Companion planting is a traditional horticulture technique that has been used by autochthonal mass across the humans for centuries .
associate planting can offer a divers array of benefit that can help your tomato plant become stronger and healthier than ever before , and they will go away your garden more diverse and lively for future time of year .
associate planting tomatoes with flora collaborator like Asparagus officinales , basil , beans , borage , Daucus carota sativa , celery , chives , cucumber , garlic , boodle can provide many different divine service , like appeal pollinators , deter pests , improving fruit smack , or mulching the soil airfoil .
The sound part is that many of them are vulgar garden crops or herb , and all you need to do is strategically place them close to your tomato plant !
While there a many pop garden vegetable and herbs suitable for growing alongside tomato , but there are also veg and plants that you should avoid planting near love apple . This may be because they vie for space , light , weewee , grime nutrient , or draw worm detrimental .
In the follow clause , we will talk over the benefit of fellow traveler planting with tomatoes and plant that make excellent fellow traveller for tomatoes along with plants that should be keep aside from love apple plants in the garden .
Companion Planting in a Nutshell
If you are new to the concept , companion planting is the practice of growing dissimilar plant life together for the co - benefits they can offer each other .
garden that fellow traveller plant become intercropped polycultures , as oppose to monocultures , and produce a rich biodiversity that creates a garden ecosystem .
fellow traveller planting applies to growing trees , crop , decorative flowers , and herb , all of which can offer unique benefit to other specific plant .
Since tomatoes have their own specific readiness of needs , there is a unique group of companion plant best befit for growing together with tomatoes .
There are also plants that are antagonistic and will inhibit the growth of certain flora , so learn on to learn which plant you unquestionably do n’t want near your love apple !
The Benefits Companion Planting for Tomatoes
Before you start mapping out your garden and your love apple planting according to companion planting , you might want to well understand the discrete welfare it can provide your plants .
Although certain associate plants might just descend into one of the accompany categories , many will fulfill multiple and create the optimum condition for your tomato to grow and thrive .
Here are the main reason to imbed your tomatoes with some Quaker :
Attracts pollinators and other beneficial insects
Tomatoes call for to have their efflorescence pollinate in decree to evolve yield ! Pollinators like bees and butterflies can be brought to your tomato flora if you have strategically placed something like bee balm next to them , and drastically increase the rates of pollenation that occur , therefore boosting yield product .
There are also sure industrial plant that will pull other beneficials like predatory insect that feed on some of the pests that flack tomatoes .
Deters pests and disease pathogens
Aside from attracting beneficial insects , fellow traveller plant can also actively deter pests that are after your tomatoes with their hefty fragrance .
Garlic is a great comrade plant that keeps away tomato hornworm and also unloosen a sulphuric compound into the soil that deter land - borne fungal diseases from spreading .
Many insect pest will produce wounds in the radical , leave of absence , or fruit of your tomato that then creates entrances for disease pathogen to enter the plant , and companion planting offer a ‘ kill two birds with one stone ’ solution by mitigating both issue .
Replenish Nutrients In The Soil
Lycopersicon esculentum are heavy feedersthat like lots of nitrogen , P , and potassium to fuel their growth , and sometimes this does n’t result much for the other plants growing nearby .
The companion plant life of tomato often have different nutrient need so that they are not competing with each other and can mirthfully co - exist , but there are also certain plants that will actively refill nutrients in the dirt to maintain a balance .
noggin are a common companion plant for tomatoes since they are nitrogen - fixing and will increase the accessibility of nitrogen in the stain .
Provides a living mulch and shades the soil
Low - develop , shallow - rooted flora with different nutritious need can be planted around the root of love apple industrial plant to control weed growth and shade the soil , act as a form of bread and butter mulch .
This is also highly good for the ground , as leaving unornamented reason uncover can increase wind corrosion and dry out the primer quickly in the warmth of summer .
Low - growing crop will retain moisture so that the weewee you employ to irrigate is used more expeditiously , and the origin of your love apple industrial plant are protected . Some form of clover are idealistic for this aim and as an added fillip will also fix nitrogen !
Increases the productivity of a space
fellow traveler planting with tomato plant offers physical welfare that take advantage of the condition and sizing of the industrial plant so that more crop can be grown together .
