Carrots Love Tomatoes: Carrot Companion Planting

Summary: Carrot companion planting finds that carrots love tomatoes and calls for other helpful companions, such as beans and leaf lettuce as neighbors.

carrots and tomatoes: Farmers Market haul ~ Melissa Bube (mlcbube), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr

Companion planting works, even though science is still demystifying the hows and whys of plant antipathetic and sympathetic interactions. Certain plants thrive in proximity to certain plants and weaken in the presence of other plants. Carrots, for example, love tomatoes but dislike dill.

Carrot companion planting emphasizes the orange root vegetable's popularity with such garden staples as herbs, legumes and vegetables and shuns a small number of antipathetic flora such as apple trees and dill. Complete edibility, from leafy top to orange root, endears carrots to gardeners. Plentiful growth does not have to be coddled or enticed, for carrots sprout readily in garden environments, from in-ground settings to container plantings to greenhouses.

A concern, however, for carrots is its namesake nemesis, the carrot fly (Chamaepsila rosae), whose larvae, or maggots, feed on the rootlets of young carrots. Fortunately, an abundance of companion plants excels at repelling carrot flies. Bulb vegetables, such as leeks and onions, are protective neighbors for carrots. Herbs, such as rosemary and sage, also repel carrot flies.

Black salsify (Scorzonera hispanica), an Old World native of Southern Europe and the Near East, effectively repels carrot flies from European gardens.

Despite amiability in adjusting to whimsical gardening placements, carrots have special preferences for their floral neighbors. Favorite companions include: beans (Phaseolus and Vicia); chives (Allium schoenoprasum); leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa); leeks (Allium porum); onions (Allium cepa); peas (Pisum sativum); rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis); sage (Salvia officinalis); and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum).

Failure or success as neighbors comprises the mysterious realm of companion planting. Below-ground exudates, such as emissions of cellular waste, may account for dislikes and likes in plant neighbors. For instance, peas benefit from carrot exudates and therefore make good neighbors. Despite carrot congeniality, the popular root vegetable definitely disfavors a popular fruit and a popular herb as floral neighbors.

Carrot amiability does not extend to dill (Anethum graveolens). The annual herb in the celery family is not a desirable neighbor for carrots. 

Carrots suffer from close storage with apples (Malus domestica). The cheery orange vegetable becomes embittered, literally, from proximity to the sweet fruit. Distance from apples during storage assures carrot deliciousness.

A fun aspect of gardening centers on designing and planning them. An interesting factor in creating and maintaining attractive and healthy gardens is the recognition of companion plants whose life cycles are mutually beneficial. The overall attractiveness of the garden is enhanced by plants living and growing in happy harmony.

Familiarity with plant preferences may be gleaned from personal experiences. Identification of floral friendships, such as carrot companion planting, also is available through such classic reference sources as Louise Riotte's Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening, first published in 1975 by Garden Way Publishing in Charlotte, Vermont. Gardeners in fact may access a total of 12 gardening books -- on the subject of such natural principles as companion planting -- by author Louise Riotte (1909-1998).

Good floral neighbors make for good gardens!

plant companionability: carrots, jalapeño peppers, oregano, and tomatoes ~ roman.petruniak, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

carrots and tomatoes: Farmers Market haul ~ Melissa Bube (mlcbube), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/bubem/5994185319

plant companionability: carrots, jalapeño peppers, oregano, and tomatoes ~ roman.petruniak, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/petruniak/3736204274

For further information:

Riotte, Louise. Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Charlotte VT: Garden Way Publishing, 1981.