to rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, and basil.

Rosemary may, however, be vulnerable to insect attacks, so it will thrive near oregano. Moreover, the strong oregano flavor won’t overpower it because it already has a distinct flavor: a mixture of lemon and pine.

Thyme is a herb from the Mediterranean, and you can use its leaves, flowers, and oil for ornamental, therapeutic, and dietary purposes. The combination of oregano and thyme in your garden gives it a beautiful look, with their pink and white flowers.

Since both repel pest they work great together in your vegetable garden.

That is one reason many herbs thrive when planted next to it. The same applies to oregano. When you plant oregano with basil, there will be few to no insects attacking both plants and others around them. Moreover, oregano will give room for basil to grow as oregano grows wide and not high.

It is a tender and delicate plant that grows perennially. However, it grows pretty quickly. It is excellent to grow marjoram next to oregano.

This is because it stimulates the growth of other plants and does not hog space. Much like oregano, it has flowers that draw pollinators.

Hence it improves the pollination of oregano. They also have other similarities which you can learn about in the article Marjoram vs Oregano.

The plant is an excellent pollinator and can keep pests and insects from surrounding plants. Paired with oregano, your garden plants will thrive in healthy soil. The plants will also be free of insects and have sufficient pollination.

The herb attracts beneficial insects such as pollinators to the vegetable garden while keeping harmful ones far away. Oregano also adds needed nutrients to the soil to help the vegetable to grow fast.

Squash grows pretty quickly, with the summer variety being ready for harvest in as little as seven weeks. The winter type lasts until fall before it is ready for harvest. Therefore, it needs plants like oregano to help its speedy growth.

Oregano repels spider mites and cabbage moths from cabbage. And it adds necessary nutrients such as sulfur and calcium. This makes cabbage and oregano great companion plants.

The strong oregano scent repels worms, bugs, maggots, and loppers. Plus, oregano won’t choke the broccoli out. So, you will find that growing them side by side helps broccoli thrive.

And oregano is one such plant. It also works well with other vegetables. Besides, you get to have two beneficial plants in your garden in one fell swoop: oregano for flavoring and turnip for your salads.

At the same time, its aromatic scent draws bees and other pollinators to the garden.

It is usually best to use vegetables or herbs with little or no scent as oregano companion plants.

Such plants don’t do well with pollination and are prone to insect attacks. However, that does not exclude using scented plants as companion plants for oregano.

Benefits of Oregano Companion Planting

Oregano companion planting goes beyond just helping you utilize space and making your garden look great. Here are a few other benefits of planting oregano with other plants:

Pest and Insect Repellent

Oregano and other companion plants that go together work well at repelling insects and pests harmful to your garden. When nothing else works at repelling insects, consider companion planting. It can work at keeping your garden and home free of invading garden pests. In other words, oregano keeps other plants safe from insects.

Pollination

Pollination is an essential part of the survival of the ecological system. Eighty percent of food plants need to be pollinated by animals. So, if you find an excellent pollinating plant and use it in your garden, other plants tend to thrive well. Oregano is a good pollinator.

Apart from helping plants thrive well, pollination leaves the air cleaner and purifies the soil and water. As a result, your environment is cleaner with oregano and other pollinating plants growing with it.

Flavoring

Oregano companion plants add a lot of flavor to plants. The strong scent from the plant makes it easy to transfer to companion plants without choking their natural scent. The plant can also add color to the plants and flowers in your garden.

Oregano’s flowers, seeds, and leaves are pretty colorful and make your garden vibrant. Plus, the scent is exceptional in dishes, adding flavor to an otherwise bland dish. You can use most of these companion plants in soups, sauces, stews, salads, and other such dishes.

Health Benefits

Oregano has antioxidizing properties that can neutralize free radicals. These free radicals can cause cancer. So, if oregano neutralizes them, it may be beneficial in fighting cancer. The plant may also help keep viruses and bacteria away.

Oregano contains thymol and carvacrol, compounds known to have antiviral properties. However, the efficacy of these compounds on the human body is yet to be entirely determined by science.

In addition to the above, oregano may help reduce inflammation with injury or illness. The antioxidants it contains fight free radicals. And free radicals cause inflammation. Therefore, using oregano adds many health benefits.

Final Thoughts…

Oregano is excellent for use in dishes and ornamental purposes. Its aromatic properties make it ideal for medicine and as a companion plant. Numerous plants are beneficial to grow next to oregano plants, and we have listed some of them in this article. 

If you are looking for options to choose from, consider rosemary, thyme, and sage. Also, consider marjoram, basil, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, cabbage, and squash as oregano companion plants. We have also listed some benefits of oregano companion plants, and it does not stop at repelling pests and pollination.