Over the past three years we’ve gotten really into companion planting. We first discovered it by accident when we noticed that the peas that we were growing next to the fennel just weren’t growing well at all yet the peas at the other end of the row were doing just fine. We later learned that nothing grows well next to fennel. Soon after we bought the book Carrots Love Tomatoes from Amazon and now we carry that book outside each spring and fall when we are doing our plantings to find out who likes to grow next to whom. The idea behind companion planting is that some plants benefit other plants in all sorts of different ways and yet others inhibit growth so you want to group together the plants that do get along and keep the bad companions away. Since then we’ve been pairing our tomatoes, basil and carrots together and had fantastic results with all:

Carrots Love Tomatoes is an essential book if you are going to delve into the world of companion planting. Not only does it go through every vegetable and herb’s best and worst companions, but it also adds in tons of folk lore, natural insect repellant, herbal health tips, just all sorts of great wisdom. We highly recommend you read it.

Even though that book thoroughly explains companion planting, it still can be a little difficult to figure out what goes well with what. I’ve tried to simplify it the best that I can using the information in Carrots Love Tomatoes. When I created this chart I chose 10 of the most commonly grown vegetables and kept their ‘loves’ and ‘hates’ simplified to other commonly grown vegetables. In creating this very simplified chart I hope it will help you with your garden planning. I’m working on getting that chart so that you can download it and print it out yourselves…I’ll have it up in a few days!

If you haven’t tried companion planting yet, give it a shot. Go get some carrot and basil seed and plant them around your tomato plants.