Is Crop Rotation Making You Dizzy?

I know I have posted about this subject already, but I have been doing some good reading and wanted to share a few things about rotating crops. This can apply to container gardening as well as garden plots.

Planning, planting and growing vegetable garden does not require that you know everything there is to know about veggies, but it does help to know the plant families and groups of veggies as there are some general rules which apply.

Crop rotation is something that dates back centuries and unfortunately has not been kept up with this ancient practice. Once you know the veggie families it’s much like knowing how to ride a bicycle or at least that’s what everyone keeps saying as I keep reading.

There are three reasons to rotate vegetable crops:

1     .       Reduction of harmful insects and plant diseases by rotating the location of plants from the same families on a piece of ground.

2   .      Better plant nutrition by rotating location of plants that make the same nutritional demands on the soil on a piece of ground.

3    .      Improvement of soil structure by rotating plants that have roots at various depths and that are cultivated with different techniques.

Vegetables fit into eight family groups and one miscellaneous group for a total of nine groups. There are some sites and books that I have read that have nine families with a miscellaneous group for a total of ten groups. In the ten family grouping grass is its own category, but most of what I have read has grasses lumped with miscellaneous. I am going with the majority and doing eight families and one miscellaneous.

The vegetable family groups are: 1. Beetroot family; 2. Cabbage family; 3. Carrot family; 4. Daisy family; 5. Marrow family; 6. Onion family; 7. Pea and Bean family; 8. Potato family and 9. Miscellaneous.

Some examples of each family:

1   .       Beetroot family: amaranth, beet, beetroot, chard, good king henry, goosefoot, lamb’s quarters, pigweed, quinoa, spinach, sugar beet, Swiss chard (spinach beet).

2   .      Cabbage family: bok choi, broccoli, broccoli raab, brussels sprouts, cabbage, calabrese, cauliflower, chinese cabbage, collards, cress, daikon, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, radish, rutabaga, swede, tatsoi, turnip, wasabi, watercress.

3   .      Carrot family: caraway, carrot, celery, celeriac, chervil, coriander/cilantro, cumin, dill, fennel, parsley, parsnip, root parsley.

4   .      Daisy family: artemisia, cardoon, chamomile, chicory, chrysanthemums dandelion, endive, escarole, globe artichoke, jerusalem artichoke, lettuce, marigolds, safflower, salsify, scorzonera, shungiku (edible chrysanthemum), sunflower, tarragon.

5   .      Marrow family: cucumber, gourds (angled luffa, bitter gourd (balsam pear, bitter melon), hardshelled gourd, smooth luffa, snake gourd), melons (cantaloupe/muskmelon, casaba, honeydew melon, water melon), squash/marrow (acorn, banana, buttercup, butternut, cheese, crookneck, delicata, golden cushaw, hubbard, kabocha, pumpkin, scallop, spaghetti, zucchini/courgette), west indian gherkin.

6   .      Onion family: chives, garlic, garlic chives, elephant garlic, leeks, onion, scallions, shallot.

7   .      Pea and Bean family: alfalfa, beans (adzuki bean, broad bean, chickpea/garbanzo bean, fava bean, french bean, hyacinth bean, lima bean, mung bean, rice bean, runner bean, soybean, vigna mungo), clover, cowpea, fenugreek, lentil, lupin, peas, peanuts, tares/vetches, trefoil.

8  .     Potato family: eggplant (aubergine), garden huckleberry, peppers (caribbean red hot peppers, chili pepper, habanero, hot paper lantern, sweet pepper), paprika, potato, tobacco, tomato, tomatillo/husk cherry.

9   .      Miscellaneous: barley, corn/maize, mallet, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, sugarcane, wheat, lambs lettuce (Valerianaceae); new zealand spinach (Aizoaceae); purslane, portulaca, miners lettuce (Portulacaceae); rhubarb, buckwheat (Polgonaceae); Okra (Mallow family, Malvaceae, cacao is also in this family); phacelia; grazing rye.

Now that we know the families we need to know how to rotate. This seems to be the simple part of it. Most sources say it is ideal to allow three years between the planting of same families in the same garden area. If a family likes to plant (A) tomatoes (B) beans and (C) squash, the garden is divided up into three equal parts. The following shows the three year rotation:

Year One:

A

B

C

Year Two:

C

A

B

Year Three:

B

C

A

Year four would return back to the first years plan and go on and on and on. Since I have two garden plots that are 4’ X 8’ each and I want to plant from 8 of the family groups I need to divide each plot into 4 even sections and plant as follows:

Year One:

1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8

Year Two:

2	3	4	1
6	7	8	5

Year three:

3	4	1	2
7	8	5	6

So on and so forth as the years move on and on. Now if you are a container gardener you would apply this method the same way. If you have eight containers and plant a vegetable from each family group, then you would rotate them as explained above.

The question that I got from a friend who I was discussing this topic with was does this mean that the soil doesn't need anything other than the rotation. The answer is no, all soil regardless of it being in a container or in a garden plot needs to be fortified. You should always add the appropriate plant feeds to the soil and you need to always add additional compost as it will wash and blow away.

I hope this topic has been interesting and helpful. I am going to sit down tomorrow and plan out what I am planting where in my community garden plots as well as my containers for the next three years!

Happy Gardening,

Dianna