Will my tomatoes suffer much ....?

[garygc2008]

Hi everyone,
Just a quickie, does anyone feel that my tomatoes will suffer at the hands of my courgettes?

[Starchild]

Should be ok as cucumbers make good companion plants to toms

[terrier]

I have heard that you shouldn't grow courgettes and toms in the same bed as they are not good for each other but I have done this in the past with no problems. The only problem I see is that tomatoes require a steady supply of water when fruiting and courgettes are very thirsty plants that need a lot of water when fruiting so you'll have to keep a close eye on the state of the soil and not let it dry out.

[garygc2008]

I was thinking more the sun reaching the toms, do you think this will be a problem?

Thanks

Gary

[Alison]

What sort of toms are they? In other words, how high will they grow, if they're very short ones (some bush ones don't grow very tall at all) then they might struggle to get enough light but if they grow taller then I don't see the problem.

[King Carrot]

I read somewhere that courgettes & cus like a high nitrogen feed while toms require a high potash feed and little nitrogen once flowering -however I have grown toms & cus in the same greenhouse sucessfully in the past, it must work because I got cus and toms

cheers,

KC

[mcsee]

It's possible your tomatoes will get some competition from the courgettes, but I'd just cut the infringing leaf off the courgette. What about the sweet corn, do you see any problems on that side.

[Flummery]

Tall toms (those you grow as a cordon by pinching out the sideshoots) will soon overtake the courgettes which might actually help by keeping the soil moist at the roots. I wouldn't worry about it. Lots of people forget to feed their plants anyway! They still get decent crops.

[Cutecumber]

I'm more worried about your sweetcorn...

planting in a line is not going to help their pollination.

I agree that as long as the tomatoes are tall varieties, and you feed and water your crops adequately, they should be ok.

[Two_Sheds]

I think your courgettes will swamp everything else. They need about 3 foot each.

Sweetcorn is usually planted in a block of at least 4 x 4 plants, as it is wind-pollinated. You'll need to shake the plants, to release pollen from the males (at the top) to the females (below).

Personally, I would have only grown one or two courgettes: I soon tire of eating them every night.

[zazen999]

I think your lettuces are now in danger as the courgettes will romp all over them.

I don't tire of eating courgettes and can't have enough!

On what Two_Sheds said about the sweetcorn; you'll need to pay attention to the tops and when the pollen is there, shake it [I get a handful and stroke it on the hairy ends of the cobs]. If they don't get the the pollen, you'll get intermittent development [ie no tasty corn on your cob].

[garygc2008]

The tomaoes are Pomodoro Costoluto Genovese ( indeterminate ). Regards the corn, unfortunately being an ameteur i found out a little too late about planting habits ( block ) but i figured if i just leave them in, there's at least still a chance if i keep a good eye on em and shake at the right times.

Perhaps i should have planted just 2 courgettes. Certainly something to think about next year i guess. But i have a willing family to eat the addtional this year.

The lettuce is in the other bed, maybe you mean the spinach type thingy. I don't mind losing those too much, I'll just use what i get, its the Tomatoes i wouldn't want to sacrifice.

So would you all say give em a month and see how it all looks then?

By the way, thanks for all the replies, there's too many to thank individually, so THANKS EVERYONE........... All taken on board and noted for next year.

[davefromthechipie]

Hi gary . As already said they will overtake your toms and spinach. If it was me id move the toms where the corn is ,the corn dug up and placed in a block in the same bed as the courg And the spinach moved too, even just in pots if you don't have the room .
Just to go on from what zaz said about the corn ..Hand pollinating corn isnt easy at all todo Because Each of the hairs on the corn to be ( forget the real name ) One by One has to be pollinated and there are hundreds >.< .
You have a good chance of killing of Alot of veg dugging up But id take the risk As they will most likely die anyway.
Goodluck dave

[Headfry]

Friends planted their sweetcorn in a lovely straight line- and had NO problems with the cobs setting, they had loads!
Mine are in the traditional block, but see how you get on, I am sure they will be ok. Try gently tapping the plants to move the pollen about between them!