Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Companion Planting : Tomatoes & Carrots

Vestal Community Gardener Caitlin Clark's advice for Companion Planting: Tomatoes & Carrots
Companion planting is a wonderful way of gardening that incorporates beneficial plants with unlikely partners who not only keep pests away, but also increases pollination, a must for any garden.
Tomatoes are a delicious and popular plant with a number of edible companion plants: cucumber, carrot, chives, onion, garlic, nasturtium and parsley. Marigold is a favorite companion flower for tomatoes, but opinion is divided about how beneficial the flower really is.
Did you know that all plants of the brassica family such as kale, cabbage and broccoli (and more!) actually repel tomatoes and shouldn’t be grown together? It’s okay if they’re in your plot, just keep them apart. Tomatoes also dislike growing near potatoes and fennel. Keep corn and tomatoes at a distance because they both attract the same pest and together they’re too much of a good thing for the corn earworm a.k.a. tomato fruitworm.
Asparagus and tomatoes are great friends and will enjoy being grown together as they both deter each other’s pests (nematodes and asparagus beetle).
If you’re planning to grow carrots near your tomatoes, go ahead and plant some onions or leeks nearby. All of these are friendly with each other. The onions and leeks repel the carrot fly and a number of tomato pests; rosemary and sage will also deter the carrot fly. Bush beans, pole beans, peas and lettuce are also beneficial to carrots.
Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/colemama/9473457079


No comments: