This year I was hoping to be able to grow 2 tons of vegetables. It’s not going to happen. Why? Because I totally failed at rotating my crops. Keeping your soil healthy is essential to organic gardening–and I flat out asked too much of mine without giving enough in return.
Basically, some plants take certain nutrients from the soil and put different nutrients back in. If you grow the same thing (or plant of the same family) over and over in the same spot, the plant will suck all of the nutrients it needs from the soil until there is nothing left. When the plant can’t get what it needs, it becomes susceptible to diseases and fungus.
{How to prevent blossom end rot}
Those diseases and fungus then find safe harbor in the soil and prey on the plant the next year. The whole thing can be very ugly business. The good news is that if you rotate your planting spots at least every 3 years, you will actually be nurturing your soil, not destroying it. {Of course, I’ve learned just how true this can be the hard way–not only will I not hit 2 tons of vegetables, I’ll be lucky to even hit 1 ton this year. I guess that’s what happens when you get into a routine. Mother nature always shows you who’s boss.}
Rotating crops isn’t that tricky, once you have a basic understanding of what each plant takes and gives the soil. Some plants take almost nothing from the soil {i.e. most herbs}.
How cool are they? Others take quite a bit of nitrogen {lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes}, while some add quite a bit in {peas, beans, and other legumes}. So, as a general rule of thumb, it’s best to rotate starting with nitrogen providing plants, then the next year, nitrogen sucking plants, followed by a nice benign year of crops like herbs. Think of yourself as a dirt farmer, rather than a vegetable gardener.
{Testing the pH level in your soil}
When you properly rotate crops, diseases that may be present in the dirt typically only affect plant families. If you plant something that is in a different family, the disease will not have a host plant, and you will have successfully shut.it.down. It’s organic pest and disease control at its finest.
{Four Seasons Farm – Eliot Coleman Barbara Damrosch Tour}
Eliot Coleman {author of 4 Season Harvest} suggests that your rotate your crops in a simple 8 step fashion: (1) tomatoes (2) peas (3) cabbage (4) sweet corn (5) potatoes (6) squash (7) root crops (8) beans. That seems pretty simple to me, and if you grow something not listed, you really only need to look up what family it belongs to and assign it a position in the rotation {i.e. Brussels sprouts belong to the cabbage family–boom! it’s number 3 in the rotation.}
Mother Earth News even had this handy dandy little breakdown of all of the most common plants and which family they belong to, so that you can personalize your rotation plan:
- Onion family: onions, garlic, leeks and shallots
- Carrot family: carrots, celery, parsley and parsnips
- Sunflower family: lettuce, sunflowers and a few other leafy greens
- Cabbage family: cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale and many other leafy greens, as well as rutabagas and kohlrabi
- Spinach family: beets and chard
- Cucumber family: cucumbers, melons, squash and gourds
- Pea family: peas and beans
- Grass family: corn, wheat, oats and rye
- Tomato family: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and potatoes
I think the hardest part of crop rotation is coming up with a plan, but I guess that’s what winter is for, right? Long dark days with plenty of time to plan out your garden.
What do you think, is crop rotation important to you?
~Mavis
Marcy says
What’s the first baking temp?
Spread tomato puree over the sheet. Bake for about 2 hours, turning the mixture over occasionally. After 2 hours, reduce heat to 250 degrees and continue to cook another 20-25 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and the watery consistency is gone.
Mavis Butterfield says
300 degrees
Madam Chow says
Gardening is a never-ending learning process, isn’t it? You are so right about being a dirt farmer. The Pioner Woman’s husband, a cattle rancher, said much the same thing – that ranching is about land management.
renay says
In my handy dandy bag of seeds, I keep a map of what I planted where with the YEAR on it, so no mistakes. Easy peasy. Problem solved! Now on to world peace…
Nikki says
If it makes you feel any better, I’m a stickler about crop rotation and I STILL got powdery mildew all over my squash this year. Boo.
Mavis Butterfield says
Boo is right. Hopefully I’ll be able to grow more next year.
sheila says
Thanks for the lightbulb moment. The hubs farms so I know all about crop rotation. Don’t know why it never clicked with me that the same thing applies for gardening. Duh!
Mavis Butterfield says
Ha!
Sue@lessnoise-moregreen says
I have a relatively small space to garden in and I have lots of sun/shade issues. I rotate my crops every year with the understanding that some years my full sun loving plants aren’t going to be overly happy. Over all, though, I get a decent yield each year. That is unless Mother Nature sends us some funky weather. In the Rhode Island we had rain all May, then a heat wave. It keeps it interesting!
Laura says
I don’t rotate much, maybe put the tomatoes in the center of the bed instead of the edges the next time. I do amend the soil with a lot of different composts before the next time I plant. I also test it, not just for pH, but for fertility. I know that won’t do anything for any diseases in the soil, but so far nothing has happened. I don’t have enough room to rotate the way they suggest.
celia says
We had terrible results in our garden this year. In one bed where we planted carrots and beets, everything was very stunted so we had beautiful greens but the vegetable was minute. We found these weird round balls varying in size from marbles to almost golf balll sized and they are hard to get rid of. They have like these thin roots on and in them. i cannot identify them at all because the internet keeps insisting it is those teeny fertilizer beads. No. I know what those look like.
