Yes, You Can Practice Crop Rotation

Here is a simple approach to a complex concept. If you rotate crops according to their nutritional requirements, then you can add soil amendments in rotation, too.

by Cynthia HizerDecember 1996from put out # 6

Where did I put the roquette two long time ago ? And last year , seems like the tomatoes were in the main garden . Or were they by the rabbit hutch ? hazard I ca n’t set potatoes there this year . I reckon .

If you ’re not keeping track of these inside information , you may not be getting the most out of your garden , or giving your vegetable all they need . And you may be making needless piece of work for yourself .

Moving plants around from yr to year is one of the best organic technique to minimize disease and bug problem and to maximise soil fertility . Various rotation plans are popular . The simplest is “ do n’t establish the same thing in the same place two year in a row . ” This strategy is project to ward off pests . If the chou looper pupa nestles down in the clams debris in October and reawaken the following give to more cabbage , that ’s instant sustenance . But if you ’ve moved the cabbage , the looper may croak trying to find its intellectual nourishment .

Some gardeners move plants around by family — nightshade , composite , Indian mustard , genus Allium , solanum , cucurbit . For this system , it ’s helpful to have a working knowledge of Latin , as well as an familiar knowledge of plant part . One well - love horticulture expert suggests a ten - twelvemonth rotation . But I get dizzy just think of the complications . What if I sell the sign of the zodiac before ten yr are up ? Should the rotation program be in my will ?

I utilize a system that ’s easy to implement and well-situated to remember without a notebook computer . I separate my crops based on their nutritional prerequisite . It so bump that the industrial plant fall pretty neatly into leafy crops , fruiting crop , and root crops . A fourth division is for leguminous plant — peas and edible bean — which technically are fruits , but get their own secret plan because they actually tot more nutrients to the soil than they take . By nonremittal , this system separates families , and so aid diminish cuss problems .

Leaf , fruit , etymon , legume . That ’s my crop rotation plan . No detailed plant anatomy , no clerking , and no Latin , which I still plan to con some sidereal day .

Test the soil , and amendI embark on by get my soil tested at a lab . Then I added the recommend amounts of food — manure , compost , black tilt phosphate , greensand , gypsum , and calcium oxide — to my entire garden . I did this in the fall so the amendment would have time to break down and become available to the plant . In the outpouring , I divide the garden into four sections and planted each with one of the following groups : folio , yield , source , legume . Every twelvemonth now , I rotate the planting so the leaf group go to where the legume grew the time of year before , and the other groups all move over a section ( see drawing at left ) .

Having four expanse of some equal sizing makes this system work on , even though you ’ll probably want to grow more of one kind of crop than another . I made each division prominent enough to hold the tumid group I arise , and I make full the empty space in my small rotations with cover crops .

If the area are n’t the same size , when it come clock time to put the largest group — say , the fruits — into a too - small space , you ’ll be tempted to sneak some extra tomatoes or peppers in where they do n’t go . And then your decent , neat organisation has been breached .

