A woman holding a lush, green potted basil plant in her hands
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Why You Shouldn't Plant Cucumbers Next To Basil
By SANDY BAKER
Several bowls of fresh salads accompanied by cooked meat on wooden boards
While both cucumbers and basil make great additions to a salad, growing them in close proximity in your garden is not recommended for several key reasons.
Vibrant basil plants flourishing in a sunlit garden
Both of these plants aggressively compete for the same resources in the soil, such as nutrients, and their rivalry often leads to one plant flourishing at the expense of the other.
A gardener examining green cucumbers growing on a vine
This competition may cause the basil plants to take longer to recover after being harvested, and there are likely to be fewer cucumbers due to the scarcity
of resources.
A mother and her daughter joyfully picking fresh cucumbers from the plant
Moreover, when cucumbers are grown too close to basil, they can absorb some of the herb's distinct flavor. Unless this altered taste is desired, it's advised to
keep them separate.