You can grow tomatoes same spot every year but you risk disease problems that get worse over time. Soil born pathogens build up and attack your plants harder each season. Most experts say you should wait three to four years before growing tomatoes in the same bed again.
I learned this lesson after three years of tomatoes in my best raised bed. The first year gave me a great harvest with no problems at all. By year three my plants wilted from the bottom up and half of them died before any fruit turned red.
The culprits were verticillium and fusarium wilt fungi living in my soil. These pathogens attack tomato roots and block water from reaching the leaves above. They can live in dirt for years without a host plant and still infect your next crop.
Good tomato crop rotation means moving your plants to a fresh spot each spring. Wait at least three years before you come back to the same bed with tomatoes again. This gives soil pathogens time to die off without their favorite food source.
Small gardens make rotation tricky for many home growers. You can use garden bed rotation even with just two or three raised beds if you plan ahead. Grow tomatoes in bed one this year then switch to beans the next and greens after that.
I tested the French marigold cover crop trick to speed up my return to that sick bed. Two months of dense marigolds cut my nematode counts and seemed to help break the disease cycle. My tomatoes grew better the next season though still not perfect.
Pot growing solves the rotation problem if you have very tight spaces. Fill your pots with fresh mix each spring and disease has no chance to build up. You can grow tomatoes in the same spot on your deck every year this way.
Look for disease resistant tomato types marked with letters like VF or VFN on the tag. These plants can handle some soil pathogens better than others in your garden. They buy you time if you must grow tomatoes in the same bed two years in a row.
Watch your plants for early signs of wilt even when you do rotate your beds each year. Yellow leaves on the bottom and brown streaks inside stems mean soil disease has found your tomatoes. Pull sick plants fast and do not compost them or you spread the problem.
Read the full article: Companion Planting Tomatoes: Proven Plant Pairings
