12 Best Cucumber Companion Plants: What to Grow with Cucumber Plants

by Becky Decker and Anita Shan · September 28, 2023

Have you ever considered growing different plants together that complement each other? Well, this idea came to my mind when I planted cucumber in my garden because I wanted to utilize the space efficiently without disturbing the main plant. Guess what, I discovered many companion plants that can benefit each other by balancing nutrients and meeting basic growth requirements.

Don’t worry, I’m not keeping this discovery to myself. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of the best companion plants for cucumbers, which can help them thrive and produce maximum yield. I’m sure you’ll find this information valuable! So, why wait? Let’s uncover the mystery and find the answers.

Table of Contents

12 Best Cucumber Companion Plants

Deciding on cucumber companion planting gives the best result. It is a simple way to help the cucumber combat pests and provide important nutrients that help grow the cucumbers. To select cucumber companion plants flowers, herbs, and vegetables are a good option. In short, you need to select the plant that has the same growing conditions as the cucumber plants, and after planting the companion plants does provide benefits to cucumbers that will be a plus point for them.

The following are some best cucumber companion plants that will suggest you can grow with cucumber plants:

Beans and peas:

It is one of the best companions to be grown with cucumbers.
They are well known for their ability to fix nitrogen in the soil.
Growing beans and peas in your garden helps to enrich the soil around cucumber plants.
It also does support the growth of the vines.
The beans and peas come under the climbing plants that need trellis for growing.
The growing season for beans and peas is in the spring as the weather is cool and after that, you can plant cucumbers in the same area but later in spring.
The next option is to use legume varieties such as field peas as a cover crop at the end of the season.

Corn:

Corn is beautifully grown with cucumber but you need to remember that it is a heavy-feeding plant.
The cucumber and the corn grown together offer certain benefits to each other.
The corn which is tall in height does provide shade to the cucumber plants and cucumber Vines can use the corn as a natural trellis.
If you want to grow Corn vines with the cucumber plant and make it use as a trellis then you need to select the cucumber varieties that do produce smaller fruit.
Growing the oddball cucumber variety will be more beneficial when they are grown with corn stalks as those cucumbers have a pint size wind that is not so heavy for cornstalk

Marigolds:

It is chosen to grow as a companion plant with cucumber because the marigold does repel an assortment of pests.
Many say that growing Marigolds in your garden does help in repelling.
Marigold is also able to check the population of Nematodes and also help to attract ladybugs.
So growing Marigold with the cucumber plant will help protect the cucumber Vines from aphids and other pests.
Protecting from pests is a great advantage of growing mary Gold with cucumber but it also the bright Orange, Yellow, and red color flowers attract people and add color to the vegetable Garden.

Radishes:

The correct time for harvesting cucumbers is in mid to late summer. But in order to get more production you need to grow them earlier and for that radish is the best plant to grow for success in harvesting.
The reddish is considered compact, low-growing, and easily fit in the small Garden space. You can even plant them under the cucumber Vines.
Growing radish with a cucumber of vining variety is the best combo as here the cucumber uses less soil space and they do grow vertically.
You can also grow the bush-type cucumber variety with reddish but the cucumber does have a short growing season so growing reddish will be useful for crop protection as it provides trap crops for the Beatles and insects.

Oregano:

In order to provide the cucumber with natural pest protection, choosing a strongly scented herb is the best advice from me.
Growing oregano will help in the best so many of the gardeners do interplant them in vegetable gardens.
If you choose oregano to grow as a companion plant then you don’t need to worry about it as it needs minimal care for a low-maintenance Garden Oregano is the best plan to grow with cucumber.
The other option is to grow oregano with Dill pickles which tends to make homemade oregano pickles.
Growing Oregano and cucumber together will provide a fresh Garden salad.
When the oregano starts growing the flower it will attract the beneficial insect that will help to pollinate the cucumber flower also..

Alliums:

Alliums are considered an ideal plant as they provide protection from pests.
Allium like garlic chive onion and leaves all plants have strong fragrances which results in larger quantities of sulfur.
Growing alone with the cucumber will help in keeping away different types of pests from the cucumber plant.
Growing allium will also help in repelling deer rabbit and cabbage Looper due to the Aroma of alums.
Alliums are considered a low-growing plant and do not compete with the cucumber for taking the space or blocking the growth of the cucumber.
Growing allium will be beneficial as garlic and onion are used in pickling recipes.

