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Can i plant tomatoes and peppers together


Can You Plant Tomatoes and Peppers Together as Companion Plants?

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Companion planting is always tricky. There are many plants that compliment each other well when grown together. But there are also plants that will cause problems for other plants grown nearby, if planted too close together. So what about Tomatoes and Peppers? Can you grow them next to one another in a successful garden? Organic Gardening expert Logan Hailey examines if planting these two veggies next to one another is a good idea or not.

By Logan Hailey Last updated: July 29, 2022 | 8 min read

Thinking of planting and growing some tomatoes together with some peppers in your garden? If so, there are some important things to consider before diving in. Companion planting adds all sorts of symbiotic benefits to garden plants, but it can also cause problems when done incorrectly.

Tomatoes shouldn’t be grown with potatoes and many other plants. But is there any harm from companion planting tomatoes together with peppers?

Read on to learn about the pros and cons of planting tomatoes and peppers in the same space. We’ll dig into the details of companion planting and specific crop needs to figure out whether or not these two veggies make good neighbors in the garden.

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What is Companion Planting? 

Companion planting is planting different plants together that would benefit from having the other there.

Based on the principles of biodiversity and agro-ecology, planting two symbiotic plants together is a practice that has been used for thousands of years. It is also called interplanting. Interplanting has become very popular in organic farming and gardening because it maximizes the diversity and yield of plants in a given space.  

The principle is based on natural ecology: you don’t often see a monoculture of just one type of plant growing wild. You see plants growing together and likely helping each other thrive. Certain plants improve each other’s growth when planted together.  

Companion planting means less disease and pest pressure for your crops because insects have a harder time finding plants to prey on. More diversity also means more resilience in the garden ecosystem because different plants are attracting different species of beneficial organisms both above and below ground. 

Types of Companion Planting  

Companion planting is sort of like symbiosis; it’s two organisms working together for the benefit of both, rather than competing for resources. There are a few different types of planting to achieve different goals:  

Attracting Beneficials  
Attracting beneficial nutrients is one of the main reasons gardeners companion plant.

Many flowers like white alyssum are interplanted with garden veggies to attract beneficial insects that prey on pests. These flowers create habitat and food sources for syrphid flies, parasitic wasps, and other “good guy” predators.

If your veggies require pollinators to fruit (most open-pollinated tomatoes, squash, and melons do), you may consider interplanting pollinator-attracting flowers like borage or phacelia.    

Maximizing Space and Light  
The space beneath tomato plants is an excellent place for partial-shade-loving plants.

Other symbiotic plantings are based on maximizing space and light. For example, lettuce enjoys a partially shaded environment during peak summer, so you can use the space below tomato plants to grow lettuce that won’t bolt in the summer heat. Lettuce is low-growing and tomatoes are tall, so they make perfect companions without competing for space or nutrients.  

This type of interplanting primarily pays attention to the structure of plants. Another example is corn and squash. Corn is tall and lanky, while squash vines close to the ground and tolerates some shade thanks to the broad leaves. These two plants complement each other because of their different dimensions of growth.  

Interplanting to Repel Pests 
Many plants repel pests and make great friends for many plants.

Some herbs like basil and parsley are interplanted with tomatoes to repel pests with their fragrance. Onions and allium-family crops (leeks, shallots, scallions) are also great at repelling pests from garden plants like peppers, beets, brassicas, and lettuce.  

Interplanting for Similar Crop Needs 

Plants from the same family share the same needs and work well next to each other.

When plants have similar nutrients, water, or growing needs, sometimes it’s just easiest to plant them together. Then you can maintain an entire area of the garden in the same way.

This is where tomato and pepper interplanting comes into play. Both of these crops are nightshades that require lots of nutrients, plenty of water, and full sunlight and heat. This could make them competitors, however, with proper steps, they can also work together.  

About the Nightshade Family: Solanaceae 

Plants from this heat-loving plant family have similar needs.

