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Aphids — they’re everywhere once they arrive, and having an infestation of aphids in your back garden can be bad news for your budding veggies. They can cause leaf discoloration or, in some cases, the entire plant to die by sucking the sap right out of them. Now, although there are plenty of pesticides that can help you deal with them in one fell swoop, why do that when you can keep them away from your garden just by growing some chives? It sounds almost too simple, but we asked Sunshine Chapman, the President of Garden Works out of Ocala, Florida, and indeed, this popular garnish and salad ingredient can handily repel aphids in addition to its many other uses.
“The strong sulfurous compounds in chive leaves and flowers produce a scent that many insects, including aphids, dislike. When planted strategically, chives can act as a mild natural repellent, discouraging aphids from settling on nearby plants like tomatoes, lettuce, or peppers,” said Chapman. So what counts as being “strategic” with chives? Chapman told Tasting Table that you should, “Interplant chives among susceptible crops rather than keeping them in a single patch. The more evenly the scent is distributed, the better the protective effect.” Just one plant every few meters will work great, but know that the chives will only deter aphids — not eliminate them entirely.
Since the scent is actually the thing keeping away the bugs here, it’s best that you don’t trim the chives too often. Chapman said that doing so will only lessen their insect-repellant effect. Additionally, you might want to let some of the chives flower. Besides attracting beneficial pollinators that naturally control aphids like lacewings and ladybugs, chive blossoms are a type of edible flower that can be harvested should you ever want to experiment with adding them to your recipes.
Other plants that can keep aphids away from your garden
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The reason chives work is because of their smell. In a 2007 study published in the journal Acta Agriculturae Scandinavia, researches found that aphids were repulsed by their scent. When they interplanted them with sweet pepper plants, which smell heavenly to the bugs, even they smelled horrible to them. But if we follow that logic, any other strong-smelling herb or veggie should also work as an aphid-repellent, right? Yes!
Other than chives, garlic and green onion are also excellent for keeping bugs away from your garden by stinking up it up and throwing the pests off track. Rather than attacking it, they’ll go away and find someone else’s plants to terrorize. However, pungent herbs and veggies that can make your eyes water aren’t your only option. Sunshine Chapman said that mint, basil, and cilantro — all of which have plenty of fans for their sweet scents — work, too.
“These herbs emit strong essential oils that aphids tend to avoid. Just remember to grow these in pots, not in the ground, so they don’t take over your garden,” Chapman said. Indeed, according to Cornell University, the essential oil in peppermint is menthol — and it’s brilliant as a pesticide. All of the other mentioned herbs have good track records too. So with some good garden-planning and inter-cropping, you’ll have a garden that’s both diverse and aphid-free.
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