How to grow tomatoes

 

"Tomatoes are suitable for growingnext to cabbage, basil, lettuce, spinach, onions, garlic, carrots, beans."

"What crop should I rotate with tomatoes?

Rotating the placement of plant families will keep the soil healthier, the plants healthier, and the diseases at bay (in theory). The standard rotation goes something like this: Salad (leaf) first, Tomatoes (fruit) next, carrots (roots) third and peas (legumes) after that.

I have a pretty nice sized garden. Some of the beds are more than 30 feet away from each other. Some of the beds have NEVER grown a tomato. But the blight is everywhere.

The truth is, with wind, rain and feet — it is easy for diseases to travel from one end of the garden to the other. I got away with tomato success for 4 years. The 5th year was a bust. I thought I was buying infected plants at first. I thought it was too much rain. I thought I was doing something wrong.

 

Put in a new garden (far-far-away from your current garden). This is what I did. 4 years is apparently the magic number for tomatoes. 4 is the number of years you can (usually) grow tomatoes in the same area before the Grim Reaper shows up. 4 is also the number of years to give your ground a break from tomatoes in order for the Grim Reaper to die.

You don’t have to erect the Taj Mahal. I literally threw down some cardboard boxes (free from dumpster) on top of the grass. This will kill the grass and compost over time. I then jabbed tomato stakes in them to hold them down. I carved a hole in the box and planted the tomatoes in the holes.

I topped it all off by mulching with a bale of hay.

I have rows of tomato plants in brand new earth with grass walking paths in between.

This entire project took me a couple of hours. It was pleasant work and I have a fresh new start for my tomato plants. If I don’t want to grow in this spot again it’s super easy to remove. Just pull out the plants & stakes and sprinkle some grass seed.

It can be yard again in a few short weeks." [1]

 

1. Using Crop Rotation To Keep Tomato Plants Healthy. Reader Contribution by Candi Johns. Grit. Rural American Know-How