Are you wondering if you really need crop rotations in your home vegetable garden? This article explains why this practice doesn’t benefit too much in small and diverse gardens, and what should instead focus on for healthy and productive plants.
If you’re not used to this, how to grow your first vegetable garden (currently) will give you a good overview.
Is crop rotation worth it?
This article is 2 minutes in the garden, Episode 412 – Does the gardener need crop rotation? You can listen to the entire episode with resources (below).
When I was starting out as a new gardener planning my first vegetable garden, I felt that two popular advice was planting companions and crop rotations, that is, overwhelmed.
Garden books (and many websites today) include companion planting charts (long and contradictory lists of common crops and some flowers). However, it is enough to plan a laid-back garden without trying to exchange friendships and feuds of various plants.
Luckily I later learned that I can grow a thriving vegetable garden while ignoring these lists when the basics are covered (the right amount of sun and water, good soil, proper spacing). For more information about The Trouble, click here for Companion Planting.
Crop rotation also made my head spin. I’ve heard that it’s supposed to reduce pests and pathogens, but is this really helpful? It felt engrossed to have to spin everything on paper and match the plants to ideal conditions, along with plans for trellis, sunshades and inheritance planting.
If I had an open lot with huge, lots of raised beds, it would be fine. But in a typical urban park with limited charming spaces and shaded trees, it was unrealistic.
So, despite the garden professional avalanches recommend it, it’s time for deep dives to see if crop rotations are really needed.
What is crop rotation?
Crop rotation means planting different plants (or plants’ families) in different places in your garden each year.
Ideas by moving things, you:
It prevents pests and diseases from accumulating in the soil, prevents depletion of certain nutrients in one place, and mimics what works in agriculture.
Most guides suggest spinning the plant family over a three- or four-year cycle. Therefore, if you plant carrots (Apiaceae) in one bed this year, you will not grow them in that bed for three or four years, or grow celery, dill, or parsnips. You can see more examples here.
Why does it work on a farm?
Crop rotations have been used in agriculture for centuries. It’s extensively studied – there are thousands of research papers in it – and for good reason. Agriculture often involves huge fields of single crops (monocultural). This is a setup where pests and diseases are likely to manifest and nutrient imbalances will occur, and spinning crops are one way to prevent those problems.
But your backyard is not a farm. And that’s the catch.
Why isn’t it translated into the garden?
Here’s why crop rotations aren’t that useful in small home gardens.
Home gardens are not monoculture. You’re already growing a combination of plants nearby, often even in the same bed. That diversity alone reduces the pressure of pests and diseases. The scale is too small. Moving plants 20 or 30 feet away does not stop the flight of pests or airborne diseases. Spores and insects don’t mind that your tomatoes are in the next raised bed. I work in the cold winter. Many garden diseases and pests do not survive cold weather winters. If they are already cleaned up with frost, the spinning crops make no difference. There are no support studies. Crop rotations have been studied in agriculture, but not in home gardens. General recommendations for backyard gardeners are not based on science. This is an assumption borrowed from agriculture.
Nutrients and “Heavy Feeder”
One argument for rotating crops is that some plants use more nutrients than others, and spinning helps to “balance” this.
However, if you improve your soil with compost and leaf mold each year, there is little nutrient depletion. You are feeding the soil, and the soil is feeding the plants. Rotating crops are not a substitute for soil care, and there is no reason to assume that if the soil is healthy, it is drained.
How about legume plants?
Legumes like peas and beans can add nitrogen to the soil (with the help of certain bacteria). This is one of the reasons it is used in farm rotations.
However, in the garden, the benefits are limited. Most of the nitrogen ends up in the part you harvest and eat, not in the soil. Legumes contribute to nitrogen through the roots, but if you’ve already applied compost, it’s probably not enough. And they still use other nutrients like any plant.
So, should you spin the crop?
If you enjoy spinning crop puzzles over the years and want to do it, for that. There may be some specific pests or diseases that spin help. However, crop rotations are not essential in most small, cold climate home gardens, especially those that are organically cared for with compost and mulch. It may just add unnecessary complications.
Better Strategy
Focus on soil health by adding compost, leaf shapes, and root cover toppings. Grow a variety of plants. Take caution when pests and disease problems arise and learn what you can do to manage them without causing any further harm.
This can be sufficient to grow healthy and productive plants without the addition of the stress of a spinning chart or strict planting schedule.
And that’s why I don’t include crop rotations in my garden plan.
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