Well, rotation is to be sure not to promote disease. Tomatoes and peppers are
both solanacea family. I grow those in containers also, but only because I
bring them into the greenhouse in winter and keep the harvest till at least
January or February.

If you start to have diseases pop up, you'll know it and you will then have to
solarize to kill the pathogen or rotate.


On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 20:58:57 GMT, DigitalVinyl opined:

I've read a lot about rotaing crops/plants and for me it isn't
terribly practical. Tomatoes & peppers cover most of my area so
rotating really can't be done. I only have one large size container
without peppers(7 plants) or tomatoes(3 plants) so unless I grow my
garden considerably rotation really isn't possible. (I've kept it
small and maintainable) And next year I'm looking to add more hot
peppers and a cherry tomato.

I seem to recall reading a note from one person that said tomatoes
could be in the same place year after year without issue. However
several problems affect tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and even potatoes,
so unless you have a lot of space dedicated to NOT those four I don't
see how small gardeners can rotate.

I recognized this before I started and one thing I did to maybe
compensate was a lot of interplanting. Lettuce, spinach, radishes,
carrots, onions, garlic, peas, half-dozen herbs & flowers were all
planted in the same beds as T&P. Whether that helps to keep specific
bacteria and disease from building up in the soil... i dunno.
Hopefully I will move before I find out.


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
1st Year Gardener