Thanks for the reply! I am not sure, the amount of rainfall does not seem excessive here, actually seems like it is appropriate. The garden elevation slightly goes downhill from one end to the other with the lower part being where the tomato's are, but that never seemed to be an issue?

The soil has had the same plants in all areas over the years, so my thoughts are why would the zucchini and cucumbers be doing so well but the tomato's, peppers, and eggplant not?

I'll look into getting the soil tested, but that is not going to fix the crop for this year.

Also, forgot to mention that I put down TomatoTone and that had no improvement either.

Any suggestions on what type of soil testing I should look/ask for?

Try crop rotation next year! The Vegetable Gardener's Bible is my go to book for any questions with my plants and theres a great chart in there for companion planting and crop rotation. It's sold in Barnes and Nobel or on Amazon :)

Well, crop rotation is a bit of work since I have the fence for the tomato's to grow on staked in, will have to move the stakes which is not an easy task.

I looked at what books I have, one book about Gardening, not enough info so I ordered The Vegetable Gardener's Bible (320 pages).

Going to take the soil for testing. Will the new book tell me what I am looking for or does anyone have suggestions?

Take a small soil sample with you and the Master Gardener(s) on duty at the Extension office will do a pH test for you, free, on the spot, will give you the results and recommendations on what to add if it is necessary to adjust the soil's pH level. This is important because the acidity/alkalinity of the soil will affect the plants' ability to uptake nutrients. Most veggies prefer a pH of about, if I remember correctly, 6.7-7. (7 is neutral).

You can purchase a soil test kit to determine the nutrient levels in the soil. After you collect and package the soil and fill out the questionnaire (what you will be growing in that location), you return it to the Extension office and they'll send it to the Rutgers Soil Lab. You'll receive a complete analysis as well as recommendations for soil amendments for optimal soil conditions for your desired plantings.

If you discuss your garden's problems with the Master Gardeners on duty, they may have some suggestions for you and can provide you with pertinent fact sheets. You can access these same fact sheets, free of charge, at www.njaes.rutgers.edu/garden.

Crop rotation is advisable, but with very limited garden space myself, I understand it sometimes can be difficult. (I have a very small area that gets enough sun for tomatoes, so they have a choice: enough sun, or fresh soil.) However, it's probably worth the effort if you can move those stakes, or just put up a new set and use the old stakes to grow another crop vertically - pole beans, melons, cukes ...

Most veggies - like most plants - prefer the soil on the acidic ends of things. Typically around 6.0 but some will even tolerate or require lower. But most will also tolerate neutral soils as well, however the higher you get (and anything much above 7.0) will indeed affect nutrient uptake.

Soil testing for home gardeners is routine. Just fill out the form the lab provides and indicate what you are growing and they will provide you with a nutrient breakdown, soil pH and organic matter percentage and recommend what and how much to add to get you to the desired levels. Other than using some fast acting liquid fertilizer (which may or may not help), there is not much that can be done about this year's crop....it is what it is.

I'd highly recommend crop rotation, even in a very small garden area. Different plants pull different nutrients from the soils in different concentrations and these need to be replaced accordingly or the different crops rotated so that nutrients are more or less balanced. And ether is also the issue of disease control via crop rotation.

There is a very good reason it is so widely practiced :-))

I bought the Vegetable Garden Bible, got it yesterday, Read through some of it, not sure we will be changing to the WORD method since our garden layout is limited and has worked up until last year, plus parts of it (flat area where we have cucumbers and zucchini) are working just fine.

I got the soil testing info off of the Rutgers web site, have to wait a few days to take my soil sample since it is raining here today, soil will be too moist.

I have a home PH tester, did take some soil samples yesterday and the PH in the problem areas is 6.0-6.2 range, so I don't think that PH is the major issue here with the Tomato's.

I'll take the soil sample for the Rutger's testing, get it there and will let you know what the results show, might be a few weeks before I can share the results.

Got the Soil Test results, basically tells me that my soil is good?

I tried attaching the .pdf as a photo, hope it shows?

Any suggestions?

How can I attach the Soil Test results? It is currently a .pdf

Copy and paste? Or just say what was low or high in the analysis.

Tried Copy & Paste, too many characters, so here are the basic's from the test results:

PH: 6.6

Macronutrients (pounds
per acre):

Phosphorus:

1454

(Above Optimum)

Potassium:

999

(Above Optimum)

Magnesium:

630

(Above Optimum)

Calcium:

6679

(Above Optimum)

Micronutrients (parts per million)

Zinc(Zn): 15.40 (Adequate)

Copper(Cu): 4.12 (Adequate)

Manganese(Mn): 13.92 (Adequate)

Boron(B): 1.10 (Adequate)

Iron(Fe): 405.10 (High)

That is what the test results say, other info looks like generic "How To" in the report.

Still not sure what is causing my tomato's to not grow better? The soil tested was from the 2 rows that the tomato's were in. The rows where we have zucchini, peppers, and cucumbers are growing well, so assume that the soil is good?

I'm a flower lover, and its my first time in years growing vegetables but i have had similar results. My cucumbers and peppers are doing great but my Beefsteak Tomato Plants have been very slow to produce red tomatoes. My neighbor tells me its been a horrible year for tomatoes.

At least you have zucchini, my zucchini plant never pollinated, it only had male flowers and i only planted one plant because they take up so much space.

I did have good luck with a "patio Tomato" plant that produces cherry tomatoes, after moved it from the gladden to a pot. I was being overwatered in the garden by the sprinklers and the tomatoes were tasting mushy. Once transplanted into a pot it produced a very good amount of tasty cherry tomatoes!