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Homestead Guru What are you looking for? GROW YOUR OWNOFF GRIDDIY UNSCHOOLINGRV LIVINGHOME REMEDIES SHOP HomeFeaturedTomatoes Hate Cucumbers: Secrets of Companion Planting + Popular Planting Combinations Tomatoes Hate Cucumbers: Secrets of Companion Planting + Popular Planting Combinations Krystal Trammell 97 Comments companion planting design Did you know that tomatoes hate cucumbers? While they might taste great together in a salad, tomato plants actually dislike growing in close proximity to any member of the curcurbit family, which includes cucumbers. Tomatos love carrots and basil, however – so planting these together will actually make them each grow more vigorously! Sounds hokey? The idea that some plants and plant families are “friends” with others and grow better together is called companion planting, and it’s been around since the dawn of food cultivation. Check out this Companion Planting book on Amazon! Check out this Companion Planting book on Amazon! Planting your veggies in neat rows with labels is satisfying to the eye, and easier to harvest. However, when we look to nature, we don’t see rows anywhere, nor do plants all grow clumped up in groups of the same thing together. Mimicking nature’s biodiversity might make your garden look messy, but it’s been proven to help each individual plant to grow better. Plants in a polyculture are more resilient and tend to have fewer losses from insects or disease. Things like carrots, dill, parsley, and parsnip will attract praying mantises, ladybugs, and spiders. These predator species of insects feast on the bugs who like to ruin your tomatoes, so it’s a win-win for the tomatoes (and you)! great garden companions Check out the Companion Garden book on Amazon. This is also why it’s a great idea to interplant flowers with your vegetable plants–particularly marigolds and nasturtiums. These flowers will attract and feed beneficial pollinator insects, which will increase the fruit-set of many squashes, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other veggies. Nasturtiums are edible flowers and look lovely in salads, and their nutritious root, called mashua, used to be a staple crop in South American regions. Finally, some plants simply don’t get along, and won’t do well when they’re forced to share root space. Peppers and beans don’t like being next to each other, nor do potatoes and tomatoes (both members of the nightshade family). Peas prefer being far away from onions, and lettuces do not like to be near broccoli plants. Here’s a great list of plants that grow well together as garden friends. Or, you can grab a copy of the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Screenshot 2017-03-18 at 8.35.50 AM Screenshot 2017-03-18 at 8.36.46 AM To learn more about companion planting, check out the longtime bestseller, Carrots Love Tomatoes, and the more recently published book, Great Garden Companions. RELATED POSTS Toxic Chocolate: Heavy Metals Found in Chocolate, Including Organic Brands! Hailey Learn Permaculture from Gaia’s Garden Author Toby Hemenway–FREE Krystal Trammell DIY Chicken Feed Recipe: Better, Cheaper Eggs Krystal Trammell Shocking Animal Abuse Chickens Sexually Abused And Ripped Apart Johnny Sparrow How to Make a One Stick Instant Fire – VIDEO Krystal Trammell Mother Nature’s Antidepressant: Study Says Turmeric Better than Prozac Hailey ABOUT THE AUTHOR Krystal Trammell More from this Author Permaculture-minded hippie. Digital alchemist. Mother of five unschoolers. 97 COMMENTS Leslie Johnson I agree with everything…. except whenever I grow nasturtiums, they are infested with aphids. (wouldn’t eat a one). Do you have any advice for me? This also happens whenever I grow kale. I didn’t have anything friendly planted next to them, though. Reply Cat Bleish I had this issue with kale as well! It was actually so exhausting that I gave up. I will look into this and ask the author if she has any ideas for you! Reply Richard Hoffman I had tbe same problem as you. Ants use aphids in the same way that humans use livestock. They actually place aphids on plants. Aphids bear at an incredible pace, sucking on plants and bearing honeydew, a sweet liquid, for ants. The key to growing aphidless kale remains in the