[Tomato Dirt #101] These Companion Plants Can Protect Your Tomatoes From Pests

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[Tomato Dirt #101] These Companion Plants Can Protect Your Tomatoes From Pests
April 15, 2016

Tomato Dirt Newsletter
Volume 6, Number 7

Dear Tomato Dirt reader,

Welcome back to Tomato Dirt! A couple of times a month, we’ll send you this newsletter packed with tips about growing tomatoes and using them.

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FEATURE: Plant These Companion Plants to Protect Your Tomatoes From Pests

Image: USDA

You can protect tomatoes from pests with companion plants -- those vegetables, herbs, or flowers planted nearby that offer a special benefit to tomatoes. Companion plants behave a lot like good friends.

We all know one of the benefits of good friends: they stick up for you when bullies threaten you, often protecting you from getting hurt.

Companion plants do that for tomatoes. Tomato plants are among the favorite menu items for certain insects, including aphids, whiteflies, and different types of beetles. Once these pests flit into your garden and discover your luscious, healthy tomato plants, suddenly it’s Feast Time. But companion plants act as natural defenders against these tomato pests, either by repelling harmful insects or attracting helpful insects (to eat the harmful ones.)

Try these companion plants to protect your tomatoes from pests:

Basil: repels flies, mosquitoes; attracts bees
Borage: attracts bees and wasps
Cabbage: repels whiteflies, moths
Chives: repel many insects
Collard greens: repels flea beetles
Geraniums: repel cabbage worm, Japanese beetles
Marigolds: repel tomato worm, asparagus beetles, flea beetles, whiteflies, aphids
Mint: repels white cabbage moths, ants, rodents, flea beetles, fleas, aphids
Nasturtiums: repel whiteflies and aphids
Parsley: attracts hoverflies

Find out more tips about choosing companion plants to protect tomatoes. And be sure to check out our Companion Planting for Tomatoes board on Pinterest for more companion planting ideas.

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