As mentioned above , lower growing and mid - sized plant can be stagger with Lycopersicon esculentum so that you have a tiered get system that really take reward of your place .
It ’s all about pairing the veracious works together , like annuals and perennial , as you do n’t want them to vie with each other but extend atomic number 27 - benefit and successional harvests . This welfare is also considered a practice session of its own call interplanting .
or else , planting tomato plant with crops that have the same arise season can also bear witness helpful so that you’re able to reset the bed all at once for an easy free fall planting .
24 Companion Plants to Grow with Tomatoes
Now that you are convinced of the fantastic benefits companion planting offers , you credibly want to know what to plant !
Here are the 24 beneficial associate plants to arise with tomatoes , and how they will help your plant and garden flourish .
1:Asparagus
Asparagus is aperennial vegetablethat will become established wherever you institute it . Intercropping tomatoes with Asparagus officinales makes efficient use of your space as the two crops are harvested at different times of the twelvemonth – asparagus in the fountain and tomatoes in mid to late summer .
tomato benefit asparagus by dissuade the edible asparagus mallet through a chemical substance they excrete ( solanine ) , and edible asparagus keeps away the parasitic nematodes that can go after love apple root .
After you have glean the asparagus stalks in the outflow , plant tomatoes on either end of the bed . Asparagus has a somewhat fragile root system of rules so do n’t plant directly where you have glean from .
2:Basil
Basil is one of the most famed companions for tomato , and growing them in the same bed think a one - stopover - shop for cooking italian cuisine .
Basil has a hard scent that repels fly and the notorious Lycopersicon esculentum hornworm , and it is also say to improve the flavor and fertility of the fruits . Basil is well shorter than fledged tomato plant plants , so they make use of the space efficiently .
plant life St. Basil the Great starts at the same time that you plant your love apple seedlings in the recent natural spring / early summer . Basil is also heat energy - loving so it ask the same outside consideration as tomatoes for transplantation .
Plant near the base of undetermined tomato that will be prune throughout the season so that they do n’t shade the basil . If growing determinate tomatoes that are very bushy , industrial plant basil come out at the remnant of the rows or beds .
3:Beans
bonce are an splendid associate plant life for many crops , including tomato , since they fix N in the grunge . Tomatoes are heavy nitrogen feeders so growing them with edible bean means that the territory can be constantly fill again and wo n’t be eat by the end of the time of year .
Both tomatoes and beans are annuals that will grow and produce over a standardised meter frame throughout the summertime , and at the end of the season the bed can be cleared all at once to establish a fall crop .
Pole and bush bean can be planted with tomato plant , and the seeds should be sown at the same time that tomato seedlings are transplanted to stagger the initial get period .
Climbing pole beans can be establish on the northside of tomatoes but bush noggin should be planted on the south side to preclude the tomatoes from shade them .
verify to distance pole beans far enough aside from tomatoes that they wo n’t become entangled .
4:Borage
Borage is another pop companion herb for many crop let in tomatoes since it is beloved by bee and pollinators everywhere .
It ’s purple flowers are attractive to bee and salad days throughout the season which is great for undetermined tomato plant flora that need constant pollination to patronize their continuous yield product . Borage ’s aroma also dissuade the love apple hornworm .
Borage is a ego - seeding annual that will probably pop up in the same spot for several year . Plant borage ejaculate in the spring before transplanting tomatoes to give them some time to establish .
Borage should be plant at the end of tomato beds where its bushy growth can expand and return every year without commence in the mode .
5:Carrots
Carrots and Lycopersicon esculentum are mutually beneficial to one another for multiple reasons . Since Daucus carota sativa are a rootage veggie , their penetration through the soil aerates and loose the ground around tomato plant roots allowing them to receive more O and moisture .
carrot are typically grown as cool season crops but their season can be extended when grow with tomatoes which provide them with copious nuance . The solanine produced by tomatoes also deters common carrot pesterer .
Direct seeded player carrot around the base of recentlytransplanted tomatoes , so that there is already sufficient shade after shoot . Make indisputable not to constitute them too dumbly or too close to the base , as this will inhibit the sizing of the carrots .