timing. Plant kale in a different garden spot than before in the fall! Kale can withstand cold westher! Harvest the kale in the spring. In that way, you avoid the aphid problem! Reply Someone Get ladybugs, they eat a lot of them. “Along with insects, ladybugs also look for pollen for a food source, so there are numerous plants you can grow to help attract them. Flowers and herbs such as cilantro, dill, fennel, caraway, yarrow, tansy, angelica, scented geraniums, coreopsis and cosmos are good choices for luring the ladybug.” Reply Angie Never plant Yarrow! I call it dog poop plant: stinky stinky stinky! Buy a skunk first. Reply Ellen Ziegler i have Red Yarrow! I love Yarrow..Don’t smell, but I love looking at it. Glad to see LAdy Bugs like it too! Reply Brandon Barnard Yarrow has medicinal properties, it is beneficial for staunching of blood. Reply .J. Richard Fowler Stanching of blood… by staunch people. Eden Dietrich I agree with most of the article. It is true to say that mostly in nature plant don’t grow in rows, but it is not true to say that things don’t grow all clumped together. A lot of the time the same plants do naturally grow in close proximity to one another, probably because seeds drop and germinated, or the plant spreads under the ground. Also, in Australia, and I’m not sure if this happens anywhere else, there are known associations between some plants which are often found together in the wild. But yes, the principal of randomness is also in play, and dispersal. So seeds will spread far and wide on the wind or carried by animals. Laura Yarrow is great for insect bites. Rub its leaves on mosquito bites, and the itchiness goes away. With no scratching, the swelling disappears more quickly. Reply Mark I agree, but not for the smell. You will never be able to get rid of it once planted. It’s like planting creeping charlie or purple deadnettle. Reply Bill Yarrow is actually a very good medicinal plant. Even more especially for women. Reply Kay James My friend tried this. As soon as the ladybugs were released, birds came down & ate them all! So she bought more, and the same thing happened. She gave up, cos she said she didn’t buy them to feed the birds! Reply Joy Basil also helps Reply Smallspacebigplans It is best to release the lady bugs at night. They will stay closer to where you release them and the birds are asleep. Reply Katelyn Let the ladybugs out at night for sure. Plant friendlies next to the kale. And make a soap wash to spray on the underside of the kale where the aphids stay. Use a Castile soap like Dr. Bronner’s Organic liquid Castile soap. Dilute to instructions on bottle. Works wonders for me with all plants affected by aphids. You have to reapply every week. Granny gardener Ladybugs love to lay thier eggs in evergreens … this year is especially abundant for ladybugs 😆 Reply A T I had the same issue with tomatoes, i planted a clove of garlic between all the tomato plants, one tomato plant, one clove of garlic, etc.. for each row. The aphids went away in a couple of days and I was also able to grow garlic as a bonus 🙂 Reply Anel Nice trick. Thanks Reply Nancy Hebert Next time you have problems with your kale dust your plants with self-rising flour. This trick works well with any soft bodied insect. It kills worms fast and is completely organic. Reply Cat Bleish WOW! Thank you! Reply Deborah Pawle Worms are friends to gardeners. Reply Vic Not the ones that are actually some young moths. Ever heard of the tomato hornworm? Reply Billie Taylor I believe Deborah Pawle is referring to earthworms, Vic. They burrow through the ground, aerating it and adding to its fertility with their droppings. The tomato horn worm is not actually a worm; it is a caterpillar. Don’t mean to start a firestorm; just could not resist. Billie Taylor I believe Deborah Pawle was referring to the earthworm, Vic. They burrow through the earth, aerating the soil and improving the fertility with their droppings. The tomato hornworm is not a worm; it is a caterpillar. I don’t mean to start a firestorm, but could not resisting making a comment. Dede morris I always have tomato hornworms. They turn into a huge moth but I can’t off hand think of what they are called. I put some in a jar and watched them. They are ravenous eaters, constantly eating