I read an article several years ago on growing tomatoes and potatoes together. I had my doubts about this as both plants are members of the nightshade family and it’s usually recommended that plants in the same family be planted away from each other to prevent the spread of diseases common to like plants.
But I like to try different methods to see if they work so one year I gave it a try.
The article said hollow a hole in the seedling potato that includes a potato eye. Place the small tomato transplant through the hole with the roots immerging from the bottom of the potato. Plant like you would normally plant a tomato with the potato being underground.
I also plant my tomato plants a little deeper than the roots and this technique you need to do that.
The reason I plant a tomato plant deeper is that it will make roots along the stem of the plant underground giving you more of a root base. I have done this for years and it makes a stronger better plant with a larger crop.
The article recommended this technique for combining the potato and tomato plant so that that you made better use of the garden space available. Yes, it did make better use of the garden space. Potatoes take up a lot of space and this remedied the situation.
Overall I had a great tomato crop and medium potato crop. I had no major problems and the plants were healthy and insect free. Would I do it again? I probably would not.
Over the years I have started to plant my potatoes in bushel baskets and really like that method. I cannot say anything negative about planting the two crops together but I didn’t notice a real plus to it either.
I guess that’s one thing I like about gardening: experimenting and trying new things. It adds interest and surprise to your garden. And sometimes you find a great new gardening hint that saves time space and effort.
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