[ingridg]

I mainly do container gardening, but my husband built a raised bed for larger tomatoes and some trellises for the cucumbers. The past three years I've had more cucumbers than I know what to do with, but this year almost nothing. I'm assuming it has to do with crop rotation - it's the fourth year in the same spot. If I switch out the tomatoes from the raised bed and with the cucumbers for a couple of years will that help to replenish the soil? Not sure what either plant takes from the soil. Appreciate any advice. thanks

 

[bhoward626]

You definitely need to rotate. Also start each year with a 3 to 6 inches of compost and till it into the soil. Beans, peas, red clove (along with many others) are used for fixing nitrogen in the soil. You can do a web search to see what works best in your area. Tomatoes and cucumbers are heavy feeders - are you fertilizing them regularly?

 

[ingridg]

Yes, they are regularly fed. The tomatoes are still doing well, I feed them all the time. We had some serious rain for over three weeks and that seemed to effect the cucumbers the most, first year they got powdery mildew. I did compost the raised bed, but not the ground where the cucumbers were, will do that for sure next year. I'll see what I can find for amending the soil.