Crop Rotation

[Purple Strawberry]

So I am really wanting to know this information for next year but I am thinking way ahead. Here is what I want to know...

How often do you change the layout of your beds?

 

[DrakeMaiden]

After each crop, consider what you will want next. Some crops mature early, some mid-summer, some fall.

I have read that it is good to start with a "heavy feeder" crop, then put in a "heavy giver" crop, and finally put in a "light feeder" crop. Either that or you could always follow your main crop with a green manure.

Heavy feeders are crops like lettuce, tomatoes, squashes, etc.

Heavy givers are crops like peas, beans, etc.

Light feeders are crops like root vegetables.

You can get really creative based upon different crop planting and harvest times and get very complicated, or you can try to keep it simple . . . keep track of your rotations in a journal! My guess is that the longer you do it the easier it will be to think about what to plant next!

 

[homesteadmom]

Every yr we rotate our crops in the garden. The same with my raised beds too. Plus I plant green beans & peas in the fall & harvest them over the winter so the 2 rows who do not get tilled under get back anyway.

 

[Rosalind]

I made a rather complicated rotation. Just because I wasn't really thinking about rotation frequency when I was laying out half-raised beds--I wanted something pretty and historic, rather than "even number/size of beds for rotation." So it ended up being this big eight-part deal.

But yes, they change annually. A couple of my rotations are "chicken feed blend," which is chicken greens, beetberries, quinoa, flax, calendula, amaranth and sunflowers. My light rotation is onions & beans/peas.

 

[ams3651]

i cant think of much right now but I know corn is a very heavy feeder and needs to be in a new spot every year with a heavy giver in the year after. And tomotoes like to be in the same spot every year unless there were disease problems last year.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I've never heard that tomatoes like to be in the same spot, I have only heard to rotate them like everything else.

 

[setter4]

I've always been told you should move everything every year and don't replant in the same spot again for 3 years. That goes for any plants in the same families also.
I won't lie and say I do that EVERY year. lol
I never heard tomatoes were an exception to the rule either.

 

[dbjay417]

Good to know for next year. this year however, i get to go crazy because most of the land has not been planted in many years.