Solanaceae is the nightshade family that consists of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, and wild nightshades. These crops are known for loving the heat and hating the cold. Solanaceous crops are typically planted after the last frost when days are reliably above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. They prefer 75 to 90 degrees for the flowering and fruiting stages.  

They are long-season crops that require many days to mature. Peppers, in particular, take a long time to fully ripen and need care all summer long.

Tomatoes can reliably yield for the full season and typically only need one planting to provide your garden with ripe deliciousness all summer long. But most importantly, these nightshades have very similar soil, pH, nutrient, light, water, and pollinator needs.  

Interplanting Benefits

These two plants can work great together in the same garden.

In general, when two plants have similar needs or they complement each other’s growing habits, they could be great companion plants. The main benefits of planting peppers and tomatoes together are maximizing yields from a small space, optimizing soil conditions, concentrating water and nutrient needs, and attracting the same pollinators.  

Both of these veggies can both be trellised to maximize their yields. In terms of soil, they both like a pH of around 6 or 7 and plenty of fertility. They require a steady supply of water and prefer not to have water on the leaves (drip irrigation or soaker hoses are best).

Their flowers are similar and they both need plenty of pollinators to set fruit. They also work together to create a canopy of leaves that protects fruits from sun-scald.  

Potential Drawbacks 

Though they can be beneficial to plant next to each other, there can be some disadvantages to be aware of.

Where interplanting goes wrong is when plants start to overgrow or compete with each other. For example, if two crops are planted too close together they will both end up unhappy and potentially more susceptible to disease because they don’t have the space, water, and nutrients they need.  

It is important to provide enough space for companion plants to thrive. Airflow is also a major factor in success. With plants in the nightshade family, blights, tobacco mosaic virus, fungal diseases, and mildews can take hold in the moist parts of the season. As mentioned above, you should avoid overhead watering because it can encourage pathogens to grow on the leaf surfaces.  

For the best success, plant these plants at least 1-2 feet apart and keep up on your pruning. Pruning lower leaves and proper trellising ensure that tomatoes have plenty of airflow. Their pepper companions should be far enough away from the tomato plant to ensure aeration through the leaves.  

You may also want to choose disease-resistant seed varieties to ensure that this interplanting does not end up harboring pathogens. Rotate peppers and tomatoes to a different part of the garden each year to keep disease risk at bay.  

Should You Companion Plant Peppers and Tomatoes? 

Knowing how to companion plant can yield considerable results.

Taking the pros and cons into account, planting tomatoes and peppers together is totally fine as long as you take the steps outlined above. In a smaller garden or container garden, even just a few tomato and pepper plants could yield prolifically if they get enough space, water, and nutrients. Here are a few more quick tips for getting the most out of interplanting.  

Tips for Growing Peppers and Tomatoes Together

Common Mistakes and Easy Fixes 

There are a few common mistakes you may encounter when interplanting. But luckily, there are also some pretty easy fixes you can put into place to correct them.

Planting Too Close Together 

Plants need airflow to thrive so be sure to give them plenty of space.

Nobody wants to be crowded in a small space. Plants will suffer if they don’t have enough space to stretch out their roots and leaves. While seedlings may look small at the time of transplanting, consider how large they will be at full size. When in doubt, space the plants farther apart rather than too close together.   

Forgetting to Trellis or Stake 

Both plants need to climb and have support so provide a trellis for them.

Peppers and tomatoes are both prone to falling over once they are heavy with fruits in late summer. This means it is important to stake or trellis these plants so they don’t end up in a big messy pile. Don’t forget to trellis! Otherwise, you may regret planting these two veggies near each other.  

Avoiding Pruning  

The little side shoots on tomatoes are called suckers and should be removed to make room for airflow.

If you avoid pruning, your interplanting can go downhill pretty quickly. Pruning is the process of removing lower stems and leaves for airflow.

Suckering is also very important for tomatoes. Suckers are the tomato side shoots that come out of the “elbows” of the main stalk and side leaves. For maximum yields and minimum disease issues, you should remove suckers throughout the season so that you keep only one or two main “leader” shoots that grow upward and out. 

