Bed MemoryCan you plant tomatoes in the same spot every year?
You can, but rotation guides advise against it. Tomatoes in the same soil every year let soil-borne diseases and pests of the nightshade family build up.
The usual advice is to keep tomatoes, and their relatives potatoes, peppers and eggplant, out of a bed for about 3 years. Check a bed below.
Check one bed
This check keeps nothing. The bed log on the home page keeps your beds in this browser.
When you have only one sunny bed
Many gardeners have one spot with enough sun for tomatoes. Options gardeners use: grow tomatoes in large containers with fresh mix for a year or two, or move them to the sunniest end of another bed. Swapping tomatoes with the peppers' spot is not a rotation, since both are nightshades.
A worked example
Tomatoes grew in the south bed in 2025 and 2026. For 2027, plant beans or squash there and put the tomatoes in a bed with no nightshade since 2024. The south bed can take tomatoes again in 2029.
Questions gardeners ask next
How long before planting tomatoes in the same spot?
Rotation guides commonly say 3 years or more, and longer after a disease such as early blight or wilt.
Does tomato crop rotation include peppers?
Yes. Peppers, potatoes and eggplant are in the same family and count as the same crop for rotation.
Is rotation enough to prevent blight?
No. It reduces disease carried in the soil. Spacing, mulch, watering at the base and removing infected leaves help too.