CROP ROTATION  CHART

The Chart below has been re-produced by kind permission of the Burghfield Allotment Society.

 

If you grow the same crops in the same place year in and year out, there is potentially a build up of pests and diseases specific to that group of crops.  So we move the crops and allow the pests and diseases to die off.  

Rotation also allows the planting of crops which makes way for more delicate crops next year.  For example: planting onions after potatoes is beneficial to the onions because potatoes suppress the weeds, and planting Brassicas after Legumes helps the Brassicas because of the nitrogen left in the soil by the Legumes.

It is a good idea to keep a gardening diary and plan your beds for the next few years.

Divide your plot in 4 in whatever format pleases you.  Work out what you’d like to eat/grow and pencil where they fit in to a group.  

Family

Examples

Soil requirements

Soil benefits

1) Brassicas

Cabbage, cauliflower, radish, swede

Leafy crops need nitrogen-rich soil; may need liming

 

2) Legumes

Pea, bean (broad, French and runner)

Well-drained but moisture-retentive; not nitrogen-rich

Fix atmospheric nitrogen in roots for future crops

3) Onions

Onion, garlic, shallot, leek

High organic matter; may need liming

 

4) Roots

Carrot, parsnip, parsley, celery, Florence fennel

Root crops need stone-free soil; not freshly manured; fine tilth

Root crops break up soil structure

(Potato family

I put my potatoes in  my root Quarter.

Potato, tomato

High organic matter and nitrogen (potato); no lime

Suppress weeds, break up soil structure)