Companion Planting: Tomatoes Love Basil

Illustration by the Girl

There are few things that go together as well as tomatoes and basil in cooking. Caprese salad, Margherita pizza, and tomato basil soup are some of the best dishes that come to mind for these two ingredients. But did you know that they compliment each other when growing as well as on the plate in a finished dish?

There are a lot of vegetables, herbs, and even flowers that help each other grow when planted near each other. Throughout this summer I will be posting a series of "companion planting" updates (complete with a hand drawn illustration by the girl).

Planting basil as a border to where you are growing tomatoes will help the tomatoes resist disease and will help to make the tomatoes taste better. The tomatoes will grow better because basil attracts bees which results in increased pollination. Basil will also repel flies and mosquitoes. I've even heard of people planting basil by the back door for the mosquito repellent effect!

Next year when you are planning your vegetable garden, be sure to put some basil with your tomatoes, you won't be sorry!

Home Grown Potatoes

This is a pile of our home-grown potatoes! The new crop we decided to try in our vegetable garden this year was Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes. We only did a small patch, about 3 x 3 feet, but we ended up getting a good amount of fingerlings. These did not last long; they were so delicious. We will definitely be doing them again next year!

The Kelleher Rose Garden

Below are pictures of the Kelleher Rose Garden in the Fens taken by the girl. If you've never visited it, you really should take the time to go over there. It's near the Fenway Victory Gardens, so you could make a nice afternoon trip out of visiting both.

There are still plenty of roses blooming in the garden, so go take a peek while the weather is still nice!

Homemade Seed Strips

Photo courtesy of University of Warwick

If you haven't started planting yet, don't worry - seriously! Last year, the girl and I didn't get around to planting until the middle of June, and we still had a great harvest. So you have plenty of time to get your garden going!

The girl and I recently started working on our flower garden, aiming for late summer blooms. We started some seedlings in newspaper collars, and they are looking good, but we have more seeds that we want to grow. So, we decided to make seed strips to make the planting easier. They especially make evenly spacing small seeds, such as poppies and basil, a breeze. No more worrying about dropping too many in the same spot!

We found a step by step in Organic Gardening Magazine (posted below), and adapted it to our needs. Give it a shot if you still need to plant your veggies or flowers!

Paper Towel Seed Strips

What you need:
Paper Towels
Flour
Water
Ruler
Qtip or toothpick or spoon
Seeds (of your choice)

What to do:
1) Tear the paper towels into strips about 1 inch wide.
2) Mix flour and water together to make a thick gravy (we started with 1/2 cup flour and mixed in water as necessary until it was the right consistency).
3) Lay out seeds on the paper towels at the recommended spacing (per the seeds instructions).
4) Using a toothpick, spoon, or Qtip, place a small amount of the flour "glue" on top of the seeds
5) Allow to dry and then roll them up and place in a plastic bag until ready to be used

When planting, simply plant the seed strip in the soil at the required depth, cover, and wait for your seeds to sprout!