Crop to Interplant with Tomato Plants

Hi All:

All of my tomato plants are in raised beds which are 4 feet wide. I have planted 2 rows of them in each bed. There is a area of about 3 feet going down the center of the bed which is begging to be planted with something. Once the mater plants get mature, that area will be shaded by the foliage.

I am going to try to interplant lettuce in some of the beds as they would probably like the shade.

Anyone have any other ideas as to what I could grow in between those rows? Would spinach benefit from the shade provided by the tomato plants.

Thanks
BB

BB,

Under my tomatoes I'm growing carrots, basil, green onion, marigolds, and nastaurtiums. I spent yesterday piling up dirt into 2 ft. squares, leveling it off, and then planting everything. This year I'm diving into the companion plant planting big time with the tomatoes. The items listed are to be beneficial to tomatoes in one way or another. I'm curious to see how this works, what doesn't, and if the items repelled or reduced the pest issue it is know for.

I've done carrots, onions, celery and the usual herbs between the tomatoes.

Edited to add that I always plant borage with the tomatoes. I don't believe companion planting takes care of many pests -- it's more of a healthy gardening tool -- but I haven't had hornworms on my maters planted by borage.

This message was edited May 14, 2007 12:54 PM

Zeppy can I sound exceedingly stupid here?
Im thinking that memory serves that borage is an herb?.. what uses does it have? Carrots dont mind teh lack of light? I'll try it!
BB, I was thinking teh same thing , as I had my DH and DS make me 4x8 raised beds- one of which will have tomatoes in it. My question was.. will there be enough light between teh rows?? I love lettuces- but they still need light.

hmm.. also , in our NGa locations... I wonder what will grow well and still allow our wonderfully humid summer the air to move about teh tomatoes?
Thanks for asking my questions! :)

Ninnian

Not stupid at all. Yes, it's an herb. I'm simply in love with the flowers, and they are lovely in salads or in an iced drink of one's choosing. The leaves are edible too, but too fuzzy to be yummy.

Thanks everyone

Zeppy:

I tried carrots last year and they didn't do well. I posted about it and a few DGer's said it was probably because they weren't getting enough light due to the tomatoes. I hadn't thought about celery. Does celery have a very long germination time? I planted some last year and it just seemed to take forever to sprout and didn't do well. Do you direct seed or transplant?

Hi NinnianI actually think the lettuce will do well because they will still get light but it will be filtered which should be right up the salad greens alley.

How about Swiss Chard?

BB

I think salad greens are ideal; you can tuck them anywhere, and harvest them at any point, and they appreciate the shade and moisture.

I staggered my tomatoes instead of putting them into even rows. This left patches that received light. Celery... hmm, I think I wintersowed that, and it went right into last frost.

YAY! :D
Borage flowers, who knew? (well, Zeppy.. but who else? lol) I need to find that , preferably as a plant. Is it likely to stay where its put, or overun my yard like my Lemon Balm did? I thought I'd be using teh heck outta that for teas, instead I just look at it and sigh. I never think of it when Im brewing!

I think I'll stagger as much as I can- I have lettuce trying to bolt as we speak. Im not sure what it is.. no matter the time of year I try it, I just seem to have little luck with salad greens. Not that Im giving up, mind ya...

Im thinking carrots in my blank spaces (until teh maters get big n bushy), and lettuces inbetwixt!.

Thank you for your help.. I'll continue to look fwd to advice!

Ninnian

How much sun do carrots require? Maybe my soil wasn't right for them.

They germinated and sprouted fine but the carrots themselves got about the size of my thumb if I was lucky. I think I didn't thin correctly in addition to them possibly being deprived of sun from the tomatoes

BB

Borage can re-seed but I've not had that problem. Not invasive a bit for me.

Carrots... I tend to harvest mine little, because I have a lot of little hands itching to pull them for me. :)

My borage reseeded all over my garden in Asheville. As it has pretty flowers, I didn't mind. It tastes like cucumbers which I don't like so I never harvested any.

Love all of your suggestions. I always plant basil on either side of my tomatoes.