the leaves and I don’t remember how long it takes them to pass but I think it’s about every 10 minutes and out of the other end comes the poop until they get ready to morph. Gardener Worms don’t become moths. Caterpillars do. Common name might be hornworm, but it’s not an actual worm. TAMMY Some worms- but not all-Look it up and see.We’re told to remove grubs and others-so look-(no offense) Reply JA I’m on a gluten free diet, the flour would make my Kale inedible 🙂 Reply Cat Bleish Good call on that! I wonder if gluten free flour would work??? Reply Billie jo Maybe diatomaceous earth Karen If it’s self- rising flour that works and not regular flour, then it might be the baking powder in it that is the deterrent. But you’d have to check on that. Bill Diatomaceous earth is good for a lot of things. Human grade is real good. Don’t inhale it Noel diatomaceous earth is indiscriminate. It will kill beneficial insects. Bees, Lady bugs, praying mantis. You best bet might be (like someone previously stated) release the lady bugs at night, or get praying mantis. Beverly Use diatomacious earth. No glutin and kills bugs fast. Reply Stac No diatomaceous earth, please. Gardens are a bee haven, and DE is just as deadly to bees as the pest bugs. I do use it, in my chicken coop for chick mites, but not on plants. Cat Bleish WOW! Great info! Brandy DE Kills bees though ? Cat Bleish What about DE on the soil, not the plant itself? Caterina DE kills ALL insects especially bees! It cuts up their exoskeleton and causes them to die. Not a good idea. Karla Bartness Flour doesn’t penetrate. WASH ALL PRODUCE Reply SM Just wash it well. Reply Gabs DE diatomaceous earth, has lots of applications but u can use it instead of flour. Side note: stuff is really light so a 10lb bag lasted my small garden two years so far. Reply Cat Bleish OH YES! We have used DE for ants and it works wonders! And fleas! Danielle Diakoff-King DE is only effective whe. Just applied dry. As soon as water touches it, it renders it ineffective and you must reapply. I fell for this one. It works if you’re on it but it’s kind of a hassle. Gabs diatomaceous earth (DE) Reply Fi Campbell Was just wondering where to get DE? We having a flea problem in back yard but can’t use lime because I worry about burning the dogs feet. Is mostly grass? Weeds and dirt at the moment but wish to make veggie gardens soon. TIA Fi JL Use organic flour…Usually they allergy is due to pesticides which are not found when you buy organic. Reply Mark All you have to do is wash the kale first to get rid of the flour – it isn’t absorbed into the kale. Reply CC just wash the flour off before you eat it. Reply Becker I was thinking that too!! And here is a little bio lesson for everyone who said “just wash it off”. Would you eat Kale if someone had dusted it with poison and then said “just wash it off”? Are you sure there isn’t any hiding in a leaf somewhere? Gluten is capable of causing intestinal damage at just over 20 parts per MILLION. Not immediate death, but the diarrhea and cramping you get could make you want to die. And for JL…Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder, not and allergy or something caused or cured by eating anything organic. ok, now you can all go on with your gardening, a little bit wiser 🙂 Reply Ally Neem oil. Nontoxic to us but kills everything else you don’t want, including fungus, insects etc. Reply Donna Wow, thanks!! Reply Pam Headley Mix a couple of drops of dish liquid with water in a squirt bottle and spray your plants, kills aphids on contact and will not hurt your vegetable plants or flowers. I have been doing this for years with success. Reply Pam Headley Add a couple of drops of dish liquid to a squirt bottle full of water and shake. Spray your veggie and flower plants making sure to get on the back side of leaves also. This mixture kills aphids on contact and does not hurt your plants. I have done this for years with great success. Avoid doing this during the heat of the day. Reply Joyce Try frequently spraying them with soap and water. T Reply Sydney Baxter Diatomaceous earth helps with aphids and just about every other kind of bug, totally non toxic-make sure to get food grade,not the stuff for pool filters. Also helps re-mineralize soil. My trick for crawly bugs–we get japanese beetles and stinkbugs a lot–is the vacuum cleaner. Just get the extension cord and go suck ’em up. Yes, the neighbors thinks I’m nuts, but they thought that anyway. Reply Tracy McCarthy Neem oil works great to get rid of aphids. It is also organic. Reply Mark Smith Get some NEEM oil. It’s totally organic and not harmful to humans or other mammals. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/neemgen.html Reply Michelle Make a tea out of tobacco or green walnut husk and spray on your plants every couple days and after it rains…ive had great success with both they keep everything but bees away Reply Cathy T I like planting basil with my kale.. from Michigan, never had a problem with nastirums or kale; zuchinni is my issue if I plant from seed I have better luck than from starter plants. Reply Jessica Terrington I found that cutting up browning banana peel and putting it under my plants seems to deter aphids! Reply Kay It’s good to have a trap crop for aphids, to keep them off other plants. When they get full carefully put a plastic bag around plant and pull it out of ground, while keeping all the bugs in. Tie it tight and put in trash can, never in compost. Kale is a great trap crop too. Reply 5 Solas Farm Diatomaceous earth works very well on any and all brassicas in my experience. I water the leaves…the only time I do…and sprinkle diatomaceous earth ont he leaves. I try to get as little as possible on the soil. Reply Dawn H Mint enhances growth and health and discourages aphids, ants, flea beetles. Reply Sam This works on my strawberry plants and nasturtium, two cups of fresh mint chopped, two whole heads of garlic pealed and chopped, two table spoons of chilli powder, blend and bring to boil in 2 litres of water. Then leave mix over night to stand, ( if you can cook and leave out doors to stand because it will also smell out the house!), Drain out the bits and put the liquid in a spray bottle. Stroke the leaves to one side and try to spray the bottom of the leaves! Reply Edith Thornburg I am trying to get a good view of the image that brought me here. It has Sweet corn in the top left corner and potatoes just to the right, in the top middle… Anyway, where can I see this image? I would love to print it out! Reply pat betcher https://www.pinterest.com/pin/45176802486292124/ Reply Pingback: Tomatoes Hate Cucumbers: Secrets of Companion Planting + Popular Planting Combinations | Oath Keepers Nebraska CC Neem oil spray is approved for organic gardening and kills aphids. Mix it with rainwater and use it promptly Because it loses effectiveness as it ages Reply barbara potter what can you plant corn with and squash ?? Reply Cat Bleish Beans! The 3 sisters! Reply Margaret Kyttle My Grandma would plant corn,squash & peas together. The pea vines climb the corn stalks & the squash provides ground cover for the peas & corn. Squash helps to retain moisture for all three. Reply Alvin Pittman Never had any problems growing tomatoes close to cucumbers or watermelons, Of course cucumbers and melons need to be fairly far apart from anything including their selves. Reply Alvin Pittman Never had any problems growing tomatoes close to cucumbers or watermelons, Of course cucumbers and melons need to be fairly far apart from anything including each other. Reply angi bloom Doterra Peppermint oil diluted in water and then sprayed on the leaves helps eliminate many bugs. If you want more info contact me angiyogabloom@gmail.com or info@yogabloom.ca Reply Cat Bleish We offer doTERRA essential oils here on the homestead guru!http://thehomestead.guru/essential-oils/ Reply Pingback: Links to Share | standingoutinmyfield Judy The headline/hook of the article is that tomatoes are not companion plants to cucumbers because they are part of the cucurbit family, yet cucumbers are not in the “foe” column adjacent to tomatoes. Additionally, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, corn, and kale are not cucurbitae either. Reply Lindsey Yes, I too was wondering why tomatoes and cucumber weren’t listed in each other’s “foe” category. Would the author of the article please address this? Reply Dawn Bauer I had a problem with gnats in the soil of the plants that I had bought from the store. I didn’t want to throw them out because they were