Not Enough Nutrients 

Organic fertilizer like compost helps both of these veggies to be healthy.

Both plants are prolific heavy-feeding plants. You need to amend your soil with high-quality compost and a few doses of organic fertilizer such as fish emulsion throughout the growing season. Peppers can use fertilizers that are similar in balance to tomatoes, which is another reason why these two veggies can grow well together.

Disease 

Keep an eye on your plants and immediately remove infected leaves to keep them from infecting the rest of the plant.

If early or late blights begin to take hold on your companion plants, it is best to remove infected leaves right away. Use a diluted neem solution to organically prevent and treat fungal pathogens throughout the season. Remember to keep plenty of airflow between plants with pruning. 

Pests 

Tomato hornworms are tomato-eating pests to keep away from your crops.

Unfortunately, nightshade crops are not immune to pests. The most common is the tomato hornworm (sometimes called the tobacco hornworm) which can harm both of these plants. These are very large caterpillars that are easy to remove if you stay on top of scouting. They can eat entire leaves and fruits in a single day, so it is best to stay on top of them.  

When your plants are small, you can cover peppers and tomatoes with a light row cover in the early season to keep the hornworm moths out of your garden and provide additional warmth to the growing seedlings.  

Final Thoughts 

Both of these veggies make great companions in the garden and a delicious pair in the kitchen. While there are many veggies that may not make the best companion plants, these two will get along just fine in most gardens. Happy planting!

Planting Tomatoes And Peppers Together? Know These 2 Issues – Thriving Yard

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Tomatoes and peppers are some of the most rewarding plants to grow in a veggie garden (although, technically, they’re fruits).  

Many gardeners can relate to the temptation to plant an extra two or three tomato plants, only to be completely overwhelmed by an abundant harvest later in the year. And, heaven forbid you plant an extra jalapeño or habanero.

Although there’s a lot of good advice on how to grow each individual crop, there’s some mixed information about whether or not you can grow them together. 

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As a general rule, you can grow tomatoes and peppers together in the same space. There are two potential risks for growing them together, although these are minimal:

  1. Increased risk of crop-specific pests
  2. Soil nutrient depletion

Consistent crop rotation, healthy soil management, and early response to pests will mitigate these risks.

So, why the mixed messages? Mostly because large-scale growers have the space to separate these crops, and in an ideal world, that’s exactly what gardeners should do. But, backyard gardeners have been successfully growing these two plants together for decades. So, ultimately, the decision comes down to available growing space.

Planting Tomatoes & Peppers Together: Pest Management

Peppers and tomatoes are both in the Solanaceae family, along with potatoes, tobacco, eggplant, false nightshade, deadly nightshade, and ground cherries.

The Solanaceae family hosts a wide variety of pests, including mosaic viruses, hornworms, armyworms, and nematodes, as well as being vulnerable to common pests like aphids and leaf miners (source).

This is the primary reason growers recommend separating tomatoes and peppers, along with all Solanaceae crops. However, tomatoes and peppers are more resilient than other Solanaceae crops, so it is more important to separate them from potatoes and tobacco.  

There are two things that attract pests:

  1. A large population of target plants
  2. Stressed or sickly plants

Although some pests are universal (like aphids), many are specific to families. The more plants you grow in the same family, the more likely pests are to find your crops. This is why crop rotation plans emphasize separating plants from the same family, in the hopes that this will dissuade large infestations.

However, there is little difference between planting 10 tomato plants and 5 each of tomatoes and peppers. The end result is 10 plants in the same family. This is why many backyard growers can get away with planting multiple plants from the same family in the same space. The overall population is not on the same scale as a professional tomato or pepper farmer. 

In fact, it is best to separate all plants within a family, even separating tomato plants from each other, to prevent pest infestations. But, again, this depends on available space.

In general, the more plants you grow within the Solanaceae family, the more you should focus on separating them to discourage pests.

Planting Tomatoes & Peppers Together: Soil Nutrition

Plants in the same family also tend to pull the same nutrients from the soil. This is another reason crop rotation schedules are an important part of soil management.

