Here’s a question for you: Can tomatoes be planted in the same garden spot year after year or must they be moved from one spot to another from one year to the next?
When asked this question, I consistently answer that you should practice crop rotation since keeping the same crop in the same spot year after year invites soil fungus disease and insect pests. Disease organisms specific to a certain crop build up in the soil to a level that will eventually restrict growth of that crop or kill the plant outright. Insects too will eventually hone in on the crop of their desires and overwhelm it with unwanted attention. The conventional wisdom on this subject is that you should not plant any crop in the same spot more than once every three years and, better yet, once every four years.
Yet, to every rule there are exceptions and Russell Kavanagh is the exception. For 12 years the Huntington Beach resident has planted tomatoes and beans in the same locations with consistently positive results. And, on top of that, his mulching is minimal, yet there is not a single weed in sight.
I should probably add that Kavanagh’s success is “the exception that proves the rule.” In my humble opinion, his meticulous adherence to crucial gardening practices is responsible for keeping his soil healthy and his plants virtually insect free so that crop rotation and heavy mulching are not needed.
“You asked about some favorite vegetables,” Kavanagh began his email. “My wife and I grew up in East Tennessee and the go-to bean there is the white half-runner. It is a combination bush bean and pole bean. We brought seeds with us when we moved here years ago and have grown them every year. We never see these beans in the produce aisle in Orange County. They are our favorite green bean, both to eat fresh out of the garden and canned.
“We’ve been gardening in the same spot for 12 or so years. The first few years I added Kellogg’s Amend to the soil and still use it as compost around new plantings. I till the soil each year and add compost from my compost bin and some general purpose 16-16-16 fertilizer. Sometimes I fertilize again during the growing season.
“The only bean I plant is the white half-runner. I’ve tried different tomato varieties over the years, but my favorites that I plant every year are Early Girl, Celebrity, 4th of July, and Sweetie 100.
“I really can’t practice much rotation. I plant the rows pretty close together so the tomatoes usually end up in the back rows since they grow so tall. But I’ve had pretty good luck without moving them around much.
“Once the plants are established my Saturday morning is spent watering by dragging the hose up and down the rows for a deep watering.
“Other than a light mulch when I plant I don’t do any mulching. I guess maybe the coastal climate helps. Every year I think I’ll try a little harder with things like that, but I’m not disappointed with the results so I just carry on! I imagine I might get more yield but usually I have plenty and have some to give away as well.
“Pest-wise I don’t have to use any pesticides.Other than a few grasshoppers and tomato hornworms bugs don’t bother the garden. But I did give up on broccoli as a winter crop, it was too much trouble to keep the aphids under control.”
Kavanagh’s experience could serve as a basic formula for gardening success. The first ingredient in this formula and perhaps the most important is soil improvement. For the first few years prior to planting Kavanagh added Kellogg’s Amend to his soil. Amend consists of composted forest products, dairy manure, poultry manure, feather meal, and rice hulls. Rice hulls are an extremely beneficial additive since they increase soil porosity and do not break down for many years. He still uses Amend annually with each new planting. His soil is also tilled once a year at which time he fortifies it with homemade compost. Between the tilling, the Amend, and the compost, he is creating maximum pore space in his soil allowing more oxygen to the roots of his plants which is critical to robust growth.
His avoidance of pesticides is also important since they can kill beneficial insects and degrade the soil. Kavanagh also plants four tomato varieties which are resistant to the fungus that brings on Verticillium wilt, the most common soil-borne disease of tomatoes. Finally, he avoids planting crops (e.g. broccoli) that in his garden have proven to be a magnet for pests (aphids).
Another critical ingredient to Kavanagh’s success is his watering regime. Once a week he waters each of his plants by hand with a hose. Watering by hose as opposed to overhead irrigation typically means watering the soil around plants so foliage remains dry; moist leaves are an invitation to fungi and insect pests. By avoiding indiscriminate watering, Kavanagh also exerts control over his soil moisture content and excessive watering is not an issue.
Last but not least, Kavanagh readily admits to an advantage he enjoys over more landlocked gardeners: ocean proximity. The ocean moderates climate so that winters are warmer and summers are cooler than they are inland. Thus, ocean influence is a boon to vegetable crops, most of which are highly sensitive to temperature extremes.
Tip of the Week
Juliet de Souza, who gardens in Canoga Park, sent me the photo of an otherworldly flower from an orchid cactus (Epiphyllum). Orchid cacti are as invisible as any plants can be for most of the year until they burst forth in bloom in the spring. Although members of the cactus family, their leafless and deeply lobed stems (cladodes) are spineless. They are native to Central and South American rain forests where they hang from trees. While dragon fruit cacti — very close relatives to orchid cacti — boast the largest dicotyledonous flowers, orchid cactus blooms are nearly as large, reaching up to a foot across, while opening in vivid reds, pinks, purples, fuchsias, yellows, and oranges. They are fragrant, too. Although orchid cacti respond well to regular water, I have seen them flower after being completely ignored for many months. No plant is better suited for growth in a hanging basket.
The fruit of all cacti are edible and those of the orchid cactus are no exception. For fruit to form, hand pollinate with a small size artist’s paint brush. Touch your brush to the dusty yellow pollen of one flower and then transfer it to the white, star-like stigma of another. Cross-pollination between two different orchid cactus varieties will result in a sweeter fruit than when you pollinate between two flowers of the same plant. While dragon fruit ripen one month after pollination occurs, the same process takes up to a year in the case of orchid cactus fruit.
Please send questions, comments, and photos to joshua@perfectplants.com. For more information about area plants and gardens, go to Joshua Siskin’s website, thesmartergardener.com.
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