crop rotation

[itlw8]

well I think I found the problem with my tomatoes I do not practice crop rotation. Now to figure out how to do it in my garden. I love lots of tomatoes but we get blight very bad and getting worse.

so besides growing less tomatoes or making new beds how can I do this?

We are making 3 new raised beds for strawberries and I thought I could put a tomato in the middle for this year. So virgin soil LOL

[Trentt]

I've realized the same thing, that you shouldn't plant nightshades in the same area year after year. Although I've always read this common wisdom, I ignored it because I'd just put them in the sunniest, warmest spot.

The last year or two, the harvests have dwindled and there is blight on some of the plants. The peppers have done little or nothing.

I'm going to swap some of the flower bed area (which flowers shared with kale, onions, cabbages, beets, and turnips last year), put vegetables like that (and squash, melons, and cucumbers) where the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers were. Those three will go where the others were last year. There is less room, but if the plants are better off I should get the same or better harvest. Hopefully.

[Russ]

Watering: Do not water the foilage. Always water at the base of the plant.
It will help to make sure there is plenty of air circulation around the base as well. So pull off the lower stems as the plant gets large enough.
Mulch the plant. It helps a number of things included stopping the spores from splashing up on to the plant.

Composting: Couple of schools of thought on blight and composting. Some say the blight will carry over in the compost, others say it will not.

My policy: better safe than sorry. I put all my dead tomato vines in a separate pile and burn them.

A reputable nursery. IIRC there was one large nursery that sold to big box stores in the south last year and the plants were loaded with blight.

[chowder]

We grow the same crop in each raised bed every year and have not had a problem.We do however cover ours after harvest, after removing all plant waste in the fall, with a tarp,and we don't take it off until the weather warms.
We do add aged manure and compost before the covers go on.
I don't know,just lucky to not have the problem or does this practice help with it,not sure.
We also burn all the plants,never putting in the compost.

[frugalwarrior2]

What Russ said plus
-realize each crop takes different amt. of minerals out of the soil.
Tomatoes take a huge draw.
Do alkaline and acid. I tomatoes and then lettuce. Not sure forgot what Grandma said 35 years ago.
Also put your garden to bed full. Fertilize it w/ moo poo and materials that break down. Cover w/ leaves.(oak=alkaline). This brings the worms and they will work for you.
Then compost again in early spring and turn under 2x before planting. Do a soil test before you plant. Gardening is hard work.

[frugalfranny]

Hope you find a solution, itlw8. Think I would rather lose ANY OTHER veggie than my tomatoes!!! (only time of year that I get to eat fresh ones!)

We don't have a huge problem with blight here but I do have to watch for blossom end rot. I TRY to make sure I rotate crops.
ALL egg shells are saved, separate from compost, and put directly in my garden each year.

For watering, I use the liter bottles or milk jugs with the 'ground spike' on it..........really helps keep the water off the leaves.

A link about blight.......

How to Control Early and Late Blight in your Home Vegetable Garden | eHow.com

Here is what I use for watering:

Deep-Root Watering Spikes - Lee Valley Tools

I didn't buy mine here but they look the same. I love them and swear by them......have used them for years. Many garden places carry them.......even your local Ace Hardware might have them............and be cheaper. Don't know if WM carries them.

If I run short on these I save gallon milk jugs WITH the lid.
Pole some holes in the lid and bury them as far as I can in my
ROCKY ground.

PS---Gardener's Supply also carries them but I do NOT like theirs very well...........very blunt tip, d/n fit on liter bottle very well.

I bought some off Ebay.........they were 'okay'........