Plants within the Solanaceae family are considered heavy feeders. Tomatoes and peppers pull a large number of nutrients from the soil – especially during fruit formation.

If you plant too many heavy feeders in one area, you can deplete key nutrients, which may result in nutrient deficiencies during the season or in future crops. 

You can prevent nutrient deficiencies by spacing heavy feeders throughout the garden and surrounding them with leafy greens, herbs, root crops, and legumes. These crops have shallow roots and pull less nutrition from the soil, which keeps the heavy feeders from fighting over water and nutrients.  

Again, this is less about separating tomatoes and peppers, and more about keeping all plants in the Solanaceae separated from each other. If you only grow a few plants, this isn’t necessary. However, the more tomatoes and peppers you grow, the more likely you are to see deficiencies from growing them all in one place.

Plants in the Solanaceae family pull a lot of nitrogen, potassium, and calcium from the soil. Mix compost into the soil when you transplant, and use extra compost as mulch to improve nutrient density. 

Eggshells are recommended for improving calcium in the soil, but it takes a long time before the calcium breaks down enough to be available to plant roots. Instead of adding eggshells to the soil around your plants, add them to your compost pile or mix them into the soil at the end of the growing season where you plan on growing Solanaceae plants the following year.

Planting Tomatoes & Peppers Together: Seed Saving

Pest and soil management are important to current crops, but gardeners focused on seed saving have to make decisions based on future crops.

Occasionally, plants within a family can cross-pollinate, but this is not true for tomatoes and peppers. Rather, you must separate different tomato and pepper varieties from each other to maintain a pure genetic line.

For example, if you are growing Purple Cherokee slicing tomatoes and Black Cherry tomatoes, you have to keep them at least 25’ apart in order to prevent cross-pollination. The same rule applies to peppers. 

The more space you put between varieties, the more likely you are to keep a pure line. However, this doesn’t have to be empty space; in fact, you can fill this space with other plants to reduce cross-pollination even more.

So, a gardener could plant a block of Purple Cherokee tomatoes, then a block of bell peppers, then a block of Black Cherry tomatoes, and then a block of jalapeños. Within each block, you could interplant root crops, leafy greens, herbs, flowers, and legumes. 

This would help with pest management, soil nutrition management, and seed saving. Plants within the Solanaceae family are self-pollinating, but wind can blow pollen onto plants that are close by. The more obstacles you put in the way, like other plants or structures, the less likely they are to cross. Pollinators have a minuscule effect on cross-pollination within this family.

Planting Tomatoes & Peppers Together: Support Structures

One final consideration for growing these plants together is support structures.

There are two kinds of tomato plants: determinate (bush), and indeterminate (vining). Determinate plants are more compact and will not grow beyond a certain length/height. Meanwhile, indeterminate plants can grow longer throughout the season, which can be difficult to contain. Most heirloom varieties are indeterminate.

Pepper plants don’t grow as much as tomato plants, but they can become quite heavy when they are in production, so they may still require support. Peppers are denser and may become top-heavy, so a cage can give extra support and may prevent splitting or plants uprooting themselves.

It may be easier to plan and manage your garden if you separate determinate tomatoes from indeterminate tomatoes, and if you keep peppers separate from both. It has no effect on overall health, but it can keep the tangled mess of vining tomatoes away from the more structured determinate tomatoes and peppers.

This can also make it easier to build support structures. Indeterminate tomatoes can be pruned and tied to trellises, while determinate tomatoes and peppers perform better in cages. This is not as important when you are only growing a few of each plant, but in larger gardens, this separation can make it easier to tend to your garden.

For more information on planting and managing a vegetable garden, please read The Ultimate Guide to Watering Tomato Plants, and Pepper Plants Not Growing? These are the Most Likely Causes. 

Sydney Bosque

Sydney has over 15 years of experience in lawn maintenance, landscape design, and organic gardening. She has an A.A.S. in Landscape Design/Organic Produce Production from the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture.

