Cilantro is also called Mexican parsley or coriander. It belongs to the Apiaceae family, which is the one to which carrots and parsley belong. It is one of the world’s most widely used ingredients. Cilantro is a common herb in Mexican, Thai, and Indian dishes. The seeds of the cilantro plant are the spice coriander. Cilantro is a culinary herb that grows with relatively little supervision. It benefits from companion planting, which is the gardening method that involves planting mutually beneficial plants close to each other. Planting the wrong plants in the vicinity of cilantro can also hinder its growth.
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Chervil
The culinary herb chervil shows up in many French recipes and belongs to the same Apiaceae family as cilantro. Chervil can help to repel pests that might otherwise harm your cilantro plants.
Sweet alyssum
Sweet alyssum is a sweet-smelling flowering plant that grows low to the ground. It attracts lacewings and ladybugs, both of which eat aphids. Aphids can pose a threat to your cilantro plants.
Legumes
Beans and peas are legumes that can add nitrogen to the soil. Cilantro is a nitrogen-hungry herb that can benefit significantly from an infusion of nitrogen. Not all legumes will add nitrogen to your garden soil, but peas as well as runner, string, and pole beans can. These legumes also provide cilantro plants with shade, which might delay bolting.
Lupines
Along with being an attractive perennial, lupines produce nitrogen that will benefit cilantro plants.
Zinnias
While it benefits from sunlight, cilantro likes low temperatures, so it needs shade as well. Zinnias can grow fairly tall, and their leaves and flowers are both large enough to protect cilantro plants from the sun.
Tomatoes
If you allow cilantro to bolt, its blooms attract insects that prey on tomato pests, including the infamous tomato hornworm. Be careful about planting tomatoes near legumes, which are listed above as good cilantro companions. Legumes fix nitrogen in the soil and too much of it can result in your tomato plant developing healthy foliage but not much fruit.
Mint
Because mint has similar watering and sun requirements, you may be able to plant the two herbs together and have them thrive. Note that mint can easily overwhelm cilantro plants if you don’t make an effort to control it.
Basil
Basil is a member of the mint family that also benefits from regular (but not excessive) watering as well as some sunlight but not too much.
Dill
Along with attracting insects that can be beneficial for cilantro, dill shares cilantro’s watering and sunlight needs.
Anise
Anise is said to like the same low temperatures as cilantro. Some gardeners claim that anise helps herbs planted near it to thrive.
Which plants should not be planted with cilantro?
Even though cilantro does best in dry soil, it still requires regular watering. In short, it needs more water than lavender does, so planting them in the same container or near each other in the garden will benefit neither. Rosemary is a lavender relative that has similarly low water needs. Giving cilantro the right amount of water will cause you to overwater rosemary if the two are planted too close to each other.
Planting cilantro and thyme in the same area will also cause problems due to the contrasting water needs. Fennel is believed to be a poor companion for many herbs — cilantro included — as it releases a chemical that inhibits their growth.