For beginner gardeners looking for easy plants to grow, basil is a popular choice. This leafy, fragrant herb has a reputation for being delicious and nearly impossible to mess up. Basil is a very multifaceted herb, and can be dried or frozen so you can still use it during the winter months. If you’re looking beyond just growing and taking care of basil plants, you might be searching for more herbs to grow in your backyard garden. After all, people grow herbs not only for cutting down costs at the grocery store but to attract pollinators as well. However, a word of caution before you drive to the local nursery: rosemary is also a versatile herb, but the best way to ensure a bountiful basil harvest is to plant the two separately.

You might be familiar with companion planting, which is a gardening method where certain crops are grown next to each other. Typically, companion planting is designed to benefit your garden, so placing the wrong herbs next to one another could lead to major disaster. Beginner mistakes when companion planting can sometimes lead to plants developing stunted growth or, in worst cases, actively harming their garden neighbors.  

You shouldn’t plant rosemary and basil together in the garden because basil requires more water than rosemary. It’s easy to understand why people have the urge to put them together; rosemary and basil both enjoy full sun to grow. But, if you planted them next to each other, rosemary would become overwatered and potentially even die. That said, you can still grow rosemary and basil in the same garden — just ensure they are at least two or three rows apart from one another.

Thankfully, there are a lot of companion plants that will thrive alongside basil. For example, basil and parsley pair well together, as they share similar growing habits, with both requiring full sun and lots of water. Basil can also be companion planted with oregano because they share similar growing habits, and oregano deters pests from eating basil’s leaves. However, a word of caution about this combination: oregano can grow rapidly, so be careful your oregano doesn’t overtake your basil’s space. Another great companion for basil is chamomile, which encourages basil to produce more essential oil.

If you’re determined to grow rosemary in your herb garden, you could try planting it near sage, because they like the same conditions (sunlight and well-drained soil). Rosemary and lavender also belong together because they share similar conditional preferences (full sun and well-drained soil again!). Not to mention, with this combination you’re likely to get a very aromatic herb garden experience.