successful interplanting with tomatoes?

10 years ago

I have a certain number of tomato plants I expect to grow every year - equal to the number of Texas tomato cages I have invested in - and a certain amount of space in which to do so- one of the beds in my garden.

Unfortunately this leaves me planting pretty tightly compared to spacing recommendations. I can give each plant about 2 linear feet/6 square feet. I know I can get bumper crops of tomatoes at this spacing from previous years, so I'm not at all interested in either growing fewer tomatoes (too many varieties to try) or devoting more space in the garden (too much other stuff to grow.)

But I'm wondering now if it might be successful to interplant other stuff with my tomatoes - not increasing the plant spacing, but increasing the tomato spacing in the hopes of decreasing fungal disease and pest transmission between them.

I know differing fertilizer and watering needs are often cited as disadvantages to interplanting, but to be honest I don't fertilize my garden other than with compost and I hardly ever need to water.

So would it be helpful to spread my tomatoes further apart into two or three beds by interspersing them with other veggies? If so, what types of veggies might be successful? Should I think about tall things to block airflow between tomato plants, or shorter things to let the tomatoes fill out the canopy more?

Thanks for any thoughts!

~emmers

Comments (8)

ddsack
10 years ago
I grow in raised beds of 4x12 ft. I run tomatoes along one long edge, and along the other edge I grow various kinds of bush beans, or broccoli. I think any low crop that allows for some ventilation and airflow would work. I trellis my tomatoes on a cattle panel which allows for more plants per row than cages do, because of the need to allow for access the sides of the cages.
aniajs
10 years ago
I have some tomato plants in a raised bed, and some in containers. I generally plant them close together so that they have more protection from the wind. The containers are grouped close together as well. I plant short things around the base of the plants that will shade the soil and roots to prevent the plants from drying out too fast. Things like basil and marigold, which also thrive and don't seem to stress the tomato plants. As I'm in a very arid climate compared to yours, I don't know about the disease aspect, but in my area shading base of the plant seems to be key.
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seysonn
10 years ago
How big in diameter are Texas mater cages ? 18" ? if you plant your maters in a row, at 20" spacing, each plant will have a minimum of 3 sqr-ft., This is not counting any ground rout space beyond a 20" by 20" area. This is not bad if you also consider some pruning at the lower end to provide air flow to prevent soil born(and air born) diseases. Most bacteria need a moist stagnant place to live and multiply. Not to be just a preacher, I am doing with less than that space per plant..No problems. My tomatoes are full of blossoms, are healthy and are fruiting. On top of that, I get less than 4 hours of direct sun.
I am sure there are gardeners who do not subscribe to the pruning tomatoes school. Well, they have maybe acres of land available for gardening. I have just 120 sqr-ft at the moment.

There are other options too. Plant determinants, dwarfs instead of indet. cherries(for example) that create a jungle. My dwarf cherries , at less than one foot height, bound to one square foot , have more fruits than those that are already six foot tall and the keep growing as you watch them. lol.
bobincentralMA
10 years ago
Hi, I'm a big believer in growing the tomatoes 3 feet by 3 feet apart from each other. Use cages and stakes to both prop the leaves on the cages and stakes to keep it straight. Leaves are always dry and blowing in the breeze. Good to minimize moisture on them and problems. I interplant basil quite alot and scallions (wish I had more). Strongly believe these all benefit each other, attracting good bugs, keeping the mammals away. Some beetles eating the basil but not the tomatoes or their leaves. Peace
emmers_m
Original Author
10 years ago
To clarify, I'm not thinking to change my spacing, my caging method, the types of tomatoes I'm planting etc., because of the stubborn reasons outlined in my previous post.

I know I can get good amounts of tomatoes with my current methods. But later in the summer I'm pruning bucketloads of diseased foliage off the plants, and at the end of the season it seems like the diseases make the tomatoes more prone to rotting.

So I'm thinking/hoping that maintaining my current spacing across two or even three beds by interspersing other veggies might help.

So instead of tomato-tomato-tomato I'd do tomato-veggie-tomato. Or for three beds, tomato-veggie-veggie-tomato.

Just looking to see if anyone has done this, and for suggestions on what I could interplant. Peas? Brassicas? Melons?

~emmers
labradors_gw
10 years ago
removed

This post was edited by labradors on Wed, Jul 17, 13 at 9:43
labradors_gw
10 years ago
Sorry. I thought I was starting a new thread with a new title. I didn't mean to hijack this one!

Linda
labradors_gw
10 years ago
I wonder if you could plant carrots in between your tomatoes. There wouldn't be much above the ground to interfere with air flow and you probably wouldn't need to dig them up until the end of the season. Basil is a good companion plant for tomatoes. Maybe beets, although mine were huge when left in all season.

Linda