Well, I don't know much about basil, however, I do cilantro together with tomato plants. Since I mulch my garden, It tends to keep the ground cooler and retains moisture better. Because of this, I do not have to worry about different watering schedules. Also, My growing medium is "Mel's mix" which contains peat moss and vermiculite to retain more water and translate to less watering during the season. Hope this helps!

It seems that a lot of people do this

And you'd be really amazed at how many don't and wouldn't even consider doing it. ;)

Point is it's a fad - the old wives tale that growing them together makes the tomatoes somehow sweeter has been debunked several times (see previous discussions) and there just isn't any evidence to support it.

So if that is your reason, feel free to move your basil elsewhere where you can offer both crops the differing water and nutrients they need and grow more tomatoes instead.

If, on the other hand you like the appearance of intermixing them, go for it. Problem is, most could never consume all the basil that many plants would produce and they take up room better devoted to more tomato plants. ;)

Dave

and....

Someone told me years ago that basil would repel whiteflies.

So like a total numbnuts, I believed them and planted basil under my tomatoes.

Big mistake!

My basil was a whitefly magnet, and every other bug too.

Now I grow it in pots - as far away from my tomatoes as I can get it - and keep it watered and fertilized with a high nitrogen fertilizer, like it likes. ;-)

Corrie

I thought basil was from India. It likes moist but well drained soil. How is that different than what a tomato wants?
I interplant basil with tomatoes and my basil gets huge which is good because I like alot of pesto. I've also noticed no hookworms in my tomatoes which I've been told is because of all the basil.

I've always grown them together... next to one another
(not with them) and never had any problems with watering
(or lack there of in my case) or bugs... I do this b/c
basil and tomato (eaten together) is something my family
and I like... why HAVE a garden if I can't grow what I
like?? :) I'd grow cilantro but the picky eater of my
family can't stand it. Plus it bolts so quickly for me, if
you don't keep at it, it starts growing ferny before you
know it! :)

I always put a few Sweet Basil plants in the corners of my raised beds, keeps the bugs/ aphids off my tomatoes. Really works for my area.

Two seasons past, I grew basil close to my tomatoes. The only basil plants that grew tall were the ones in full, constant sun. Most of my basil plants were shielded, from the sun, by the tomato plants.

Last season, I didn't put any basil next to my tomatoes. Instead, I planted basil, and cilantro, in planters close to my house. The herbs failed miserably. I'm certain I neglected these plants and they didn't receive enough water.

Next season, the basil, along with cilantro, will again be next to the tomatoes, in my irrigated garden. Although I don't purposely water the herbs, I know they'll receive more water from the drip line then from me. I also plan to mulch heavily and add straw to the 2009 veggie garden.

Cilantro bolts in the summer because it is a cool weather plant. It does best in early spring and late fall, not the ideal tomato season range. For me cilantro will not even sprout in the summer (I have tried). Right now I have it growing all over the place.

I have grown basil and tomatoes together but the jury is still out. One problem is shading of the basil plants and basil need a lot of sun. Mine did very well and gave me a late crop after the tomato plants were done and removed. At this point I still have not decided if I will plant basil with tomato again. I think I might limit my inter-planting to marigolds with tomatoes.

Hello. This is my first post as well as first year growing.I am growing Brandywine,Rutgers,Better Boy, and Cherokee Purple.I have a great soil down here in Southeast Texas.I have already tilled a 1000 sq.foot area and begun mulching perimiter and rows.Today I begin to collect from a long-since dead pine fallen from Huricane Ike to use alongside half-rotted oak leaves to amend my soil. I have many questions,but this is just a time to say Hello and glad to have found yall.

Travis

I'm still fairly new to gardening, but I have, so far always planted basil next to tomatoes. For tomatoes, I only plant Brandywines. Personally, I think they are the best beefsteak tomatoes and I actually live in the Brandywine area of PA, so it seems kinda sacrilegious not to, but I digress.

I plant basil and tomatoes in a 2 to 3 ratio. That means a lot of basil, yes, but my pesto is a favorite of my family and friends so I make it a lot. The tomatoes do shield the basil a bit, but not overly. Brandywines are, like all beefsteaks, indeterminate, so they don't have the sprawling shoots and wide shade cover of your bush tomatoes -- and I'm very anal about pinching off suckers as soon as I see them. So, my tomatoes are tall any aery and my basils get plenty of light. Basil generally likes roughly the same watering as tomatoes, if a bit drier. Tomatoes are more temperamental about dry spells due to the blossom end rot, so I try to keep the soil nice and moist. I've never noticed my basil getting too wet. Even if, on average, the soil may be wetter than basil would ideally prefer (which I'm not saying is the case), the tomatoes are thirsty enough that over-watering is not a big problem, especially since my beds are raised and have decent drainage. I have yet to notice any significant insect problems on my tomatoes. Although I don't know it for a fact, basil could help. Basil, being a mint, is very pungent and if evolutionary biology has taught as anything it is that plants have strong smells for one of two reasons -- to attract animals (for fertilization) or repel them. In basil's case, regarding insects, I suspect the latter. Unfortunately for my tomatoes, while the basil doesn't seem to get eaten by vermin, they don't seem to keep the vermin away from my tomatoes, either. This year, I'm putting in a bit better barrier protection and planting lots of garlic and onion in my spacer rows. Might help, probably cannot hurt.

Anyone who things that growing tomatoes and basil together is an "old wives tale" obviously either hasn't ever tried it, or hasn't tried it correctly. Basil is our favorite herb to grow, and in Jacksonville FL it grows like CRAZY. I mean, you really can't mess it up. Taking that into consideration, I have grown basil in the ground, in containers, near tomatoes, and separate from everything. The basil grown near the tomatoes (usually about 1 ft away) is at least three times the size as any other basil. The plants are both bushier and the leaves grow faster/larger.

The picture I attached is an experiment to prove this point. I started the tomatoes outside (about 5 weeks old at the time of this photo) and the basil is only 3 weeks old! All of these plants were transplanted at weeks 6 (tomatoes) and 4 (basil) to their permanent location, where they continued to flourish. The basil gets about 1.5 feet in diameter and at least 1.5 feet tall.

When you say 'with' do you mean in the same bed, row etc. as the tomatoes, or just in the next row close to them? They would get no direct sun under my 'maters once they take off, mine are indeterminates, all of them, and thick like jungle growth down low, I have to prune just to get ventilation. My basil also resembles a jungle plant in its own bed. It seems you would have to sacrifice a tomato space and with the way mine are set it would make using the Florida weave a lot harder.
I grow 20 -30 tomatoes and about a dozen basil plants.

I've found that the most significant growth acheived from the companion planting happens within the first 6-8 weeks of growing. After that the basil plants are so big that they just keep producing with continuous harvesting of the leaves. The experiment pictured above was a case where I started the tomatoes and basil right next to each other (4 inches away when seeding) in the same starter container. Then when I transplanted to the final spot in my garden, I moved the basil about a foot to a foot and a half away from the stem of the tomato plants. The tomatoes grow up a trellis and the basil sits happily right near the outside of the tomatoes.

Did you plant a control basil away from the tomatoes?

I have planted basil in the same spot for a couple of years, with and without tomatoes nearby, and have seen very little difference. This year, with tomatoes, it's even a little smaller than usual, but I think that's because it's been so cold and wet for us. Hard to be sure with such a small sample size, though.

However, if we're going by anecdotes, then I think that planting basil near tomatoes stunts the tomatoes. Because mine are healthy but certainly not jungle-like and I'm peeved!