Beets:

Beets are also a fast-growing plant.
You can plant the beads as a succession with cucumber which will help in more production of cucumber.
You can grow the cold Hardy beets in Spring Garden. These are the first plants you can show and also the beets can be harvested in as little as 55 days.
In short, you can plant and harvest beets in the Early Spring and then clean the garden for planting second second time with the cucumber.
The beets when grown with the cucumber can be slipped into the soil at the base of the vining.
Both beads and cucumber plants love lots of moisturizers And the Beetroots help in losing up the garden soil around the cucumber plant by adding air to the garden beds.

Borage:

These two combinations are largely grown together because the borage flower is irresistible to pollinators.
Planting borage as a companion plants will help the cucumber to pollinate more which will help in producing larger crops of cucumber that you can use for fresh eating and pickling.
Borage flowers also attract beneficial insects to the garden. People do like to grow borage for the edible flower that is in Pretty periwinkle blue which helps to make an adorable salad topper and you can garnish the salad with the help of borage.
You can easily blend the cucumber and boraj together in recipes and get experience of their flavor and texture.

Nasturtium:

Nasturtium plants are grown in the garden as they help keep the pests away by serving as trap crops for aphids and whiteflies.
Growing nasturtium with cucumber plants does attract pollinators that help in increasing the size of cucumber harvesting.
Growing nasturtium in the garden does help in adding color to the veggies.
In order if you are growing cucumbers for pickling then keeping nasturtium near vines will be beneficial.
When the nasturtium flower fades they tend to produce edible seeds.
You will love nasturtium in the case of pickling as it adds more taste by adding ingredients to it.

Lettuce:

Lettuce plant is not a competitive grower and does not have much space in the garden.
Growing cucumbers with lettuce, you can easily squeeze lettuce plants under the trellising and also add more varieties of veggies.
If you are growing cucumbers in the container then you can grow lettuce plants also with them.
The lettuce during summer quickly bolts as the temperature begins to rise and growing cucumbers with lettuce will slow down the process.
Growing lettuce with cucumbers will help provide shade to the lettuce keep the lettuce plants cool and slow down the evaporation rates.
The bolting of lettuce slows down and the harvesting does extend by a few days Or weeks while growing the cucumber plants.

Dill:

If you love the canning homemade dill pickle then planting dill with cucumber plants is a great combination.
Dill plants help attract predatory wasps and many beneficial insects that are beneficial to the cucumber vines also.
Growing them together helps the cucumber plant to grow strong.
In order to get most of the dill you need to bolt the dill plant as while bolting flowers start growing and the flowers help to attract the insect and pollinators.
The dill plants are helpful for swallowtail butterfly caterpillars.

Calendula:

The calendula is also called pot marigolds but they are not marigolds.
Planting calendula with the cucumber helps to track the pollinators and beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings that are assortment to the cucumber plants.
Calling Dulha is considered a medical herb ornament plant but you can also use it to make cut flowers and use them as a preserved display.
You can also use the flower of calendula as a homemade fabric dye.

Benefits of Companion Planting:

Growing companion plants does help to increase the health and Productivity of the plants. The following are some benefits of selecting an appropriate combined plant for cucumber:

It will provide a naturally spelling insect.
Decreasing certain diseases in the plant.
Planting companion plants will help in minimizing space competition, nutrients, and water.
Growing the companion plants helps to add beneficial nutrients to the soil. It does help to provide stability for the climbing plant.
In the case of Tall plants, they help to provide shade for the plants that grow close to the ground or love shades

Some Important points:

For growing cucumber plants with companion plants, you need to maintain the space between them.
Growing a compatible plant will help in prevent competition for light water and nutrients.
You need to provide a good amount of airflow through the plant or they will get prone to disease.
You need to pay close attention to the point where the sunlight hits the garden.
You need to which you lies the crop properly in order to select the right companion pair to grow with the cucumber plant.
Make sure neither of them is shading out the other plant. Always seed the companion plants at the right time.
following all the necessary steps will help you to get extra harvest production even in a small area.
The cucumber variety that needs a trellis to grow is the easiest to grow with companion plants.

Conclusion:

The cucumber plants are considered delicious and you can use them as a refreshing fruit. Growing them with the perfect companion plants will help maximize the use of the space, improve pollination, and keep the cucumber plant away from pests.