Photo by Tim Parkinson, shared via
Flickr.
In my
post last week about crop rotation, I covered the very basics: moving plants from year to year helps preserve soil fertility and prevent pest problems. But as you might know, some plants are closely related to each other, and that complicates matters a little bit.
To help illustrate the related plants, I've adapted this list below from a great list at a
University of Illinois Extension website:
Nightshade family: tomato, pepper, eggplant, potato, tomatillo
Onion family: onions, garlic, leek, shallot, chives
Squash family: cucumbers, muskmelon, watermelon, squash, pumpkin, gourd
Mustard family: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, turnip, radish, Chinese cabbage, kale, collards, mustard greens, rutabaga
Legume family: garden pea, snow peas, snap peas, sweet peas, snap beans, lima beans, soybean
Grass family: sweet corn, popcorn, ornamental corn
Carrot family: carrots, parsnip, parsley, celery, dill
Goosefoot family: beet, Swiss chard, spinach
Sunflower family: lettuce, Jerusalem artichoke, endive, salsify, sunflowers
Mint family: mint, basil, lemon balm, catnip
Now, how do you use this information? Well, the plants that are in the same family should be treated like a single type, in the sake of rotation. For instance, you might have this row order;
Year 1
Potato
(Nightshade)
Cucumber
(Squash)
Pumpkin
(Squash)
Carrots
(Carrot)
String beans
(Legume)
For year two, instead of moving all the plants one row down, you'd want to take into account your two squashes - so move everyone two rows instead.
Year 2
Carrots
(Carrot)
String beans
(Legume)
Potato
(Nightshade)
Cucumber
(Squash)
Pumpkin
(Squash)
Many gardeners don't plant in rows, but instead in blocks or even just zones. That's fine, too. In that case, to help you remember where you've placed things in the previous year, a garden journal is helpful. Otherwise, you might be staring into a lovely field of fresh soil in April saying, "Now was it last year that I had zucchini here, or two years ago? Hmm...."
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