Last summer was your first year, next summer will be your last and it's all new dirt. I wouldn't sweat it.

Are you planning to dismantle your beds, bag your dirt and move it with you? Since you paid for it all you would be entiltled, I should think, unless it's considered permanent improvement and not allowed.

Forty years ago, my dad, a Boeing engineer who had taken a year's assignment in another state returned to the Puget Sound area home he had rented out to find out that an unscruplous renter had removed all the dirt (compost-heavy amended soil) from a large raised bed garden in the back yard and taken it when he moved--owing back rent of course. That wasn't right.

Oh no! That's horrible! Lol I absolutely am taking my beds and my dirt :) but will sow grass seed where the ground is bare. The lawn was solid weeds 2-3' high when we moved in, I doubt anyone will even check the backyard when we move.. Regardless, we will leave everything in far better shape than how we found it simply because its right. My husband has a landscaping/lawncare company so I've got help with a big undertaking like dismantling my entire garden. :)

Oh and thanks for the advice! The tomatoes will have the best seat in the "house" this summer!
Alexis

I don't do anything that remotely resembles true crop rotation and I never have, and I haven't had any trouble. It can be really hard for home gardeners to rotate crops anyhow, due to there being limited space. I used to try to move crops around more than I do now, but I found I'd rather leave tomato plants or corn or peppers in an area where they grow well.

I do add lots of compost and other forms of organic matter and I think that makes a difference. One reason to rotate would be so the same macronutrients and micronutrients aren't continually used up (say, by planting a heavy giver crop in a bed one year and then a heavy feeder in that bed the next year), but if you continue enriching your soil every year, you're making up for what the previous year's crop took out of it.

And, keep in mind, that I haven't ever had the kinds of diseases that reside in the soil to an extent that they become a problem. If I had an ongoing problem with something like fusarium wilt in my garden soil, I expect I'd have to try to rotate crops properly. As long as you replenish the nutrients that are used up by the crops every year and as long as you don't see a trend of having the same problem in the same place every year, I suspect you can grow forever without really rotating---at least in our climate.

Soil-dwelling pests that overwinter in the soil could be another good reason to rotate so you're moving something like squash from the place where it grew last year to a new spot so you aren't planting right into an area where squash bugs might be overwintering. Realistically speaking, though, if squash bugs are anywhere near your garden, they're going to find the squash plants even if you move them to a different bed every year.

The forest grows in the same soil year after year without being rotated. If you keep your soil healthy I don't think rotation is a big deal.

Sweet! Thanks, that is very helpful!