nightshades, cover crops, and crop rotation

[habitat-gardener]

Most of my <1000sf community garden plot was nightshades this year. Tomatoes did not do well. The >90F days were partly to blame, but I'm wondering what cover crops might help, and if crop rotation has worked for you.

I've been reading that nightshades should be on a 4-year rotation. I do have a couple beds with cucumber trellises where only a few tomatoes were planted on the edges. I wonder if it might be helpful to start rotating my crops. It's hard to do in backyard gardens because often there is only one spot that gets the best sun. It's a little easier at the community garden because it all gets good sun.

I'm also wondering if planting brassicas over the winter might help, either as a crop or a cover crop, or if other cover crops are recommended. I haven't noticed any actual tomato diseases, yet.

What has been your experience with successful cover crops before or after planting tomatoes?

What has been your experience with crop rotation ? Did it help to have tomatoes and other nightshades on a 4-year rotation? Less?

[Shule]

@habitat-gardener
With regard to brassicas, I believe I've read that kohlrabi can inhibit tomato growth.

[peebee]

I've done cover cropping for a few years, I believe it made a huge difference. I once did a side by side comparison at my workplace garden, one area cover cropped, the other left alone. The tomatoes in the cc area grew much larger & had more fruit. I'd post a pic, but they're in an old cell phone & who knows where that is now. So yeah, I for one would recommend.

[bower]

It's an interesting topic, rotations and cover crops. I don't often plant tomatoes in ground, so no comments there.
I've tried potatoes as a rotation for my garlic, and it seemed okay until I struck the serious patch of wireworms. Apparently they can damage grains as well, but buckwheat and sunflowers are a deterrent. Brown mustard as well. In northern climates, grains and brown mustard are typical rotations for potatoes. I read that the effects of long vs short rotations were only noticeable after more than 8 years ie two full long rotations of 4 crops/years.
Buckwheat is an easy cover crop for the north, because it winter kills. So it's sown in fall and returns nutrients and gives winter cover without generating any seeds to be weeds. I'm trying out fall planted spelt this year, for a harvest in summer then garilc planted fall.
I suppose your growing season is all year long.
@peebee what cover crop did you use in So Cal?

[peebee]

@Bower I used a mix from the many varieties offered by Peaceful Valley Farms online. If I remember correctly, there was oat, vetch & some type of beans in the mix I selected.
I found the pic I was talking about earlier, of the garden I had at my workplace. The right side was cover cropped, the other wasn't.

20150529_110643.jpg

[bower]

Oh wow. That's a great shot.
Makes perfect sense that beans would be in the mix, for So Cal.
Red clover and vetch are terrible weeds in my garden - terrible because they sow and spread like crazy, and they get the mildew really bad when it's hot and humid, and that infests my tomatoes in a really bad way if I don't weed them out. I guess as a cover crop they are completely removed before your tomatoes go in. Or if it's never humid, no problem.
I grew out some packets of spring planted grains and peas this year, to see how they would do, and grow up enough seed for a full bed.
The oats were amazing, so sturdy and tall. But I still haven't figured out a good way to get them out of their jackets. Hull-less supposedly but difficult to shuck nevertheless.
Hull-less barley, oh wow do the animals love it. A major attractor for critters. I got barely enough to plant back a small patch of each. The plants blew over too, didn't handle the wind here.
Emmer and wheat are gorgeous to grow, and the grain is beautiful. I haven't eaten any yet but look forward to sampling what I grew! And the peas as well. Winter pea types, dried as a substitute for beans.
Condiment mustard, did great, stood tall. Moose though ate about 70% of the brown mustard heads. Tasty stuff, it seems. But rabbits and squirrels let them be.
I've read that beans and tomatoes do very well in an intercropping approach, in hot climate at least.
Beans just hate the wet and cold, maybe more than tomatoes do.

[Mark_Thompson]

I can second Peaceful Valley for cover crop. I used the Sod Buster Mix, not that our climates overlap. But they have lots of options.

[Cole_Robbie]

Cover crops apparently do better when monocropped, according to this article:
https://phys.org/news/2023-09-agricultu ... sults.html

I would guess it has something to do with the microbial environment at the root level. Having a similar neighbor would grow the best mix of mychorrizae.

[karstopography]

Considering the article above, looks like I’ll do entire beds or at least bands or blocks of like kind cover crops v. mixing everything all together. Funny, I had been pondering how I wanted to do the cover crops and this article in the link above might have settled the issue.

My high numbers of root knot nematode bed will now likely get 100% Cereal Rye or at least a big monocropped block of Rye. Other beds with less sign of nematodes are slated for mustard/cole/arugula family crops. Some might get Fava beans or diakon type radish. There will be some alliums planted also.

I’ve not tried Cereal Rye for nematode suppression, but it is worth a shot. Planting nightshades in the wake of mustards and cabbage has been a winner in my beds as it relates to fungal issues like anthracnose. Arugula is supposed to trap root knot nematodes. Good thing we like arugula for salads.

The beds with especially heavy soil will get the tillage/diakon radish. Alliums will go where no particular corrections are really needed, same for fava or peas.

[JRinPA]

I think that article is based on just one study and really is jumping the gun to consider it fact.

I feel like it is too easy to publish stuff nowadays.