What is Crop rotation ?

In simple terms, crop rotation is moving and growing different types of vegetables in a different part of the vegetable garden.

Crop rotation is important; it quickly becomes obvious when growing vegetables that disease and pests are the enemy. Crop rotation seeks to prevent a buildup in the soil of diseases and pests which commonly attack that particular type of vegetable by not growing the same vegetable in the same soil each year.

In addition, some vegetables, the pea and bean family, fix nitrogen in the soil and so the next crop should be one that thrives with the extra nitrogen. There are good reasons to organise crop rotation, which does its bit to help keep disease at bay.

A step by step guide to Crop rotation

Traditionally vegetable crops fall into 4 groups

Each year, if you are planting a veg from one of the above groups, it needs to be planted in a different bed from the previous year. To ensure crop rotation, draw a plan or take photos and compare to last year's. Salad vegetables should be planted in a different bed each year. A plan helps to decide how many of each veg to grow and track the crop rotation from year to year. By moving the crops around, you will reduce the incidence of disease, which can be a problem when growing vegetables, particularly in wet summers.

Following the sequence above will help to reduce the incidence of pests and diseases and aid organic growing.

When planning the veg plot, don't discount last year's seeds. Seed is increasingly expensive and for some vegetables such as courgettes, a couple of plants are often enough. Last year's seeds may well be viable and it is always worth trying to germinate from the previous year's seed, even if past "the sow by date." Ideally, if you are storing seed over the winter put in a cool place in airtight tin, the fridge is ideal if not a cool garage.