Mixed culture with tomatoes
Good and bad companion plants
Planning your beds with mixed crops follows the principles of organic gardening. In this way, you contribute to healthy plants and a high level of biodiversity for both the plants and the garden inhabitants.
Bad companion plants for tomatoes
- Nightshade plants such as potatoes, eggplants & physalis: plants of the same family increase the risk of some plant diseases such as late blight -
Cucumbers and tomatoes (risk of mildew or spider mite infestation!) - Peas and tomatoes (growth-inhibiting)
- Sunflowers and lovage also inhibit the growth of tomatoes (lovage is generally a loner!)
- Fennel, salsify, Jerusalem artichoke and okra should also not be planted next to tomatoes
Good companion plants for tomatoes
Mixed cultivation with vegetables
- peppers and chili peppers, although they are also part of the nightshade family
- tomatoes are good neighbors for cabbage (against cabbage white butterflies)
- beans and tomatoes go well together
- ground-covering crops such as spinach, lettuce or herbs
- bulbous vegetables such as carrots, root parsley and celeriac loosen up the soil and go well with tomatoes
- onion plants keep voles and whiteflies away. You can therefore plant onions, leeks and the like next to your tomatoes
Mixed cultivation with herbs and flowers
- Basil and parsley keep aphids and whitefly away from tomatoes. They also prevent mildew. These herbs therefore complement tomato plants well. So do herbs such as mint, mizuna, oregano and chives
- marigolds provide food for pollinating insects and also keep nematodes away
Succession cropping with tomatoes
Tomatoes are a very popular crop in the vegetable garden, which we like to plant in our beds as a summer crop. Tomato plants are heat-loving, slow-growing plants that can be kept in the bed for a long time as the main crop
- good pre-crops: Asian lettuce, lamb's lettuce, kohlrabi, radishes, radishes, mustard, spinach
- good post-crops: beans, radishes, lettuce, spinach, sweet potatoes
Lamb's lettuce is a good after-crop
It attracts earthworms and thus contributes to a healthy, humus-rich garden soil. This is particularly good after high-feeding crops such as tomatoes.
Crop rotation with tomatoes
- Good crops from the previous year: cabbage, potatoes
- tomatoes are self-compatible and are usually cultivated in the same location for several years
