Taking a year off, diseases, what to do?

 
I have a decent sized (25'x30') vegetable garden.  I have
been using the same plot of land for 17 years.  Gradually
I have started to have more and more diseases cropping up.

I have decided to give the land a rest for a year.  What
should I do?

THe soil is still very fertile.  I grow tomatoes, peppers,
basil, peas, beans, cucs, zucs, carrots, lettuce...

I rotate, but I am not sure the garden is really big enough
for that to be a big effect, and it is only a four year rotation.

Should I grow stuff that is completely different?  Solarize? Just
turn the soil every few weeks to get it exposed to the sun and elements?

Thanks in advance,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in rec.gardens.edible...)

 ahall@no-spam-panix.com wrote:

What diseases?  When?  Of what?



Depends on the problem(s)

David

 

I realized I left out my location --- I am near
Boston.  In a pretty urban area, with no working
farms anywhere nearby.

I really do not know exactly what diseases they are.
Most seem to be fungal in nature.

The tomatoes start getting sick in July, with lower
leaves drying up, upper leaves, and tomatoes, getting
spots.  The tomatoes on the counter seem to have the
pox after a while.  Loads of small black/brown spots on
the surface.  It does not really affect the taste.
This year I got about a quarter of a decent
year's yield.  A couple of years ago it was early Late
Blight, but that does not survive our winters.  Also that
year the rot often started inside the tomato, not on the
outside.  I grow mostly heirlooms, several brandywine
variants, a couple of plums types (one for cooking, one
for fresh salsa) and two hybrid cherry types.  I have
tried a few blight resistant types, but they just did
not taste very good, and did not seem to do much better
against disease.

The last two years my cucs just did not grow.  This
year one of the hills did, the other did not.

This year my basil leaves started turning a yellowish
green and tasted very bitter.  I ripped out the whole
crop after just one batch of pesto.

Onions, peas, beans, carrots all have done reasonably well.

I have had varying amounts of an internal rot disease
in my garlic (German Extra Hardy stiffneck).  Last year
it cost me half my crop, and the garlic I stored did not
last past January --- it usually lasts until April or May.
This year I got most of the crop, time will tell how long
it lasts.

I am sorry I cannot be more specific.  I guess I want a
reasonable generic fix.  If such exists.  Something that will
improve the odds of minimizing common diseases.


Definitely plural, but sadly, non-specific.

Thanks,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in rec.gardens.edible...)

 

Spray with copper, start early and spray often. I've had very good success
on my heirloom tomatoes with this method.

 On Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:23:27 -0500, Steve Peek wrote:


Copper fungicides have worked for me also. I'm also in Massachusetts. I
don't do it in the summer unless I see a problem on a plant.

If you want to let the land lay fallow this year I'd just plant clover on
it. Clover adds nitrogen to the soil and it's flowers attack bees. I
bought clover off of Amazon last spring and spread it on my lawn, my lawn
is healthier than it's ever been.