6:Celery
Celery is a stout biennial that benefits from being grow in the shadowiness of Lycopersicon esculentum , as much like Daucus carota sativa it prefers to be sustain nerveless and protected from acute heat .
Growing Apium graveolens dulce together with your Lycopersicon esculentum makes effective use of your quad and set aside you to take advantage of succession planting while protract the cultivated celery season .
Celery should be started indoors with tomato in the early spring and transplanted outside when the soil temperatures are at least 50 ℉ . Select self - branching sort rather than trenching cultivated celery .
7:Chives
Chives are a normally grownperennial herbthat are brave and swooning feeders , make them a honorable associate for heavy feeding tomatoes .
Chives also produce other blooms of spiky purple flowers that will attract bee in the saltation to cross-pollinate the first round of tomato bloom .
Even better , the solid odor of chives , like other genus Allium , wards off vernacular pesterer to the tomato plant works like aphid .
How and when to plant with tomatoes:
Sow chive seeds in the other leaping in a border around the bed where you plan to plant tomatoes . you could also intersperse them through the bed but score out where you design to engraft the tomatoes so you do n’t cease up take to dig up the chive you planted .
8:Cilantro
Cilantro is an one-year herb that is a good fellow traveler for tomatoes because it draw in beneficial insects that can help keep your tomatoes pest - complimentary .
good worm , like hover fly , will keep harmful louse populations , like aphids , under control with their hungry larva that feed on them .
Short - lived Chinese parsley plants also just share the space well with tomato which take the full season to mature , and you could plant them successionally throughout the year to make function of the outer space between your tomato plant plants .
Cilantro seed can be sown between transplanted tomatoes in the saltation and then every three weeks as long as the weather condition permits . In in high spirits heat cilantro will bolt quickly , but if you leave them to do so they will self seed in the same field and save you replant time .
9:Clover
Clover is an excellent fellow traveler for tomatoes that will outcompete any weeds and its low growth provide a living mulch on the soil surface to improve wet retentivity and shade the soil .
tomato are overweight nitrogen feeder and as a legume , trefoil location nitrogen and can constantly replenish soil nutrients .
Sow clover seeds in the spring or declension , just mark off out where you plan to transplant your tomatoes . trefoil can grow close to the basis of the love apple plants , just ensure to endlessly cut it back to return nutrients to the soil and keep any blooms .
10:Cucumber
Cucumbers develop well when flip-flop with love apple plants , as they can practice the same trellising structure for backup .
cuke are also often left to urban sprawl on the footing around trellised tomato to act as a living mulch , but just spring up them side by side ( and using a third harvest as a living mulch ) is still highly good .
Cucumbers and tomato partake in the same demand when it hail to soil moisture and temperature which makes them well suited to subsist together .
flora cucumber transplants at the same time as you do your tomato in the bounce when all risk of frost has passed .
substitute seedlings and plant them at least 18 inches aside from one another to verify they do n’t compete for nutrients .
11:Dill
Dill is a perennial herbaceous plant that will keep blighter aside from your tomato plant plants with its sinewy olfactory property and also attract beneficial , predatory worm that keep pesky cat and hornworm populations at a minimum .
However , once Anethum graveolens has fully matured it should be moved away from tomato plant as it will start to have the paired effect and hinder its ontogeny .
Since dill weed should only be kept with tomatoes while it is young and its mature maturation can inhibit it , it is a estimable idea to keep one of them pot .
Place pots of dill at the goal of Lycopersicon esculentum rows in the spring and early summer , or place your potted tomatoes near in - ground dill weed .
12:Garlic
Garlic is probably the most celebrated companion plant in this list , and is used as a pest and fungal balk for many divers crop .
For tomatoes , constitute Allium sativum nearby will guard off wanderer mites with its powerful perfume in the same way that a homemade Allium sativum atomiser would .
Garlic also releases a sulfuric chemical compound in the soil that is a natural anti - fungal and keep fungous disease pathogens away .
Garlic cloves can be establish in the spill or spring at the end of tomato plant bed or alternated between plant life .
Garlic will benefit from mulch just like tomato , so you may grow both with a third low - raise harvest from this list like sure lettuces .
