Tomato plants thrive in the summer. The plant's growing season runs from May to October, with production peaking in the warmer months of July through September. Unfortunately, summertime conditions are not only good for tomato plants but also provide the ultimate environment for pest activity to increase.

As a result, keeping tomatoes pest and disease-free becomes a challenge. There are pesticides that gardeners can use, but some can be harmful to plants. Luckily, a gardening expert has revealed a natural way to protect tomatoes this summer, that will ensure the crops are able to grow and thrive healthily.

Brain Lowell shared that growing basil near your tomato plants will protect it from pests and diseases. The expert, who has 30 years of gardening experience, shared the tips on a YouTube channel called Next Level Gardening.

He explained that the scent of basil "confuses the moth that lays the eggs that become the tomato hornworm." Tomato hornworms are large caterpillars that devour large parts of foliage and tomatoes as they feed and grow. However, when you plant basil with tomatoes, the scent of the herb makes it difficult for pests to find the tomatoes.

Brain said: "Now I've grown basil with my tomatoes for five years and I've never had tomato hornworms where I've had my basil. I say that because last year I had an entire row of basil in front of my tomatoes all down this bit and I didn't have any tomato hornworms here.

"But 50 feet that way I had a smaller bed with tomatoes in it, and peppers and tomato hornworms will eat peppers as well, and I forgot to plant basil around there and guess what the hornworms appeared there."

He also shared what gardeners can do if they have already got hornworms around their tomatoes. Gardeners should work to attract parasitic wasps. The insects lay their eggs through the skin of the tomato hornworm, those eggs then hatch out and "eat [the] tomato worm from the inside out". 

To attract the wasps Brain says gardeners should "grow lots of umbel flower" such as dill, fennel, and "anything in the carrot family".

However, planting basil will keep hornworms from showing up and destroying your precious tomatoes. It is the ultimate protective method due to it being both natural and effective in its way of protecting the plants.