Why Garlic Is One Of The Best Companion Plants For Tomatoes That Thrive
Even tomatoes need a pal, and just like among fauna, some flora friends are better together than others. The top companion plants help your garden thrive by keeping pests and weeds at bay, increasing yield, maintaining moist soil, and perhaps more anecdotally, getting along like gangbusters once you're using them in the kitchen. Basil grows great with tomatoes, for example, because it attracts desirable pollinators while repelling less attractive critters at the same time. And the duo also makes for the beginning of a tasty caprese salad. Garlic and tomatoes are another pair that's like the peanut butter and jelly of the plant world, and they grow beautifully together, too.
Like basil, garlic's distinctive perfume is offensive to some of the creepy crawlies that might otherwise breach your tomatoes. And we aren't just talking about bloody-mary-loving vampires. Garlic can also deflect tomato-seeking spider mites intent on stealing your harvest. It can even help to stave off less evolved life forms, like bacteria and dreaded fungus. You just have to know how to marry your tomatoes and garlic for the best sowing success.
Growing garlic and tomatoes together, and what to do come picking season
Space your tomatoes and garlic close enough together to reap the potential benefits, but not so intimately that they're crowded. You ultimately want garlic about 6 inches to a foot from the tomatoes so they're not competing for nutrients. They both love to bask in the sun and receive a decent amount of rain (or gentle showers from your watering can). It also obviously makes sense to position the garlic as a perimeter around the tomatoes (to whatever extent you can), to create a kind of natural forcefield against predators.
Once your harvest is ready, the allium and botanical pair well in many recipes and are crucial components of your tomato sauce or gravy, not to mention tons of salsa and bruschetta preparations. But you can also give them the confit treatment, either separately or together, for your next pizza or as an unorthodox burger topping. This works particularly well with cherry tomatoes, thanks to their tiny size. Garlic and tomatoes of all proportions are also wonderful in jams that you can enjoy well after their peak season.