The Popular Herb You Should Consider Planting Near Your Tomatoes In The Garden

Companion planting is a pleasant-sounding concept. It gives you the feeling that different types of plants are hanging out happily, sharing jokes, gossip, and book recommendations. If you do it correctly, this planting strategy benefits your garden in a handful of ways. Tomatoes and parsley are two plants that get along well as companion plants.

The fruit plant is a summer staple for home growers, but there are a bevy of common pests that'll attack your tomatoes. It turns out that parsley has a good number of qualities that can help your tomatoes make it to fall's finish line in great health. The herb is a lure for beneficial insects that will snack happily on the bugs that prey on tomatoes.

The herb attracts predatory bugs like hoverflies, parasitic wasps, and tachinid flies that feast on aphids, caterpillars, thrips, and whiteflies. Parsley is cheap and easy to find at grocery stores, so if you're coaxing rare tomato breeds toward a harvest, the herb makes a good sacrificial plant for the sake of your potential tomato crop. If your tomatoes are often overrun with aphids, parsley can also be a trap crop for these common pests. Instead of infesting your tomatoes, the bugs often opt for tasty parsley and leave your tomatoes in peace.

Tomato plants take up a lot of real estate, but growing them vertically with support can leave spaces in the dirt between plants that may as well be filled with some parsley plants. Maximizing space between your tomato plants is essential if you're going to intersperse your plants with parsley. Leaving about 2 feet between tomato plants is a good plan for most varieties.

Training tomatoes to climb supports rather than trailing on the ground will free up space for their herbal friends. This is ideal for small gardens. If you're not hurting for space, parsley planted up to 5 feet away from tomatoes can still be a helpful companion. For best results, leave 6 to 8 inches between parsley plants.

You can also create a companion container garden for a tomato and a few parsley plants. Choose a compact type of tomato, and plant it in a large container that's at least 24 inches wide. A whisky barrel works, but there are also cheap garden containers you likely already have around the house. Tuck in three parsley plants around the tomato plant and watch them thrive.