The Companion Plant That Can Give Garden Tomatoes A Healthy Boost

If you're a fan of homegrown tomatoes, now is a great time to start thinking about how to set up your tomato plants for success this year. Some of the more obvious considerations include choosing the right location in your garden beds and picking the variety that will produce the biggest harvest. However, you should also consider pairing your tomato plants with helpful companions that can give them a healthy boost by repelling harmful pests.

Companion gardening entails growing compatible plants near each other, so that they can swap nutrients, deter unwanted pests, and attract beneficial bugs to the area. There are several helpful companions that can benefit tomato plants, but one that you might not have considered before is asparagus. This stalky vegetable naturally repels root-knot nematodes, common garden pests that live in the soil and can damage or weaken tomato plants. In return, tomato plants keep asparagus beetles out of the garden (these pests cause asparagus spears to become brown and disfigured). Pairing asparagus with tomato plants helps to keep both plants healthy and thriving, so you can maximize your garden's harvest through the seasons.

Pairing tomatoes with companions like asparagus protects the former from harmful pests while they're young and fragile. But asparagus is also an excellent choice if you're planting a companion garden filled other mutually beneficial plants. Asparagus is a perennial in USDA Hardiness Zones 2 through 9, meaning that in most parts of the United States, it returns yearly and provides a consistent harvest in the spring and early summer. That said, asparagus plants can take a few years to get established in a garden. You may need to wait two years after planting crowns (or three years if you started with seeds) before it's harvest ready — and before its nematode-repellant properties become apparent. However, once established, an asparagus plant can thrive and produce a seasonal harvest for well over a decade.

If you decide to try your hand at companion gardening this year, there are a few crucial mistakes to avoid making with asparagus. Notably, asparagus plants have delicate root systems that need space to expand as they grow. Be sure to plant them between 12 and 18 inches apart from each other (and their tomato companions) to prevent overcrowding. Since their roots are so fragile, you should also take care not to damage or otherwise disturb them when adding in your tomato transplants.