Crop Rotation Demistified

Paul Price - Plot 4

Do you ever get confused over what to sow where and when?  Crop rotation, once you get the hang of it is pretty straightforward.   All you need to remember is what veg belongs in what group and then where you grew them last year.  Most people do a 3 year rotation with 5 different plant groups.  The more ambitious use a 4 year plan, but let's keep this blog to 3 years.  The RHS has a good guide and here is a section from it:

How to do crop rotation
Divide your vegetable garden or allotment into sections of equal size (depending on how much of each crop you want to grow), plus an extra section for perennial crops, such as rhubarb and asparagus. Group your crops as below:

• Brassicas: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohl-rabi, oriental greens, radish, swede and turnips
• Legumes: Peas, broad beans (French and runner beans suffer from fewer soil problems and can be grown wherever convenient) 
• Onions: Onion, garlic, shallot, leek
• Potato family: Potato, tomato, (pepper and aubergine suffer from fewer problems and can be grown anywhere in the rotation) 
• Roots: Beetroot, carrot, celeriac, celery, Florence fennel, parsley, parsnip and all other root crops, except swedes and turnips, which are brassicas

Move each section of the plot a step forward every year so that, for example, brassicas follow legumes, onions and roots, legumes, onions and roots follow potatoes and potatoes follow brassicas. Here is a traditional three year rotation plan where potatoes and brassicas are important crops:
Year one
Section one: Potatoes
Section two: Legumes, onions and roots
Section three: Brassicas
Year two
Section one: Legumes, onions and roots
Section two: Brassicas
Section three: Potatoes
Year three
Section one: Brassicas
Section two: Potatoes
Section three: Legumes, onions and roots
You can read the full article here:

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