All gardeners have their favorite crops that they plant year after year. But planting the same crops in the same space every season can have an adverse effect on the plants’ health and performance as well as the soil. Rotating crops annually is the key to maintaining a healthy, productive garden.
Benefits of Rotating Vegetable Crops
Crop rotation is an effective means of managing crop-specific diseases, weeds and insects. It helps you get the best out of your garden. In the long run, it helps improve the soil’s physical, chemical and biological characteristics as well as its organic matter content. Rotation of crops also reduces erosion and helps the plants consistently produce to their potential.
Planning Crop Rotation
The general rule for crop rotation is this: do not grow plants from the same family in the same space more than once every three years.
If gardeners with small growing spaces are unable to do this, they should aim for changing the planting mix every 2-3 years. This helps minimize the risks of crop-specific pests and diseases while still improving the soil.
Gardeners with adequate growing spaces should plan out their crop rotations. Start with a paper template that shows the vegetable crops and growing areas. Record what plants you grew in each area every year. Before each growing season, map out a plan for the garden. For instance, if you planted peas in area X of your garden last year, use that space for squash instead.
It helps to follow nitrogen-enriching crops with crops that thrive on nitrogen. If you plant peas or beans in an area one year, plant kale, cabbage and other leafy greens that thrive on high nitrogen the following year.
To get you started, some of the common plant families are listed below.
Beans enrich the soil with nitrogen. This family (Fabaceae) includes green beans, green peas, peanuts and alfalfa.
The Solanaceae, or Nightshade, family includes heavy feeders like tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplants. Make a note to avoid following up a potato crop with tomatoes for they can fall prey to late blight-causing microorganisms that might have survived in the soil.
Also called Brassicaceae, the cabbage family includes cabbage, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and other leafy greens, all known to relish nitrogen-rich soils. They’re the ideal follow-ups to members of the bean family.
The family Cucurbitaceae comprises heavy feeders like gourds, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, summer and winter squash. Rotate your crops in such a way that these heavy feeders find themselves in a spot with rich, fertile soil.