Whats a good crop to planr in last year's tomato patch? Thank you, Jackie

I usually plant broccoli/cauliflower/kale.

Tomatoes. The idea of rotating plantings in the average home garden is pretty useless, in spite of what all the garden writes say, because you need to be able to seperate where stuff grew last year by a minimum of 300 feet to discourage the pests and diseases. One write lately has been stating that the reason to move plants from one bed to another, rotating, is because a plant will use up the nutrients in that bed and another plant will utilize other nutrients in that bed. However in an organic garden that has more organic matter added each year that will not be a problem.

The general rule of thumb is to not plant the same kind of crop(root, leaf, legume, and fruiting) or plant family successively in the same place. Tomatoes are heavy feeders with many fungal enemies and rapidly use up nitrogen. Follow a heavy feeder with a light feeder such as a root crop or herbs or with legumes that are nitrogen-fixing. Be sure to note what crops do well after tomatoes in your garden as different areas have different problems. "Crop rotation is one of the most effective ways to control insect and disease pests in an organic garden." THE ORGANIC GARDNER'S HANDBOOK OF NATURAL INSECT AND DISEASE CONTROL. "Crop rotation is the practice of shifting the location of crops within the garden each season so the same crop does not grow in the same place year after year. This technique helps manage soil fertility and helps avoid or reduce problems with soil borne diseases and some soil-dwelling insects, such as corn rootworms." RODALE'S ALL NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ORGANIC GARDENING.

KimmSr, Where did you get this information??:

"The idea of rotating plantings in the average home garden is pretty useless, in spite of what all the garden writes say, because you need to be able to seperate where stuff grew last year by a minimum of 300 feet to discourage the pests and diseases."

In the last 5 years or so there have been many papers published that show that "crop rotation" in the average backyard garden is a useless practice, especially if the soil is well amended with organic matter. Here is one such discussion, the author has a pHD in soil science and teaches at North Carolina State University, http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/lockers/Gruver_J/CCCC05/Crop%2...ation%20concepts.doc

KimmSr, I just read the link you provided, but it does not say what you are stating. This link was to 1+ pages; is there another link? The following is from the link you provided:

"Well designed crop rotations are advantageous because of their contributions to soil fertility, tilth, weed management, pest management, disease management, enterprise diversity, labor balanceÂ… etcÂ…"

I always swap heavy and light feeders just to keep a balance. I'm not so concerned about soil disease because organic matter and compost seems to handle this.

In the real practice of crop rotation there is one section that isn't planted on at all for a year. That's a real luxury of space, but letting it rest does improve conditions.

I'm not comfortable planting the same thing in the same place year after year, regardless of OM and compost. Yet my MIL planted her tomatoes out behind the garage every year for 40 years in a place where my husband said he used to dump the oil from the car changes as a teenager! (That's before I got ahold of him!!) But she had some amazingly big and productive tomato plants, and she lived to be 86 with no illnesses, then had a stroke. So after all is said and done, it's best to know your own soil and conditions.

PS - I am NOT advocating adding oil to the soil here, it may have had nothing to do with her tomato plants, but she never did anything in particular to the soil.

Hmm, that link is not the same stuff the Joel provided us in the letter that I deleted thinking it did, shoulda saved it because what he said in the letter is much different than that lesson plan. Rather than simply follow the old school thought pattern about rotating planting beds stop and think about what goes on in the soil.
Do you move your perennial flowers around every year, rotate them?
Is there a need to do that?
Why would that not apply to annuals such as vegetables, especially if you add compost and other forms of organic matter each year to if not improve at least maintain soil health?
If you have a big farm rotating your crops is essential to help maintain soil fertility, but look around and see how many actually do that. The farms around here that I see crop rotation actually practiced are owned by Amish folk and they also manure their fields, something few of the others around here do anymore.

About the only thing I rotate are tomatoes and zucchini. The potato patch has been the potato patch for 14 years. The onion patch has always been the onion patch. Both with no ill effects and large yeilds.

I believe the organic matter keeps things in check.

I have grown my tomatoes in the same bed as my Dahlias for several years now and each year that bed gets a goodly dose of compost and is then covered with shredded leaves and both the Dahlias and tomatoes grow quite well and are not bothered by any pests or diseases. Both of these are heavy feeders, but the addition of the compost supplies enough of all the nutrients they need to grow very well.
Here is a link to a paper written by Dr. Leon Hoitink about the disease suppression capabilities of compost,
http://plantpath.osu.edu/faculty/LeonPaperfinalHAJH1.pdf

Hello. I have been planting my tomatoes and peppers and squash in the same spot for at least 5 years now and I get bumper crops each and every year. All I do to the soil is add more mulch each year. I have a man bring all the grass clippings/leaves from his yard work busines and my neighbor drops all his grass/leaves off and I do the same. Have not tilled my garden in years and it keeps on producing and producing. :^O

I rotate plants such as garlic, which have soil bound disease problems, while if it is an insect problem, such as squash vine borer, rotation is pretty useless. It won't hurt, however, and due to different "nutritional" requirements of different plants, this is a good reason to rotate. I have some "fences" - about 90 feet worth - I grow beans, cukes, tomatoes, peas, squash, and tomatillos on, and I try to rotate these year to year, but it gets repeated eventually, and I never have problems there.

Dave

I try to plant a legume crop during the winter/spring prior to planting out tomatoes. Ofttimes I place seedling tomatoes in between pea plants, knowing the peas will retire as the heat of summer arrives.

I usually plant tomatoes in the same plot year after year, as my garden is not big enough for true rotation.

Hello everyone!
I just started a new garden last year...had a HUGE wilt problem with my beautiful tomatoes, which I blamed on the black walnut tree...still don't really know what happened, and I am worried about that problem this year...any advice????? Most of the tomato plants recovered to some degree, but the harvest was severely affected..

I had planted snow peas on the east side, and planted tomatoes next to them, figuring the tomatoes would shade the peas...
They did, and I had small crops of peas all through the summer...they didn't die...is that normal? I thought they just died back when it gets too hot!
Thanks, Vicki