13:Gooseberry
Gooseberry Dubyuh and tomatoes are imagine to repel the worm plague of each other , and by planting perennial bushes with annual you may make a mini agroforestry scheme .
The flowering gooseberry will attract pollinators and having it established at the end of tomato bed maintain the grime structure season to season .
works tomato seedlings near gooseberry Dubyuh in the leaping , but not so close that you lay on the line damage the gooseberry bush base . you may utilize the perennial berry bush to delineate the edges of the layer and even use clip foliage as a mulch for the tomato plant .
14:Lettuce
Lettuce can be interplanted between tomato plant to make efficient use of your blank space and provide a living mulch for your tomato plants .
Since pelf is a nerveless - season crop , it will appreciate the nuance provided by the tomato works while cool down down the soil and retaining wet .
calculate on the diverseness of lettuce you are growing it might be better to seed seeds or transplant kale seedlings in the fountain , but either way you should plant them together with your tomatoes once the soil is melt . you’re able to seed germ around the pedestal of love apple plants fairly obtusely and then thin as needed .
15:Marjoram
Marjoram , which is closely relate to wild marjoram , is a passion - loving perennial herb that pairs well with tomatoes in the garden and in the kitchen .
The flowers will attract pollinators while its aroma deters flying pests , and they will both value the same type of soil status .
As a recurrent , marjoram can be planted at the edge of Lycopersicon esculentum bed where it can build itself and become a fellow for many harvest rotation in the future tense .
Take care to leave at least a few feet of space between the two industrial plant so they each have space to grow .
16:Mint
Mint will repulse the aphid that may be attracted to your tomatoes , attract bees with its blooms , and when kept pruned down to a reasonable height will cater a lush mulch for the soil Earth’s surface .
It will also help retain wet in the soil and supply the etymon of your tomato flora with a controlled and consistent amount of water supply throughout the time of year .
Sow mint seeds around tomato plants after transplanting . Mint is a vigorous self - seeder that can well take over a bed , so check that to keep it under a solid hired hand in order of magnitude for it to remain a good fellow traveller to your love apple .
Nasturtiums grow coloured bloom that come to all the marks when it number to productive rosiness : they will pull in pollinators , act as a trap for aphid , draw in worm that are aphid predators to feast on them , and last the flush themselves are edible and tasty and will provide you with a incentive harvest time !
industrial plant nasturtiums everywhere . At the ends of your beds , interspersed amongst your tomatoes , or hanging in hoop near potted love apple plants they will provide lots of good avail to your Lycopersicon esculentum . pluckiness flower to encourage brisk blooms .
18:Onions
onion are great fellow traveller for your tomatoes for the same understanding that other genus Allium , like chives and garlic , are .
They discourage blighter with their characteristic scent , and have a similar grow season to tomatoes that will allow you to clear their shared bed all at once for dip planting .
onion plant can be sow in the fall or spring , but when plant them with tomatoes it is better to inseminate them in the fountain to ward off damaging bulbs during the tomato transplanting .
Make certain not to implant onions with tomato if you are already companion planting tomato with beans , as beans and onion are foes in the garden .
19:Parsley
Parsley can be intercropped with tomato plants and will enjoy the refinement that the grandiloquent plant life offer . In turn , parsley helps out tomato plant by playact as a be mulch , which see mourning band and retains moisture in the topsoil .
Plant parsley seeds or transplants in the springtime at the same time or powerful before you establish your tomato seedlings .
Parsley is a coolheaded - season craw that can be sown again in the fall around remain tomato .
20:Parsnip
Parsnip is a penis of the cultivated carrot family and grows well with tomatoes for many of the same reasons that Daucus carota sativa does .
It ’s long comestible root loosens the soil and brings more oxygen and moisture to the roots of your tomato plant . It is also a cool season crop that will grow well under the shade of bushy tomato foliage .
Pastinaca sativa seeds can be sow along the sharpness of beds or interspersed amongst love apple showtime in the spring once the primer coat is workable .
verify to choose between either carrot or parsnips for companion planting with your tomatoes , as growing both can attract mutual pests .
21:Peppers
Peppers are also in the Nightshade family and have the same sunshine and land requirements as tomatoes , and a like growing season , which make water them well suitable to partake in a seam which can be flipped all at once for fall planting .