Then in our other raised bed we had our beautiful cucumbers decimated by mildew, it killed our zucchini too. Our tomatoes did ok and so did the peppers but our strawberries were devastated by slugs. By the time we got the slugs under control the season was over. it was a total bummer. If anyone knows what the heck those white balls are I would love to know.
Katie C. says
Are they a bulb? I know that may not be the case, but I had some that multiplied quite a bit when we moved into our new place. They were everywhere, and I couldn’t figure out what they were for a long time.
Madam Chow says
I had the same issue. In my case, they turned out to be daylillies.
Wynne says
I’m trying to rotate, but it’s tough! One problem is small space (no corn in my rotation for sure) but the real issue is what I like to garden and eat: too many greens, cucurbits, and solenoids compared to beans and peas. And do people really rotate herbs? The only way I can keep rosemary alive is to sink it in the ground and leave it alone.
jestjack says
I hate blossom end rot on squash…it’s heart breaking. I have noticed that one year some things will grow great and the next year zip in the same spot. One year I managed to grow a bumper crop of”spaghetti squash” from the seeds of a squash that DW bought at the store. I was harvesting one and two clothes baskets of the things a day. And this was just about the time that Spaghetti squash was going for 99-$1.49 a pound at the store. Anyway DW began swapping these things for watermelons…cantelopes…tomatoes at the local produce market. The Owner was eager to deal as he had no luck growing these…they were expensive and had developed quite the following. The following year…couldn’t grow weeds…in the same spot….crazy….squash…cukes…all failed… Will tell ya that is an impressive number on the potatoes that you have harvested and those heirloom tomatoes look great. Best wishes for the rest of your growing season.
carol says
I also have a small garden, but appreciate that you are encouraging us to rotate our crops. It does really seem to help. My only exception is tomatoes. I belong to Kitchen Gardeners International and learned from someone in Greece that you can grow tomatoes in the same place for up to 5 years! I have been doing that along with adding good organic fertilizers for the last four years. I have one sunny, south-facing, protected spot in a flower bed that tomatoes seem to thrive in. Last year was not a particularly good tomato year, weather-wise here in the PNW, but this year has been fabulous! I planted Juliets (small Roma type) for canning tomatoes, and the plants are just gargantuan! I’ve harvested about 30 pounds of tomatoes from just 2 plants, and they just keep coming. I’ve actually had to “head back” the darn things 3 times since the first of Sept. I’ve had good luck picking this variety green when the weather turns, and they all seem to ripen.
Beth says
I was just about to ask you what you feed your gardens. One thing to consider – Azomite. It should help get needed minerals back into your soil.
Michele says
My little garden didn’t do well this year. My tomatoes got leaf curl, zucchini and squash died early on, bell peppers and jalepeno super stunted but the serranos did well. Basil is growing great at least (though I rarely use it). My best veggie was Purple Hull Peas…till the field mice ate it up (they met their maker last week!).
After reading about crop rotation, I now want a farm with 4 large raised beds instead of 1 lg and 1 sm bed. This way I can rotate correctly, fertilize properly, and have all the veggies my family can eat. I have improved my veggie choice and collecting seeds now to start them ontime (being late bites). I want chickens now (thanks Mavis!) and trying to convince my Hubby to move to the country…we shall see!
I live near Dallas, TX and am getting summer plants pulled and winter crop planted finally. Trying to make sure I don’t overly zap the nutrients from the soil this season. WISH ME LUCK!
Mavis Butterfield says
Good Luck Michele! 🙂 I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Pippa says
I still think you did a freakin’ awesome job this year in your garden. With this new ‘aha’ moment, I’m sure next year will be even better. I was wondering… I know you don’t have to and I doubt you would want to, BUT do you think you and your family could survive the year on what you grew?
Mavis Butterfield says
So far we are up to 1,000 pounds. Maybe if we had too I suppose.
Suzanne says
If I have grown my potatoes in garbage cans, and my tomatoes in tires, how does crop rotation work?There are so few spots that tomatoes will really get enough heat in the PNW and now that I have found it, I’m not sure I want to move the tomatoes around. If I put in a fall crop, is that the time to rotate? Or do I wait for the spring planting?
Melissa Doroquez says
I know this. But I have a hard time with it given what Suzanne says above. There are few ‘hot spots’ in my yard for tomatoes and squash and there are more but not enough cool spots for lettuces and mid-summer chard. So, considering that I do everything in raised beds, I am considering the labor-intensive but possible ‘remove all of the soil from each bed and rotate the soil’. The idea of it tires me but if I can do that and add some extra nutrients, I feel that might work. Or maybe I will just add in the nutrients that were stripped every year.