beautiful. I tried everything to cure the problem, and ended up throwing out even my beautiful houseplants that I had raised for years. Does anyone know how to definitely get rid of gnats in the soil. Reply Molly Use hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and water. The peroxide is actually good for the soul and the soap suffocates the bugs. Reply Sharon C How much h2o2 to water and dish soap please! Thanks Reply Carri I get yellow sticky cards to catch the gnats, and mosquito bits to kill the larvae in the soil. Neither are harmful to the plants, pets or children. Reply Nick A Garlic grown around the roots of roses will deter greenfly Reply Julius Mwenda How do l control white flies in tomatoes effectively? Reply Hajes some sort of Inka’s Milpa? Reply Smallspacebigplans I have a terrible problem with moles (or voles). They destroy everything I plant from the roots up. I also have issues with squirrels. Help! Reply Jewell Holey Moley… Is an OMRI certified mole repellant. Reply Marg Nichols If you put a bird feeder away from your garden they’ll probably go for that instead. Reply Jo spread coffee grounds around your yard, it doesn’t kill the moles but they will relocate Reply Frode Haugsgjerd Smallspacebigplans: Get a cat, they kill everything. But don’t feed birds where the cat can get to them, as they are good helpers in the garden. Reply Pingback: Tomatoes Hate Cucumbers: Secrets of Companion Planting + Popular Planting Combinations | Holistic Rehab tommyboy Some people like their cucumbers pickled Reply tommyboy How do I get rid of the white flakes that seem to fall on my shoulders? Help! Reply Kenny The statement that tomatoes don’t like cucumbers is contradictory to the list given at the end of the article. No where in the list of companion plants does it state that either are a foe of the other. I’m going to try it this summer and see what kind of results I get. Reply Loretta Mazzola My biggest problems in the garden seem to be squash bugs and Japanese beetles. Is there any way to get rid of squash bugs besides going out and picking them off every day? And the Japanese beetles overrun the garden and decimate the leaves of my plants before they disappear for the season. Any suggestions? Reply EcoStewards Sow radish seeds around your squash and pumpkin seedlings when you plant them and you shouldn’t have any more problems with squash bugs. Reply Pingback: Learn These Things for Off-Grid Living | Homestead Guru Cheryl Fontaine Companion planting is a great idea. What I like to do also is NOT plant the same thing in a long row, I consider that an invitation to beasties so my garden isn’t neat and orderly, but it sure is beautiful. Have been organic gardening since I was ten years old, that’s 62 years. Still love it! Reply Ken Interesting, tomatoes hate cucumbers? I have always grown them together with no issues. This year most people in the area had a poor tomato season, I on the other hand had a bumper crop. The tomatoes are finished now however the cucumbers are still producing with the second of 2 planted just getting started (strategically positioned to slow growth). I have never fully paid attention to these so called facts as quite often the reverse seems to occur i.e. no success starting companion plantings. I have tried planting basil near tomatoes and sure they grow but a bit lacklustre. I planted basil this year in a separate location and it took off. I actually believe the scientists stance on the world “the only real fact is there are no facts”. I prefer to think of this type of information as a guide. Try it, if it isn’t successful, think outside the box i.e. do what you think is right and works for you. Reply Pingback: Worth Reading — 4.26.17 | A Touch of Cass Pingback: Perennial Food Plants for Lazy Gardeners | Homestead Guru Pingback: Bits and Clips for May 2017 | Polly Castor Pingback: A friend in need: learning about companion planting Pingback: Tomatoes Hate Cucumbers: Secrets of Companion Planting + Popular Planting Combinations – OKG News Pingback: Tomatoes Hate Cucumbers: Secrets of Companion Planting + Popular Planting Combinations ADD COMMENT Comment Text* Name* Email* Website SUBMIT COMMENT Click here to learn more about Essential Oils! 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