Darius... cuckes , hmm?.. I wonder if it has much more nutritive value?

Zeppy- it may be fine up where You are, but down here I think things get thier own ideas. Or mabye its teh kudzu and other invasives talk them into running amuck. " C'mon.. run with us! You'll get extra atention from teh 2 legged if you do!".
It' s a conspiracy, methinks.

Dunkirk... what type of basil?.. Ive not had luck with that either, although my neighbor has Thai purple basil running crazed thru her yard and lanscaping. (which make sme think,"why plant?.. sneak over to Sharons and help her out by harvesting some!")


Ok- and an admission of "dumba**itude" on my raised beds. I had a huge tree root blocking my ability to get them completly level. now Im dealing with my soil creeping out a 1/2 -1 inch open space at the bottom of both beds on one side! OY!!
Nin

I've planted Italian, purple, lemon and Thai basil.

I mixed in lime basil with my tomatoes.

Ninnian:

Stick a couple of rocks in the space. That's what I had to do in some of my beds and it worked

BB

BB,
Thanks for not letting me continue to feel like Im the only one who ever did that. I stuck a couple rocks in, and also stuffed inches of shredded paper down that seam. I figure it must help, and it will decompose. At least thats what I tell myself. ;)

Lime basil??.. ok, but does it really taste liek lime??. I have some lemon thyme -it does taste like lemon.. but it also leaves my tongue numb!weird

Im gunna try the carrots - I have some of last years Danvers Half Long that I never got in teh ground.

In my shallower bed(6") I placed :
Armenian cukes, bunching onion (with radish to show me where they where), I forget what type heirloom (old seed again) cantalope, heirloom yellow watermelon, and on my son's whim...2 heirloom colored cotton seed. (Its a kinda silky feeling khaki color... USC had a heirloom garden in teh fall of 05, and soem of teh cotton heads where just laying on teh ground. I figured they were fair game! It wanst teh ONLY seed I picked up, just the only one Ive put in. )

I have to get more soil to put in teh deep raised bed. Tomatoes are waiting impatiently for it.

Nin

The lime basil has a hint of lime in the scent, but I don't really taste it.

Pac Choi can handle some hotter weather, especially slightly shaded out. I go for some Asian veg for hot weather - things from countries that are hot and steamy in the summer like Thailand.

Blue Spice Basil is an absolutely scrumptious sweet basil. Perfect for fruit - nice with that melon you are growing!

GGG

GGG:

I brought some seed for the small pak choi you see in Asian markets. Is it easy to grow? Do you direct seed or transplant?

BB

Direct seed.

Thanks Kanita:

Feeling better after your recent misfortune?

BB

Thanks BB, I am feeling a little better.

Kanita, that lime basil isn't from my seeds, is it? Because the one I have is powerfully and distinctly "lime" in scent and flavor. LMK if you want some seeds, and I'll get them out to you.

No, these are seeds from Burpee. But maybe I need to taste it again.

Do you want to wait for next season, or do you want some seeds ASAP? Just LMK... :-)

Thanks Critter, I'll wait till next season. Since I am down to just the one garden I am low on space.

OK... I'm sure we'll do some seed swapping, so we'll just have to remember to send you some Lime Basil seeds!

Thanks Critter!

(Basil note - if I over water them, both the lime and lemon basil loose some of their citrus-y taste, although they smell heavenly. I used them as "perfume" when I'm working in the garden since I am mostly alergic to commercial perfumes.)

Omigosh ,
my raised beds are a failure. At leats the SOIL in them is. My plants hate me. I put bags n bags of top soil , compost , and compost /manure in them.. and my plants are stunted and yellowing as we speak.
I havent tested it all yet to see what its missing... its just SO depressing to have worked so hard at setting it all up, and hauling and planting ....

