Choosing the right plants beside each other will lead to tremendous growth and bigger and better tomatoes.
Tomatoes are healthy and delicious but don’t go well with some plants. This might cause some problems when growing your plants.
What not to plant with tomatoes – what will not be suitable for the tomatoes or other plants?
Plants like cabbage, corn, eggplant, fennel, dill, walnuts, potatoes, and others do not grow well with tomatoes. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to plant these plants in different garden sections to avoid conflict.
Let’s dive into more detail.
There are many plants that can inhibit your tomato growth, so they should not be planted near tomatoes. These plants include:
1. Cabbage
Cabbages are considered sworn plants, meaning they can inhibit the growth of other plants. The cabbage will reduce its development if you have a tomato plant nearby.
Cabbages absorb many minerals – more than tomatoes or most other plants, so your tomato plant will also become nutrient deficient. Nutrient deficiency will cause the plants to grow little to no fruit, which I’m sure you don’t want.
2. Corn
Corn attracts plenty of pests that are very difficult to ward off. The worst part is that the same pests attracted to corn also love tomatoes!
They infest the plants overnight, and they can make the tomatoes inedible the way they burrow through them.
This will likely not end well, so you’ll probably want to not plant them near each other or the farthest possible distance.
3. Eggplant
Eggplant can attract potential diseases to your tomatoes and they are not worth the hassle to eliminate, so your plants will give off bad fruit from it.
The most common disease it can cause is blight. The first type of blight is an early blight which will stunt the growth of the tomatoes and kill off the leaves. The second type of blight is a late blight which will make the whole tomato rotten.
You will need to replace the soil if you get blight in there since it doesn’t go away easily.
4. Fennel
Fennel doesn’t grow well with other plants generally, so I recommend you grow it in an entirely separate area or pot.
This plant lets out substances in the soil that are really bad for your tomatoes and other plants if there are any nearby.
5. Dill
Young Dills are fine for tomatoes, but more mature Dills can hurt tomatoes by cutting their nutrient supply.
If you have Dills near your tomato plant, I honestly wouldn’t reccomend keeping them there.
6. Walnut
Walnut trees will let go of a chemical that will stunt the growth of your tomato plants, leaving them with little tomatoes.
Walnuts can also have a disease called Walnut wilt which can inhibit the growth of your tomatoes.
7. Potato
Potatoes are another plant that can cause disease for your tomatoes.
They both attract similar diseases, so planting them together can cause an increase in the chances of disease.
Additionally, potato roots can damage tomato roots.
It isn’t as bad as some of the other plants, but it’s best to plant them in separate locations.
What to Plant With Tomatoes for Max Growth
Having the right combo can not only encourage growth with extra nutrients but deter dangerous pests, and kill off weeds, which will lead to amazing tomatoes!
Here are some of the plants:
1. Basil
Basils are a great plant that can repel pests like moths and mosquitoes. This will in turn lower the risk of certain diseases like tomato spotted wilt virus.
Additionally, they can help promote growth for your tomatoes.
2. Sunflowers
Sunflowers are a great plant for tomatoes because it attracts bees and birds – the good kinds.
The bees will help pollinate the tomato flowers and the birds will help eat unwanted pests on the tomato plants (or any plants really).
3. Carrots
Carrots can also attract wasps which helps with the pollination of tomato flowers. Growing carrots near tomatoes will enhance both the tomato and carrot flavor.
4. Thyme
Thyme hides to smell of the tomato plants making it hard for flying pests to invade your tomatoes since they can’t smell it.
Thyme also shields the tomato from ground pests, making it the ultimate “defense” plant for tomatoes.
5. Beans
Beans also attract bees which can help with the pollination of tomato flowers. The bees will help jiggle the pollen to release it.
6. Garlic
Garlic discourages spider mites from coming close to anything in your garden, along with pretty much any flying pests – they don’t like the smell of garlic in my experience.
7. Lettuce
Lettuce can be placed under the tomatoes shades and can help deter weeds. If you have no room for the weeds to grow, then no weeds will grow. So, you can use all the available space left near your tomato plants to let lettuce grow.
8. Peas
Peas are legumes that release nitrogen into the soil, nourishing the tomato leaves and tomatoes.
They grow in cold weather, so you get hot weather, you can switch it out with tomatoes.
9. Buckwheat
Buckwheat works similarly to peas – they do not grow at the same time but can nourish the soil very well for the tomatoes.
Last Words
There are a few plants you that are examples of what not to plant with tomatoes – these include cabbage, corn, eggplant, fennel, dill, walnuts, and potatoes.
On the other hand, there are also a bunch of plants you can plant with your tomatoes to accelerate growth, so maybe you’ll need to do some rearranging. If you want some gardening layout ideas, click there.
I hope you enjoyed this article!
