CARROTS LOVE TOMATOES

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Early in the day before the sun is strong, squash stinkbugs are sluggish, and in the small garden may be picked off. There are also insect-resistant strains of squash available.

Sweet Potato ( Ipomea batalas ). Nemagold sweet potatoes developed by the Oklahoma Experiment Station have built-in resistance to nematodes. Sweet potatoes generally have high-energy value, with only peas and beans yielding more. They have a common enemy—the fungus disease or wilt called "stem rot"—which can be controlled with disease-free seed and by rotating the crop. White hellebore controls a number of leaf-eating insects.

If rabbits bother your sweet-potato patch, spray with a diluted fish emulsion. (Parks has one called Mer-Made Fish Emulsion.)

Tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum ). Tomatoes will protect asparagus against the asparagus beetle. Since they are tender plants, put tomatoes in during late spring after the early crop of asparagus spears has been harvested. Tomatoes and all members of the Brassica family repel each other and should be kept apart. Tomatoes protect gooseberries against insects.

Tomatoes are compatible with chives, onion, parsley, marigold, nasturtium, and carrot, and for several years I have planted garlic bulbs between my tomato plants to protect them from red spider mites. Though not containing fungicidal elements, tomatoes will protect roses against black spot.

The active principle of tomato leaves is solanine, a volatile alkaloid that at one time was used as an agricultural insecticide. You can create your own insect-repellent spray for roses by making a solution of tomato leaves in your vegetable juicer—add 4 or 5 pints of water and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Strain and spray on roses where it is not convenient to plant tomatoes as companions. Keep any unused spray refrigerated.

Unlike most other vegetables, tomatoes prefer to grow in the same place year after year, and this is all right unless you have a disease problem, in which case plant your tomatoes in a new area. Stinging nettle growing nearby improves their keeping qualities, and redroot pigweed, in small quantities, is beneficial, too. Tomatoes are inhibited by the presence of kohlrabi and fennel.

Root excretions of tomatoes have an inhibiting effect on young apricot trees. Don't plant tomatoes near corn, since the tomato fruitworm is identical to the corn earworm. Don't plant near potatoes, either, since tomatoes render them more susceptible to potato blight.

If you smoke, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly before you work in your garden, for tomatoes are susceptible to diseases transmitted through tobacco.

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