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What can and cannot be planted next to peppers? Combined landings. Photo - Botanichka

Supporters of joint planting of vegetables, as well as those who want to save space in the garden, will probably be interested in learning about the best companions for pepper. In this article I will tell you which vegetables, flowers and herbs will create a harmonious combination with sweet and hot peppers. At the same time, successful neighbors will protect pepper from diseases and increase its yield. And, of course, we will also consider those garden crops, the neighborhood with which pepper must be avoided.

What can and cannot be planted next to peppers?

Benefits of mixed plantings

Growing vegetable crops, in particular hot and sweet peppers, together with herbs, flowers and other vegetables is a method that is widely used by adherents of organic farming. This method of growing plants is called joint or combined planting.

Growing peppers with the right neighbors has numerous benefits. First of all, this is the attraction of beneficial insects and the repelling of pests from pepper by its companions. Secondly, the maximum use of garden space. And, according to some gardeners, a good neighborhood enhances the taste and aroma of pepper.

Planting the right companion plants along with peppers is also a good way to avoid the use of powerful chemicals and heavy doses of mineral fertilizers for insect control or plant nutrition.

We usually plant plants next to each other that require similar growing conditions. Namely: a similar temperature regime, air humidity, types and frequency of top dressing, as well as irrigation regime. Bulgarian and hot peppers, we usually have where he can get quite a lot of sun. This means that numerous vegetable and spice crops, which also require a large amount of light, can be successfully grown next to it.

To implement co-planting, one-row alternation of companion plants is usually used, or the companion crop is planted in row-spacings. Some plants are suitable companions simply because they do not harm their neighbors. Others can indeed exert some kind of positive influence on each other by establishing a symbiotic relationship. And still others will harm the main culture.

See also our article Mixed plantings - which crops are best to grow together?

Which plants can be grown next to sweet peppers?

The best vegetable neighbors for peppers

Bell peppers and tomatoes are very good companions: they belong to the same family and require the same growing conditions and the use of the same means to protect against diseases and pests. At the same time, tomatoes and peppers are often successfully combined in a greenhouse. True, tomatoes require an influx of fresh air to a greater extent and need more frequent ventilation than peppers. However, this does not have a special effect on the overall yield of these crops when planted together.

Eggplant also grows well with sweet peppers. In addition, peppers can be grown together with onions, carrots and cucumbers.

Sometimes in the literature you can find recommendations that bell pepper is also good to grow next to a pumpkin. But in such cases, one should take into account the scale of pumpkin bushes with long lashes and huge leaves. They are able to shield the pepper from the light. Therefore, it is important to maintain the desired distance between plants, as well as move the lashes away from the pepper bushes as they grow.

Bell peppers and tomatoes are very good companions for growing in the same bed. © iFartWhenILaughh

Herbs to grow next to peppers

Experienced gardeners have observed that basil, dill and coriander are the best companions for pepper in the garden. There are over 50 different varieties of basil that can be grown with peppers. Among them there are also sweet varieties (lemon, caramel, mint, cinnamon), and vegetable (classic, clove, large-leaved). And they will all grow equally well next to pepper. And varieties with bright purple foliage will also give the garden a decorative look.

Growing basil next to peppers is highly desirable. It is noticed that its presence makes the taste and aroma of hot or sweet pepper more intense. At the same time, it is believed that thrips, flies and mosquitoes do not like the smell of basil.

Dill and coriander planted next to peppers help deter aphids and attract beneficial insects to the garden, including ladybugs and lacewings.

Marjoram, oregano (oregano), chives and parsley are also good companions for pepper bushes and can be grown with bell peppers without any negative effects.

Flowers that can be planted next to sweet peppers

Some flowers are also valuable companions of peppers. Roman chamomile (navel) increases the resistance of pepper to various diseases, however, when planted at close range.

It is very good to plant marigolds next to peppers, as their roots secrete a substance that protects the soil from nematodes and kills fungi that harm peppers and other vegetable plants.

The popular bright nasturtium flower with edible flowers and seeds is also a good companion to grow with peppers, and its foliage will enrich the soil when it rots in autumn.