Although they can be grown together at the same fourth dimension , they should not be grown one after another in the same bed as this can lead to the ranch of disease pathogens in the grime .
Transplant pepper and tomato seedlings into the garden at the same clock time in the spring . verify to space them at least 18 - 24 inches apart to avoid competition .
22:Sage
salvia maintain off many coarse pests like the tomato hornworm , flea beetle , and spider mites from your plants .
It is a woody perennial that makes an excellent border for Lycopersicon esculentum bed , amongst many other crops , and its flush will also draw in pollinators .
Since sage is a perennial it will become institute where it is constitute for several years .
Since tomato plant should be rotated , you may either plant sage all around your garden or keep it in pots that can be moved to wherever you plant your Lycopersicon esculentum season to season .
23:Squash
Squash folio are wide and flat , and if the vines are exit untrellised they provide a good earth masking that shadow the soil and controls weeds around tomato plant life .
They also value similar growing conditions and grunge , and can be institute with a third fellow traveller such as beans or Borago officinalis for optimal growth .
Squash seeds can be directly sown into the soil around tomato plant transplants or go indoors and planted out at the same time .
Make trusted there is plenty of infinite between plants as squash is a notoriously ambitious broadcaster that can rapidly dominate a space .
24:Thyme
Thyme is a fragrant perennial herb that wards off white flies and tomato hornworms with its potent fragrance .
It is low - growing and create respectable reason concealment , but does n’t like extravagant moisture so should not be used as a living mulch . It is also think that thyme improves the flavor of tomato fruit when implant together .
Thyme is a skilful prospect for planting at the closing of Lycopersicon esculentum beds , where it will establish itself and match well with a number of future crop rotation .
5 Antagonistic Plants to Keep Away from Tomatoes
Tomatoes have foeman as well as friend in the garden , although luckily there are few of them .
sure plants will move the maturation of your tomato harvest due to chemical secretion , rival for nutrients , or because they are both vulnerable to the same pestilence and diseases .
Avoid planting your tomato plant with these 5 plants :
1:Brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale etc.)
Brassicas are infamously bad growing companion for love apple , and will stunt the emergence of your plant by compete for food .
Since both brassicas and Lycopersicon esculentum are great feeders , when planted in the same bed they are constantly stress and fighting for resources .
to boot , brassicas are susceptible to some of the same fungous disease and can create an infection hotspot when plant together .
2:Walnut trees
Tomatoes will not treasure being planted under the shadowiness of tree diagram with dense foliage , but walnut tree specifically produce an organic compound address juglone that will stunt the growing of tomato .
3:Fennel
Although other members of the carrot syndicate make serious companions for tomato plant , finocchio does not . Certain biochemical secretions from the root arrangement of fennel will actively stunt the growth of nearby plants like tomatoes .
4:Corn
The corn whiskey earworm is the same as the love apple fruit dirt ball , and growing the two crops next to each other will create a feast for this pest . Keep them on diametric ends of the garden and engraft with familiar to keep this exceptional plague at bay .
5:Potatoes
produce tater and tomatoes together can increase the danger of blight infections in both plants . If you have ever had to dispense with blight , you ’ll screw how withering it can be so keep them on diametrical ends of the garden .
Diversity Creates Resilience!
An intercropped , companion set garden will be teeming with diversity , good louse , pollinator , and life !
Once you have started plant crops together according to the benefit they render each other , you will see how much healthier your garden becomes by nonpayment .
Pest and disease progeny can always arise , but they will be much less likely to bring home the bacon in being destructive in a companion planted garden .
Just like in ecosystem , diverseness Foster resilience and will create a hefty garden that can bounce back when face with threats .
Written By
Maya is a freelance cognitive content writer and avid gardener presently based in Sweden . She gained her BA in Environment and Geography in Canada , which is also where she first see about the hurt of the industrialized agricultural system . During the summer she began farm through the WWOOF program , and over the next six year has extend to grow and con at a number of organic farms and garden across the US and Canada . She is passionate about the role of regenerative Department of Agriculture in wildlife conservation and climate modification extenuation , and think develop your own food is a primal part of revolutionise the system . In her free time she like to read , garden , and pet courteous dogs .
