Get to the Root of Crop RotationĬrop rotation also benefits the health of soil, structurally speaking. As for insects, moving crops around can make it harder for overwintering pests to find their first meal come springtime. Crop rotation might not cure all of your disease problems, but it can make a dent. Members of each family often suffer from the same pests and diseases, so planting a variety of crops from different families is a good way to lessen (or slow down) pest and disease damage.įor example, soil-borne diseases can build up after years of growing the same plants in the same place. There are exceptions to crop rotation perennial vegetables and herbs shouldn’t be moved each year, since they stay in the ground year-round. For example, mint spreads easily and is often best contained to one bed, and asparagus needs to settle into a spot for several years before it’s ready to be harvested. In a small garden, you can group some families together, like putting brassicas with legumes and lettuce to make rotations easier. There are many more families, but some have only one member that we would grow in a home vegetable garden, like corn, okra, or sweet potatoes. All heavy feeders that grow best in rich soil. Cucurbits: Zucchini and summer quash, cukes, pumpkins and winter squash, melons (watermelon, cantaloupe), and gourds.
Umbellifers: Carrots, parsnips, fennel, parsley, and dill.Nightshades: Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes. All heavy feeders which need rich soil. Affected by the same diseases.Share pest issues and often need to be netted to block cabbage moths. Brassicas: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, turnip greens, radishes, collards, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, and collards.All legumes are soil “fixers” and share the benefit of adding nitrogen back to the soil. Legumes: Green beans, green peas, southern peas, peanuts, soybeans.Alliums: Onions, shallots, leeks, and garlic.The key to successful crop rotation is “all in the family.” Even though tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes look nothing alike, they are kissing cousins in the same botanical family, the nightshades (Solanaceae). Photo by John Braid/Shutterstock Crop Rotation Families The purpose of crop rotation is not only to avoid pest problems, but to also consider the soil health and the nutrients that different plants need from the soil. Finally, in the third year, you could plant tomatoes in their original spot again. Then, in that first bed, you’d plant a different sort of crop such as carrots, broccoli, or chard. So you’d want to plant them in a different bed in the following year. Ideally, rotate a vegetable (or vegetable family) so that it grows in a particular place once out of every 3 to 4 years.įor example, if you planted tomatoes in the same garden bed year after year, they’re more likely to be hit by the same pests or diseases that affected your tomato crop last year. By not planting the exact same vegetables in the exact same spot every year, you can avoid having pests and diseases continuously build up in the soil. If you move the crop, the pest or disease has no host on which to live. The concept of crop rotation is simple: It’s the practice of not planting the same crops in the same place in back-to-back years.
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