Due to belonging to the same family, petunias are successfully grown together with pepper. Geraniums (pelargoniums), planted together with peppers, repel Japanese beetles (beetles) with their essential oils. These are very dangerous pests that damage a huge number of horticultural and horticultural crops, including peppers.

Read also our article 12 of the most delicious varieties and hybrids of sweet peppers that I have grown.

Due to belonging to the same family, petunias are successfully grown along with pepper

What to plant next to hot peppers?

Hot peppers produce a chemical from their roots that prevents root rot and fungal diseases on nearby plants, such as eggplant. For the same purpose, you can sprinkle pumpkin, chard, tomatoes and cucumbers with ground hot pepper.

Spinach, lettuce, basil, dill, thyme and cilantro pair well with hot peppers. It is noticed that they have a positive effect on the taste of bitter pepper. The most important thing to consider is that companion plants do not cast too much shade on the peppers. And there should be many times more bushes of a burning vegetable than neighboring greens.

Shift crops

Growing crops with different harvest times on the same bed is another option for co-planting. To make the most of the space in a small garden, increasing the yield per square meter, you can grow early-ripening and late-ripening crops together.

Pepper ripens quite late, and due to its thermophilicity, it is planted in open ground in late spring-early summer. Therefore, in his garden before planting seedlings, you can grow early ripening crops - green onions, radishes, peas or lettuce.

Growing crops with different harvest times in the same garden is another option for co-planting

Can hot and sweet peppers be planted side by side?

It would seem that sweet and hot peppers are similar in many respects, which means that they can successfully grow side by side. However, they cannot be grown together. The biological characteristics of pepper are such that it belongs to the so-called "facultative self-pollinators".

That is, in principle, peppers do not need to be pollinated by pollen from other plants in order for them to form fruits. And if you grew pepper in a single copy in a pot on the windowsill, you probably noticed that fruiting does not suffer from this.

However, at elevated air temperatures, peppers can often cross-pollinate. This usually takes place in the southern regions. And in the middle lane, this happens in very hot weather or when grown in a greenhouse.

Usually, when pollinating the “mother” sweet pepper with pollen from the hot “father”, nothing threatens the latter, but the fruits of sweet pepper often become bitter. And if the pollen of sweet pepper pollinates hot pepper bushes, then the latter may lose some of its sharpness. Sometimes the shape may also change - the wall thickness and size of the fetus.

Therefore, if you want peppers to taste and shape according to the cultivar, it is better not to plant sweet and hot peppers side by side.

Which plants should not be planted together with peppers?

Some horticultural and spice crops should not be grown next to bell peppers as they can harm each other. Often a negative impact is felt even if an unsuitable neighbor is in a neighboring garden.

Members of the cabbage (cruciferous) family, which includes cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mustard and other crops, should never be grown in the garden with sweet or hot peppers.

Beans, beans, including soybeans and lima beans, are also poor companions for bell peppers. A close relative of dill, fennel should not be planted next to any garden crops, including peppers, as it has a negative effect on all of its neighbors.

Do not plant bell peppers near apricots, as the fungal pathogen that affects peppers can also spread to the apricot tree.

Sometimes the pepper itself can harm the taste of other vegetables grown with it. In particular, peppers do not go well with potatoes and beets. And such a neighborhood can be called mutually harmful. For tubers and root vegetables, it is better to find a place away from other vegetables. In addition, potatoes are “gluttonous” and absorb all vitamins and minerals for their development and growth, depriving neighboring crops of them.

Planting tomatoes next to peppers: pros and cons

Sergei Vadimovich asks: “Is it allowed to plant tomatoes next to bell peppers?”

Tomatoes are rather whimsical in placement with other crops. When planting with pepper, you should follow the rules. Pepper is strongly against shading. Between it, you should plant something low, for example, basil, melon. Arugula can be placed along the edges.

Tomatoes prefer a draft. You can plant tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, peppers together in the greenhouse in the following order: from the north - cucumbers so that other plants do not shade. Everything else is from the south. Tomatoes in this case will grow, but not very successful due to high humidity.

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