Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post

habitat_gardener · August 31, 2009

I don't have enough space to rotate my tomatoes (well, I could if I planted fewer plants...), so I use lots of compost. I have noticed in the past couple years that kale and broccoli are not good companions for tomatoes. Planted on the edges of tomato beds, they seem to inhibit the growth of the tomatoes nearby. And when I've planted tomatoes in spots where brassicas grew a season before, they don't do well. It's different parts of the garden every year, and the only correlation seems to be the brassicas. Maybe it has something to do with mycorrhizae -- brassicas are one of the few plant families that don't need mycorrhizae to grow, so I assume they'll inhibit any mycorrhizae in the soil around them as well. The plants growing where brassicas grew 2 or 3 seasons ago are doing very well, however.

So I'll either plant the winter brassicas (turnips, kohlrabi, and karinata kale) in the shadier parts of the garden, or else add some of the soil mix that contains mycorhhizae to the soil when I pull out the brassicas in the spring. And I'm also planning to grow cover crops instead of edibles in the sunny beds for the winter.

As for the herbs, I let self-seeded borage, parsley, and oregano grow at the edges of tomato beds, and I've also planted basil, carrots, green onions, and celery along the edges. I even have a yacon growing in the middle of a tomato bed! I haven't noticed that any of these affect tomato flavor one way or another, and the other plants do well as long as they get enough sun.

Random notes on companion planting:

Strawberries along the edges of the tomato beds aren't doing as well as strawberries in containers, but the tomatoes don't seem to be affected (except they get a bit more water, so are doing a little better).

Tomatoes planted where potatoes grew the previous season aren't doing very well.

Peppers do much better in pots than in the ground for me, and if I try eggplants again, they will also go into pots. Growing peppers in pots also makes it easier to position them in the sunniest part of the garden.

I've grown bronze fennel next to a tomato bed for a few years, and it mostly protects the tomato plant from the cooling and drying afternoon winds, which I discovered when I prematurely pruned part of it back a couple years ago.

Surprisingly, one of the best combinations is a thornless blackberry growing on a trellis parallel to and inches away from a few rows of pole beans growing on supports. Both have done very well. Access is from the edges of the bed -- there's no room in-between the beans and blackberry.

August 31, 2009	#11
habitat_gardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California Central Valley Posts: 2,540	I don't have enough space to rotate my tomatoes (well, I could if I planted fewer plants...), so I use lots of compost. I have noticed in the past couple years that kale and broccoli are not good companions for tomatoes. Planted on the edges of tomato beds, they seem to inhibit the growth of the tomatoes nearby. And when I've planted tomatoes in spots where brassicas grew a season before, they don't do well. It's different parts of the garden every year, and the only correlation seems to be the brassicas. Maybe it has something to do with mycorrhizae -- brassicas are one of the few plant families that don't need mycorrhizae to grow, so I assume they'll inhibit any mycorrhizae in the soil around them as well. The plants growing where brassicas grew 2 or 3 seasons ago are doing very well, however. So I'll either plant the winter brassicas (turnips, kohlrabi, and karinata kale) in the shadier parts of the garden, or else add some of the soil mix that contains mycorhhizae to the soil when I pull out the brassicas in the spring. And I'm also planning to grow cover crops instead of edibles in the sunny beds for the winter. As for the herbs, I let self-seeded borage, parsley, and oregano grow at the edges of tomato beds, and I've also planted basil, carrots, green onions, and celery along the edges. I even have a yacon growing in the middle of a tomato bed! I haven't noticed that any of these affect tomato flavor one way or another, and the other plants do well as long as they get enough sun. Random notes on companion planting: Strawberries along the edges of the tomato beds aren't doing as well as strawberries in containers, but the tomatoes don't seem to be affected (except they get a bit more water, so are doing a little better). Tomatoes planted where potatoes grew the previous season aren't doing very well. Peppers do much better in pots than in the ground for me, and if I try eggplants again, they will also go into pots. Growing peppers in pots also makes it easier to position them in the sunniest part of the garden. I've grown bronze fennel next to a tomato bed for a few years, and it mostly protects the tomato plant from the cooling and drying afternoon winds, which I discovered when I prematurely pruned part of it back a couple years ago. Surprisingly, one of the best combinations is a thornless blackberry growing on a trellis parallel to and inches away from a few rows of pole beans growing on supports. Both have done very well. Access is from the edges of the bed -- there's no room in-between the beans and blackberry.