Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[yarrow@sfo.com]

At 5:22 AM -0400 10/14/09, Harvey Ussery wrote:
...>One benefit not mentioned in the article: I've read in many sources that
> radishes (this can be true of other crucifers as well) have a
> "cleansing" effect on the soil, i.e. help discourage soil pathogens
> including fungal....

Brassicas are one of the very few plant families that are nonmycorrhizal.

But the past couple years, when I've had brassicas growing next to 
tomato plants, ot tomato plants growing where I'd recently removed 
brassicas, the tomatoes have been stunted and did not produce well 
compared to the rest of the garden. Totally anecdotal, small sample, 
but still...

This year I'm putting in leguminous cover crops and planning ahead so 
I don't plant tomatoes where brassicas were grown.