What is the best companion plant for tomatoes?

Best Companion Plants for Tomatoes Basil. Tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella make a delicious caprese salad and in the garden, basil and tomato plants are a splendid combination because they optimize soil space, provide shade, and repel pests. ... Chives. ... Garlic. ... Lettuce. ... Thyme. ... Marigolds. ... Nasturtiums. ... Give Plants Space. More items... Mar 7, 2024

Why should you not plant cucumbers near tomatoes?

Planting cucumbers and tomatoes right next to each other is often not recommended. These two plants often have similar requirements for nutrients, water and light, which can lead to competition . Both plants are heavy feeders and require a lot of nitrogen for healthy growth.

What should I plant next to tomatoes to keep bugs away?

Alliums (Perennial) –These herbs—including leeks, chives, and shallots—can help repel aphids, cabbage worms, slugs, and carrot flies. Plant Alliums next to rose bushes or in your vegetable garden to protect your tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, carrots, broccoli, etc.

What should you not plant next to peppers?

Brassicas: Brassicas such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage are not good companion plants for peppers as they require similar nutrients from the soil, which can lead to competition and reduced yield. They also attract pests such as flea beetles and cabbage worms that can damage pepper plants.

Can I plant tomatoes and peppers together?

Although it's usually recommended to not plant tomatoes and peppers right after each other in the same bed every year, they can be grown together in the same garden bed (and then rotated to another bed next season).

Can I plant cucumbers and peppers together?

Cucumbers and squash plants pair well with peppers because their low growth habit shields the soil from direct sun, prevents weeds, and keeps your soil from drying out too quickly.

What can I plant with tomatoes in a raised bed?

Marigolds release a compound called pyrethrum that actually repels the moths that lay tomato hornworm eggs. This is one reason I love to plant marigolds along the border of my raised beds (another reason is their beauty). Other great flowers to add near your tomatoes are nasturtiums, salvia, and sweet alyssum .

What plant keeps tomato worms away?

“Other popular companion plants that effectively deter tomato hornworms include marigolds, dill, borage, parsley, and thyme ,” he says.

What flower keeps bugs off tomatoes?

Petunias Another great flower to have in your vegetable garden are petunias. Known for warding off tomato hornworms, asparagus beetles, leafhoppers, and squash bugs, petunias are a pesticide-free way to protect your garden from unwanted pests.

Which plants don t like tomato feed?

Re: Tomato feed. What is it good for and what not? Use it on things that have flowers and fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper, aubergines, squash etc. Don't use it for things that only want leaves, like lettuce, cabbage and spinach .

What can I alternate with tomato plants?

Beans and peas enrich the soil. A good gardening practice is to follow beans or peas with a heavy-feeding plant, such as tomatoes or squash. That way, one year's crop help provide for the next.

What to put under tomato plants?

Compost and composted manure are great additions to the soil for tomatoes and lots of other plants. Compost adds basic nutrients and improves soil structure. Composted manure provides nutrients all season long. Composted manure: This provides a slow release of nutrients over the growing season.

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (2024)

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Vegetable Garden Ideas

Gardening experts share advice to make sure your tomatoes thrive where you plant them.

Felicia Feaster

Felicia Feaster has worked for the past 20-plus years as a lifestyle journalist. She specializes in writing about interior design, gardening, trends, culture, travel, and wellness.

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Published on May 18, 2024

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (2)

While tomatoes are a summer garden staple, the amount of fretting and fear involved in growing them may put them in the ranks of plants that can be challenging for even experienced gardeners. But there is no reason for backyard farmers to fear.

If you want to give your tomatoes a fighting chance, there are things you can do to give them a solid head start. Growing disease-resistant tomato varieties, getting enough sun, and regular watering are all good bedrock for growing healthy tomatoes, for instance.

But another critical step in ensuring your tomatoes have the best chance of growing happy and healthy is thinking not just about where you plant them but what you plant them next to. While certain companion plants for tomatoes help this plant thrive, other plants and vegetables should be planted elsewhere because they can inhibit healthy tomato growth.

Ahead, our experts explain which plants can actually hinder your tomato plant's growth if planted too close together in your garden.

Carrie Spoonemore, co-creator of Park Seed’s From Seed to Spoon app
Kelly Smith Trimble, gardening expert and author of two books on vegetable gardening, Vegetable Gardening Wisdom and The Creative Vegetable Gardener

Your Guide to Growing Tomato Plants From Seeds

Fennel

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (3)

Allelopathic plants release toxins into the soil that inhibit the growth of other plants, in a sense eliminating their competition. An allelopathic plant like fennel can directly impact tomato growth, says Carrie Spoonemore, co-creator of Park Seed’s From Seed to Spoon app, so she recommends gardeners not plant it near tomatoes.

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Cabbage

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (4)

Cabbage and other plants in the brassica family can compete with tomatoes for vital nutrients in the soil, says Spoonemore, thus robbing tomatoes of an ideal growing medium. In addition, cabbage also has a wide growing habit that can crowd tomato plants out.

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Pole Beans

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (5)

Avoid pole beans near your tomatoes—they can grow aggressively and end up shading your tomatoes too much. "While some companion planting guides suggest planting pole beans with tomatoes, there is a risk of competition for sunlight, water, and nutrients, especially if the beans grow vigorously and shade the tomato plants excessively," says Spoonemore.

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Dill

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (6)

Herbs are often ideal companion plants for tomatoes, but dill is the exception. Mature dill plants can harm tomato plants, taking soil nutrients for themselves and inhibiting tomato root growth.

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Corn

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (7)

Corn belongs to a group of vegetables that should not be planted close to tomatoes because, once grown and tall, they can shade tomatoes out and inhibit their growth.

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Okra

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (8)

Until you’ve grown okra, you might not expect the towering growth habit and lovely pale yellow hibiscus-like flowers this Southern vegetable produces. Planting okra next to tomatoes isn't encouraged because its leafy height could keep tomatoes from getting their required 6 to 8 hours of sun a day.

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Potatoes

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (9)

Kelly Smith Trimble, a gardening expert and book author on the subject, recommends not planting potatoes near tomatoes. Potatoes are in the same Solanaceae (or nightshade) family as tomatoes, meaning that both plants are susceptible to the same pests and diseases.

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Broccoli

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (10)

Some vegetables, like broccoli, are known as "heavy feeders" in the garden world, meaning they require rich soil with plenty of nutrients to grow. For that reason, broccoli should not be planted close to tomatoes to ensure your tomatoes have the nutrients they need to thrive.

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Cauliflower

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (11)

Cauliflower attracts pests like cabbage worms and aphids that can also attack tomato plants. In addition, cauliflower is a heavy feeder that can sap the soil of vital nutrients.

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Eggplant

10 Plants You Should Never Grow Next to Your Tomatoes (12)

Tomatoes and eggplants are in the same nightshade family, and as a result, eggplant will compete with tomatoes for nutrients. Eggplants can also spread blight, a fungal disease spread by insects, wind, water, and animals that is especially prevalent among potatoes and tomatoes. You will know if your tomatoes have been exposed to blight if you see browning, rotting fruit, and shriveled leaves on your plants.

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