Crop rotation is something that is frequently talked about when you start talking about growing vegetables in the garden. It is used when vegetable crops are grown in the ground, but certain points could apply to any vegetables grown in pots too.

So what is crop rotation? It is where your vegetable crops are grown in different garden beds each year, based on a four year cycle, with different crops in each garden bed over the four years worth of growing seasons.

Advantages of crop rotation

There are several benefits from using crop rotation in your vegetable garden:

• The main benefit of crop rotation is that it helps to prevent the build-up of pests and diseases within the soil. As an example, if broccoli (or other brassicas) is grown in the same garden bed for a number of years a disease called club root can build up and result in no broccoli.
• Certain crops help to prevent weeds from growing the soil as their leaves cover the soil well-potatoes are a good example. In the following season, crops, like onions or beetroot, can make it difficult to to weed around them so (with reduced weed seed loading the soil) these are an ideal crop to follow the more leafy crops.
• Vegetables like peas and beans add nitrogen to the soil, with the aid of bacteria within nodules in their roots. This nitrogen gets added to the soil, helping to reduce the need for adding fertiliser to the following crops-things that are more demanding in their nutritional requirements, for example tomatoes or broccoli.
• Certain crops like perennials don’t fit into this system-perennials are permanent, so can always stay put, while things like lettuce are quick growing so both can be used to fill the empty patches of soil, reducing the chances of weeds taking hold.

Drawbacks of crop rotation

As with anything, there are some drawbacks mentioned in the information that I have read on the subject:

• As much as rotating the crops through different garden beds each growing season reduces the risk of soil pests and diseases, many of the diseases found in the soil, if present, can stay in the soil for as long as twenty years. This can make crop rotation seem pointless.
• Along the same line is the fact that because most people have the vegetable beds close to each other, the soil pathogens could be spread between each vegetable bed you have.

What plants are suggested to grow together?

Heavy feeders are one group of plants you can grow together. This includes things like tomatoes, potatoes, brassicas like cauliflower, sweetcorn and cucurbits like pumpkin and pumpkins.

Light feeders are another group of crops to grow together. Root crops like beetroot, onions, carrots and parsnips, along with silver beet and leeks are included in this group.

Legumes like peas and beans are normally put into a separate group due to the fact that they are able to add nitrogen back into the soil with the aid of special bacteria.

Have the heavy feeders following the legumes and then the light feeders following the heavy feeders, and the legumes following on from the light feeders. Add compost where you can too-preferably that made at home as it can be expensive to constantly purchase.

What else is there to know?

As much as some people will go on and on about the ‘correct’ way to do things, and that there can be no deviation whatsoever from this ‘correct’ way, they are not growing fruit and veg in your garden, nor living your life. Crop rotation can be one helpful way to prevent pests and diseases from building up to high levels within your garden, but you can never stop pests and diseases from appearing. If you have the space to do some crop rotation, then that is better than nothing.

If you do have the space for some crop rotation, aim for at least one whole growing season without a particular crop (broccoli, for example) in a certain garden bed. Other general advice is as follows:

• Have a list of the crops you want to grow, and the quantities (which can be tricky when starting out so start small and build up your quantities where required with more experience).
• Try to grow locally adapted species or varieties-these will do better in your area.
• Only grow what you enjoy eating-if you really don’t like kale or pumpkin, for example, why grow them? Home grown food should be enjoyed, that’s one reason why many people do so.
• It does help to have a plan of what you want to grow where and when-a little research on your local climate conditions, what grows best when and when to sow seeds and also how long until harvest is really helpful-it will help you no end in keeping track of what’s going on
• Keep records-what you planted when and when these crops are due for harvest, pests and diseases around and what you did to control them, the weather conditions that growing season and anything else that you think is relevant. If you do this yearly, you build up a good record that you can look back to if you run into problems, allowing you to rectify them quicker.

I hope that someone finds this useful in some way, as it isn’t too hard to do. The main thing to remember is that fruit and veg growing should be enjoyable in the doing and eating and that the best way to learn is by giving it a go and seeing what works for you in your garden.

On that note, happy gardening and have a good weekend!