How do we know stuff? In the age of LLM chat bots, this question is on my mind. For example: 'tomatoes love basil' is common advice on the internet. I have zero doubt that if I asked ChatGPT "what are good companion plants for tomatoes?" the answer would include basil.

But right out of the gate I know better than to trust a chatbot with the well-being of my tomatoes. A google search will cough up the same info from dozens of sites, all swearing that basil plays nicely with tomato plants. But how do I know these sites a) aren't generated by chat bots? or b) based on people plagiarizing each other?

In fact, I don't know that. All these gardening sites could be cribbing information from other gardening sites in a happy circular sharing of information--or perhaps misinformation. I can't tell.

So, you ask, who would you believe? Well, there are a couple of sources. I could experiment in my own garden, trying to control variables as best I can, and then compare tomatoes grown with basil to the same kinds of tomatoes grown without. Hardly perfect, but it might hint at an effect if there is one. I'd probably need to experiment for a few years, so not a quick way to get info. And unless the results were dramatic, I might be just as unsure after trying a few times.

Or I could hunt for websites run by university agricultural centers. They should provide references to research on companion planting. In other words, what can science tell us about basil and tomatoes? If it's true that tomatoes grow better with basil planted nearby, scientists might be able to explain why. Maybe basil releases compounds into the soil and/or air that help tomatoes thrive.

So in my case, I think if I want some assurance that I'm dealing with facts, I would head for scientific sources.

This is exhausting, trying to know stuff. I think I'll go outside and admire the the 15-20 small green tomatoes I've grown so far. Watching them grow is like watching paint dry, but I keep doing it. 😆



#tomatoes #gardens #Maine