garden location

In real estate — and home gardening — one thing to remember is location, location, location.

The ideal garden spot offers all-day full sun, well-draining but moisture-retentive soil and easy access to the hose for the inevitable dry spells.

Just as important are following some basic practices to ensure good soil health and creative thinking to transform less-than-perfect places into productive locations.

Once you find that sweet spot for tomatoes and other favorites, it seems reasonable to grow them there again and again. It is possible to reap repeated success, but most likely, the sweet spot will sour and produce wimpier plants, while pesky bugs and plant diseases increase.

“You have to rotate things,” said Robin Gorrell, an Ohio State University Extension Master Gardener Volunteer in Seneca County. Pest populations can build up in soil over time. This is especially true of tomatoes, among the most popular plants.

Crop Rotation

Crop rotation, a principle widely practiced by generations of farmers, renews the soil to keep it productive. Plus, by keeping the host plant out of the area for several seasons, pest and disease problems tend to die out.

“In some places they can grow corn after corn,” said Kris Swartz, a Wood County Farm Bureau member and past president of the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts. That’s not the case with his farm. He relies on clover, wheat and soybeans as part of the rotation schedule with corn. Swartz was recently recognized with the Olin Sims Conservation Leadership Award by the National Association of Conservation Districts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Swartz is a Wood County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor.

For Bob Rothwell, an OSU Master Gardener Volunteer in Washington County, the wait between tomato plantings is four years. The same wait period applies to tomato’s nightshade family cousins: potatoes, peppers and eggplant, which can attract some of the same problems.

Rothwell keeps records on what’s been grown in his 20 cultivated beds. He uses members of major plant families to fill the beds between tomato (nightshade) plantings. For instance, one season it’s members of the mustard family, such as cabbage and turnips; then legumes, including peas and beans; and others such as lettuce, spinach, chard, onions and garlic. Legumes add some nitrogen to the soil, replacing this essential element needed for plant growth, said Gorrell.

While infrequent, soil-borne pests can affect some flowers, said Pamela J. Bennett, the Ohio State Master Gardener Program director. “Rotation is always a good idea.”

A few years ago downy mildew showed up as a fatal problem for impatiens, popular summer annuals for shaded places. The soil-borne problem can persist for years, Gorrell said. She has found impatiens available again and tried them with success in her woodland landscape. Those who had impatiens affected by the mildew can use New Guinea type impatiens or wax begonias as replacements.

Tips from the gurus

Master Gardener Volunteers and other seasoned growers have several suggestions for greater success with vegetables.

  • Choose disease resistant varieties. Generally the more initials after the name of a tomato, the more ills it resists. Tomatoes are especially prone to diseases and pests, Pamela J. Bennett said.
  • Use new potting soil each season for containers.
  • Remove old vegetable plants as soon as they stop producing. Put them in the trash, not the compost pile, where pests may survive and then be spread to other areas of the garden or landscape.
  • Watch out for walnut trees. They produce a substance called juglone that can stunt or cripple nearby tomatoes and other sensitive flora.
  • Rotate root crops. Wire worm builds up where potatoes, carrots and other root crops grow repeatedly, Bennett said.
  • Use the shade of taller plants to provide a summer environment for lettuce and other lovers of cool conditions. Bob Rothwell relies on an arch of woven wire fence to support vegetable vines. Below these he grows lettuce.
  • Plant fast growing radishes in the same row as slow-to-germinate carrots. As the radishes are harvested, carrots fill in, said Robin Gorrell.
  • Cultivate good soil. Adding compost, growing cover crops and using crop rotation increase the diversity of soil microbes that benefit plants, said Kris Swartz. The more types of life in the soil, the better it is for the plants.

Community Member Banner

Labor has always been an issue, mainly because we are a seasonal operation. So that's a challenge finding somebody who only wants to work three months out of a year, sometimes up to six months.
Mandy Way's avatar
Mandy Way

Way Farms

Farm Labor Resources
I appreciate the benefit of having a strong voice in my corner. The extras that are included in membership are wonderful, but I'm a member because of the positive impact to my local and state agricultural communities.
Ernie Welch's avatar
Ernie Welch

Van Wert County Farm Bureau

Strong communities
I see the value and need to be engaged in the community I live in, to be a part of the decision-making process and to volunteer with organizations that help make our community better.
Matt Aultman's avatar
Matt Aultman

Darke County Farm Bureau

Leadership development
Farm Bureau involvement has taught me how to grow my professional and leadership experience outside of the workforce and how to do that in a community-centric way.
Jaclyn De Candio's avatar
Jaclyn De Candio

Clark County Farm Bureau

Young Ag Professionals program
With not growing up on a farm, I’d say I was a late bloomer to agriculture. I feel so fortunate that I found the agriculture industry. There are so many opportunities for growth.
Jenna Gregorich's avatar
Jenna Gregorich

Coshocton County Farm Bureau

Growing our Generation
Knowing that horticulture is under the agriculture umbrella and having Farm Bureau supporting horticulture like it does the rest of ag is very important.
Jared Hughes's avatar
Jared Hughes

Groovy Plants Ranch

Groovy Plants Ranch
If it wasn't for Farm Bureau, I personally, along with many others, would not have had the opportunity to meet with our representatives face to face in Washington.
Austin Heil's avatar
Austin Heil

Hardin County Farm Bureau

Washington, D.C. Leadership Experience
So many of the issues that OFBF and its members are advocating for are important to all Ohioans. I look at OFBF as an agricultural watchdog advocating for farmers and rural communities across Ohio.
Mary Smallsreed's avatar
Mary Smallsreed

Trumbull County Farm Bureau

Advocacy
Suggested Tags: