Good companion plants for tomatoes can help a garden grow, but planting incompatible vegetables and herbs near one another is among the common farming mistakes people make.
Here are a few plants to avoid planting near tomatoes.
1. Corn: Tomatoes and corn attract similar pests and fungal infections, so they are best kept apart in the garden.
2. Potatoes: Not only will tomatoes and potatoes compete with each other for nutrients, but tomatoes will make potatoes more susceptible to potato blight.
3. Tobacco: Tobacco can expose tomatoes to the tobacco mosaic virus, which will quickly destroy every tomato plant in the garden. For this reason, smokers should always wash their hands thoroughly before handling any tomato plant.
4. Brassicas: Any plant in the Brassica family, which includes broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and cabbage, tend to attract pests like aphids and cabbage worms, which can harm tomatoes. They will also compete with tomatoes for the same nutrients in the soil.
5. Fennel: Fennel has compounds that suppress the growth of nearly all plants around it, so for this reason avoid planting fennel in the vegetable garden.