🌿 Caraway
Carum carvi
herbs
biennial herb
Apiaceae
☀️ Sun
full sun
💧 Water
moderate (consistent moisture during first year)
🗺️ Zones
4, 10
🧪 Soil pH
6.0, 7.0
🪴 Soil Type
well-drained, moderately fertile loam; tolerates heavier soils
🚿 Drainage
well-drained
📏 Spacing
8, 12 inches
📐 Height
12, 30 inches
⏱️ Maturity
420, 450 days (biennial , leaves first year, flowers/seeds second year)
Key:🤝 Grows well together❌ Keep apart☀️ Sun needs💧 Water🗺️ Hardiness zone
🤝 Companions (8)
Aromatic companion improves vigor
Caraway's deep roots break up soil, benefiting beet root development; caraway attracts beneficial wasps that control beet pests.
Caraway deters cabbage moths with its aromatic compounds; both are cool-season crops sharing spring/fall growing windows.
Caraway's tall second-year growth provides beneficial shade to lettuce, delaying bolt in warm weather.
Universal companion
Caraway's deep taproot aerates soil for pea roots; peas fix nitrogen that caraway needs for seed production in its second year.
Caraway enriches topsoil with minerals from subsoil that spinach uses; spinach benefits from caraway's light shade in warm weather.
Caraway improves strawberry growth and flavor; its fine foliage doesn't shade low-growing strawberry plants.
⚠️ Keep Apart (4)
Both are biennial umbellifers attracting the same pests (carrot flies, parsley worms); planting together doubles pest pressure.
Caraway and dill cross-pollinate, producing hybrid seeds with degraded flavor in both; must be separated by at least 100 feet.
Fennel is allelopathic to caraway and will stunt its growth; cross-pollination ruins caraway's essential oil profile.
Juglone sensitive
📝 Growing Notes
Biennial , forms a carrot-like taproot and ferny leaves the first year, then flowers and sets seed the second. Self-seeds readily if seeds are left to drop. Attracts beneficial insects including parasitic wasps and hoverflies. Do NOT plant near fennel (cross-pollinates, ruining both flavors) or dill (cross-pollinates). Seeds must be harvested when brown but before they shatter. Young first-year taproot is edible and tastes like parsnip-celery.
🛒 Buy Seeds & Plants
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Johnny's Selected Seeds
Botanical Interests
True Leaf Market
Burpee
Territorial Seed Company
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