Oh well... this fall mabye? DANG!
Nin

Nin,

Don't give up! Somebody more experienced than me will, I hope, offer some good suggestions for you. In the meantime I just want to say that we have 4x8 raised beds like you and we hauled in some top soil at the beginning (like you) so you certainly didn't do anything different than us in terms of your foundation. Different years produce different results as do different varieties of vegetables and all kinds of intangibles. It is too soon to abandon your gardening plans. You have the right idea. Now let's find some people who can give you some good practical advice in terms of this year's issues. (Don't worry, once you solve this year's there will be something new next year, always is, but I'm confident you can get some rewards out of gardening from all your hard work and efforts). Hang in there.
BDale60

Ninnian:

Can you post some pics?

I put in a lot of additional raised beds this year and I am having quite a problem with blight in some of them. Don't give up though!

BB

Ninnian, is it possible the manure was too fresh? If so, your plants could basically be getting fertilizer burn from it.

Other than pulling them out of that soil, I'm not sure what other solutions folks might have...heavier, more frequent watering maybe? to cool off the roots & disperse some of the nutrients to a more acceptable level? Not to be overdone in case of root rot, of course...nothing's simple...

That's just so hard, isn't it? All that work & those dumb plants just don't seem to appreciate how good you've tried to make it for them ;-)

But I agree, don't give up! If the manure was just too fresh, then your bed should be GREAT for next year's crop! ;-)

Has anyone tried mint around tomatoes? I've read that it'll keep rodents away from ornamentals, but haven't seen anyone mention using it as a companion plant in gardening. I lost TONS of tomatoes to a pesky varmint this spring, and am trying to think what to do long-term.

I think you don't see many recommendations of mint because it's so terribly invasive. If you do use it, put it in pots in the ground. Otherwise, you'll be pulling it out for the next fifteen years. I have not noticed less rodents around my mint, though. Rue, on the other hand, keeps everything away. Including me. :)

I agree with Zeppy.

We had a patch growing along the side of the house. We pulled it up as much as we could, put down TWO layers of heavy duty landscape cloth and covered that with soil and 3 inches of pine straw and it still came back.

Hi Zeppy! :-)

What's rue?

LOL, that's true of many mints, including the Chocolate Peppermint that's growing along one side of my driveway. However, I'm using 'Kentucky Colonel' Spearmint quite successfully as a groundcover or shoes & socks plant in the bed by my back deck. I've planted tomatoes and peas in that bed, and for the last couple of years I've put in bananas and other tropicals. That particular spearmint is just a better community citizen than most mints -- it still spreads, but the roots seem more shallow, and it doesn't seem able to strangle other plants the way other mints can -- and the scent does seem to hide other plants (even snow peas!) from the rabbits.

Nin - my guess would be the topsoil. Too heavy for raised beds. The "soil" needs more aeration. I used compost. manure, potting mix, bunny-poo in shavings, and shredded paper, and my garden is going gang-busters. I mean REALLY putting out! I am beyond impressed with this system!!!

BB - I am finding that the leaf lettuce mix, pak choy, and radishes are all VERY happy nestled amongst the tomatoes.

Wow,
ya'll are awesome! Thank YOU! The support is just so palpable! I appreciate all of ya.

Im not fixin to give up, I will however make no great expectations for a crop(or for that matter, good foliage). I'll try to get pics taken and put up. Mabye the store bought compost is too green? It didnt smell poorly, but some of it was rather clumpy/oily feeling. I think I managed to kill my hierloom cotton plant, and the desert king watermelon has bearly grown 4 inches! Most everything is stunted. Oh, an dthe cantalope that was doing GREAT in my raised potatoe bed got chomped by deer last night... I must have forgotten to spray the last coupel feet of vines with Deer Off. (Which Im finding works pretty ok)

Like I said, mabye a Fall crop. I just need to get tiem and motivation to get samples for teh Ag agent.
Im not having trouble keeping chocolate mint in check. I have 2 clump sin diferent places an dit seems kinda tame. What really goes nuts for me as far as an herb is Melissa(Lemon balm). It seeds everywhere! It tastes good in iced tea though! :D

hmm.. I put a coupel wormie sin my beds.. I hope I didnt end up killing them. I bet its too hot in there!(I have weed fabric under them to suppress tree roots.... so getting out might have been an issue for em.)

Lime perfume.... oooo! Can I test some for ya? I think lime with patchouli would be heavenly!

Nin!