A few years back, I remember thinking, "Hmm, I had a bumper crop of tomatoes last year, but this year, not so much." My overall harvest seemed lower, and the plants didn't look as healthy as they had the year before. Well, it turns out there was a logical reason behind the change, one that had nothing to do with whether or not I had a green thumb—and everything to do with the fact that I wasn't rotating my crops.
Put simply, crop rotation is a systematic method of deciding what to plant where in your vegetable garden from one year to the next, based on plant groups. Moving plants to new locations each year—something I wasn't doing—improves your garden in two major ways. First, it helps keep your soil healthy and fertile. Planting the same thing in the same place year after year drains the nutrients from the soil that the plant needs in order to thrive and produce big harvests.
Second, rotating plant families helps manage soil-borne diseases like verticillium wilt, and soil-dwelling insects like corn rootworms. These types of diseases and pests prefer certain kinds of plants, and the longer the plants stay in the same soil, the better the chance that these enemies will show up and cause trouble.
One approach to crop rotation is to divide your plants into these four basic groups: legumes, root crops, fruit crops, and leaf crops. Imagine your garden separated into four areas, as shown in the chart at the top of the page. Each successive year, you would move each group one spot clockwise. So, for example, you would plant your legumes in Area 1 one year, then the next year you'd move them to Area 2 while the leaf crops from Area 4 moved into now-vacant Area 1—and so on. (Read about another way to rotate your crops.)
Of course, you can adjust this method to best fit what you like to grow. In our garden, for example, we don't plant a lot of legumes, so that bed remains fallow. A "fallow" bed is one that's either left empty for a season in order to allow the soil rest and refuel, or (if you really want to kick things into high gear) planted with a cover crop—like alfalfa, rye, or white Dutch clover—to add fertility and improve drainage.
If you have a smaller garden, no worries—simply separate however many beds you have into growing areas for the different plant groups, rather than providing each with its own bed. Just know that it may be a bit more difficult to prevent diseases from spreading from one section to another, so you'll want to keep a close eye on your plants and soil.
I'll admit it: Crop rotation isn't a new and sexy gardening trend. It is, however, a method that has been used successfully for centuries, and it's made a real difference in the health and production of my garden. And really, isn't it a relief to have at least one aspect of your gardening already figured out for you?
One approach to crop rotation is to divide your plants into these four basic groups: legumes, root crops, fruit crops, and leaf crops. Imagine your garden separated into four areas, as shown in the chart at the top of the page. Each successive year, you would move each group one spot clockwise.
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons. This practice reduces the reliance of crops on one set of nutrients, pest and weed pressure, along with the probability of developing resistant pests and weeds.
In the Norfolk four-course system, wheat was grown in the first year, turnips in the second, followed by barley, with clover and ryegrass undersown, in the third. The clover and ryegrass were grazed or cut for feed in the fourth year. The turnips were used for feeding cattle and sheep in the winter.
The crop rotation planning procedure works through a series of steps. You will (1) organize your information, (2) develop a general rotation plan (optional), (3) construct a crop rotation planning map, (4) plan future crop sequences for each section of the farm, and (5) refine your crop sequence plan.
For a simple rotation plan consider rotating your crops in the order of the groups above: legumes, followed by leafy vegetables, then fruiting crops, and lastly root crops.
It's easy, fun, and free to try! If you grow tomatoes or other crops in the same garden bed year after year, you're likely to notice an increase in pests and diseases. Break the cycle! Take a moment to learn about the basics of crop rotation.
What is crop rotation? Crop rotation is the practice of planting different crops sequentially on the same plot of land to improve soil health, optimize nutrients in the soil, and combat pest and weed pressure.
Crop rotation limits the build-up of weed populations and prevents major weed species shifts. In a crop rotation, the timing of cultivation, fertilization, herbicide application, and harvesting changes from year to year.
Crop rotation is the practice of alternating crops of specific vegetable families to different areas of the garden from year to year. This gives the soil a rest from each vegetable family before that family returns to the same garden space again.
The best way to achieve crop rotation is to have multiple separate garden beds or plots. For example, establishing four raised beds allows you to rotate plant families around to each bed and only plant the same botanical family in the same raised bed once every four years.
Good vegetables to rotate in after tomatoes include beans and peas because they naturally fortify soils with nitrogen, and greens, because they are not too demanding.
If you don't want to or can't rotate, be sure to mulch your crops well, and water at ground level. Consider using a blight-resistant variety, or skipping susceptible plants for a season or two. Remember, if you have good, strong plants they will be better able to fight off any disease, just like you and I can.
They terraced their hillsides, practised crop rotation, and used animal and vegetable waste to enrich their soils. They can evaluate soil and crop management strategies for a crop rotation using soil and weather parameters.
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