leaf know N . plant life like lettuce , spinach , herb , cabbage , and broccoli involve plenty of nitrogen to build up firm root word and leaves . Nitrogen is the most readily soluble of all the nutrients , and therefore the operose for the soil to restrain onto . So it ’s significant to grow folio crop in soil that ’s had a fresh infusion of atomic number 7 . Manure or immature manure ( see the cover crop treatment at in good order ) is the cornerstone . During the rise time of year , I also side - garb my plants in the leaf bed with alfalfa or Pisces or blood meal , and if necessary I spray them with a Pisces the Fishes emulsion solution . For fruit , it ’s phosphorus . Lycopersicon esculentum , squash , cucumber , pepper — everything that develops as a effect of a flower being pollinated — are fruits . These crops need generous Lucifer to set blossoms and develop yield . If the soil is very rich in atomic number 7 , however , the leaves will be grand , but flowers and fruits will be few . ivory meal and rock inorganic phosphate are the best sources of atomic number 15 . pearl meal break down rather , and needs to be renewed more often . Rock inorganic phosphate is my dearie ; it call for a year to become to the full available , but one program lasts five years . Roots bank in the main on potassium . Allium cepa , Allium sativum , turnip , carrots , radishes , and other root crops are heavy K users . At the same sentence , they require even less nitrogen than yield . That ’s fine , because by the third year , most of the nitrogen has been used up , but the easy atomic number 19 is quick and waiting to go to work . My favorite potassium source is greensand because it also give scores of trace mineral and helps break up clay soil . Wood ashes , gypsum , kelp , and granite dust are also safe atomic number 19 source . legume put nitrogen back into the soil . attic and peas tear N from the air and store it on their roots . I spring up these in the last year of the cycles/second because when their radical decompose in the soil , the nitrogen becomes useable for next year ’s leafage revolution . And the fagged plant , when turned into the garden , add organic matter .

amendment rotate , tooAnother grownup welfare to this revolution system is that it ’s prosperous to remember when and where to add grunge amendment . Every fall , I amend only the bed that will hold next year ’s leaf rotation . First I get my ground test , and then I add manure and whatever amendment the trial resultant role recommend — basswood , rock orthophosphate , greensand . At this time , I also propagate compost over the intact garden . This curriculum is based on using constitutive amendments , which stay in the soil longer than non - organic fertiliser .

If you ’re not cover - cropping , you ’ll need to sum up manure to every bed every yr . If you do n’t have a quick source of manure , well , flora cover version crops . Every rule has exceptionsI’ve had a hard time deciding where to put corn , potatoes , and garlic , but I ’m happy with what I ’m doing now . Corn is a heavy substance abuser of nitrogen so I grow it in the leaf rotary motion , even though edible corn ’s a fruiting crop . In fact , I plant clavus come right into my loot patch ; the growing corn shades the lettuce and take over when the lettuce is finished .

Potatoes are roots , but they are also in the nightshade family , same as tomatoes , peppers , and eggplants . I noticed that the Solanum tuberosum suffered more pest problems when they be their relatives . Now I plant potatoes in the legume bed , which keeps them two year aside from their kin .

And , finally , ail is a trivial awkward because its growing time of year stretches from autumn to summer . I now constitute garlic in October in the yield seam , which will be the root bed the following yr . Cover crop are part of the programAs a certified organic marketplace gardener , I ’m required to use cover crops . They ’re so beneficial I urge on you , too , to give them a try .

Cover crops are plants develop to enhance yield , reduce weeds , and stimulate grime activity . When turn under , they compost mightily in the soil , which is why they ’re also yell greenish manure . I use get across crops during the off - season when I ’m not uprise vegetables , and also to fill blank spaces in those smaller rotation I talk about in the article .

I seek to match the masking crop to my rotation plan . I inseminate legume — trefoil , vetch , or alfalfa — in the legume bed and also in the leaf seam , which benefit from the extra atomic number 7 . After the leaf crop are harvested , I sow wheat , which discourages disease and nematodes that might plague next year ’s tomato and peppers . I mow the straw when it ’s about 8 in . tall , leave it on the bed over wintertime , and wrick it under in leaping .

After the fruiting crops are complete , I circulate rye over the empty bed . rye whisky grows more mileage of roots than any other cover crop . The decaying rye whisky roots leave the ground fluffy , unadulterated for grow shapely carrots and beet . In the suspension between spring and fall root crops , I plant buckwheat , a grain that thrives in summer heat energy . Buckwheat discourages weeds and also loosens the grease . I ’m heedful to mow buckwheat before it flowers , or else it will become a weed . After the fall roots are harvest , I ’m back to leguminous plant .

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If you rotate crops according to their nutritional requirements, then you can add soil amendments in rotation, too.Photo/Illustration: Pat Schories

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