Empty bed
What to plant after tomatoes
The short answer
After tomatoes in October: garlic, broad beans in a mild, sheltered garden, winter spinach, lamb's lettuce, a few quick winter salads, or leave it for spring. Next spring, keep potatoes out of this bed.
Outdoor tomatoes come out in autumn, often after blight has finished them. What goes in next has to stand winter, and it shouldn't be potatoes.
Outdoor tomatoes cleared in October
What Vercro's catalogue has in its sowing window when the bed clears in mid October, checked against tomatoes with the same code as the Vercro app. No frost date is applied here; “ready about” counts the catalogue's growing time from mid October.
Overwintering peas appear here because they are sown now, under cover, and planted out in spring. See when to sow peas.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomatoes in the bedMay to October | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: yes | June: yes | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: no | December: no |
| Then rocketOctober to November | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: yes | November: yes | December: no |
| Or winter spinachOctober to January | January: yes | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: yes | November: yes | December: yes |
Quick crops (1)
Ready in about eight weeks or less.
- RocketSow outside. Ready about November.
Need longer (2)
Worth it only if your first frost is late enough. The tool below checks that for your area.
- Oriental MustardSow outside. Ready about November to December.
- Lamb's LettuceSow outside. Ready about December to January.
Stand through winter (4)
Not racing this year's frost: they stand over winter and crop next year.
- Winter SpinachSow outside. Ready about December to January.
- Broad Bean (Autumn)Sow outside. Ready about April to June.
- Overwintering PeasRaise indoors, then plant. Ready about April to May.
- GarlicSow outside. Ready about June to July.
Nothing in its window this month is flagged to wait because of tomatoes.
Why the family matters
Tomatoes are in the potato and tomato family. The RHS says potato cyst nematode builds up where potatoes or tomatoes are grown often, and advises not using old potato soil for tomatoes. For blight, it advises a rotation of ideally at least four years with no tomatoes in that soil either.
Blight itself is spread mainly by wind-blown spores and carries over in potatoes left in the ground (RHS), so clear the plants and any fallen fruit.
Worth knowing about tomatoes beds
Garlic fits well
Its window is October to December. See when to plant garlic.Clear the debris
Remove blighted plants and fruit rather than leaving them on the bed.Potatoes next spring: elsewhere
Same family. See potato rotation.Greenhouse tomatoes
Under glass the same family logic applies to the border soil.
Check it for your bed and your frost date
Pick when it came out and add your usual first frost (or your postcode). The tool opens with your answer.
How Vercro handles this in a real garden
When the tomatoes come out in Vercro, the Garden plan lists what could go in, including overwintering crops, and the bed's history keeps the potato and tomato family on record for next spring.
What this page can't tell you
The honest limits
Sowing months are a national calendar, not your garden's. We can't see your soil, how much room is left, or what else is still growing in the bed. The rotation check looks only at tomatoes; your bed's earlier history matters too.
Keep going
Where this comes from
Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- Potato and tomato blight, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Potato cyst nematodes, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Garlic: grow your own, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Peas: grow your own, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
Let each empty bed tell you what could go in
In the Vercro Garden plan, a bed that has come free shows what could go there next, using your location's frost date and what that bed has grown before.