A beginner’s guide to crop rotation

Some annual vegetables benefit from being grown in a different area year to year. This is because different crops take varying nutrients from the soil, and these can become depleted in your vegetable beds each season.

Once the ground is given a break from the needs of certain types of veg, it has time to replenish its nutrients and recover from any pests and diseases that might be lingering around.

Rotation categories

Veg crops are divided into categories, making the planning of a rotation system easier. They are broken up as follows:

Brassicas: these include, cabbage, kale, sprouts, radish, Oriental leaves, cauliflower

Legumes: beans and peas

Onions: onions, garlic, shallots

Potato family: potatoes and tomatoes

Roots: these include beetroot, carrot, celery, parsley, parsnips, celeriac

This allows you to easily identify which crops need to go where, and planting them in these groups saves you from having to remember where each individual vegetable had been grown the year before.

If you have some perennial crops in your growing space, it is important to remember that the beds these are in will be exempt from the rotation plan, and work out your schedule accordingly. Also, it is quite likely that throughout the season, new fruit and veg will be added to the list, so keep your plan in mind when you are deciding where you will plant these.

But what if I don’t know my new plot’s growing history?

When you take on a new allotment plot, this can be tricky, as you are likely not to know what was grown where in the previous year. So, you can start your plot as year one – dig plenty of well-rotted organic matter into the ground to help condition it, and start from the beginning. This system allows you to monitor the needs of your crops – just remember to keep it simple and enjoy making plans for your growing space!

Different systems

The most common way to rotate your crops is using either the three- or four-year systems. This is done by rotating the different groups, ensuring that no vegetables are grown in the same place for a minimum of three years. This can go as follows:

THREE-YEAR PLAN

Year one

Bed one: Potatoes

Bed two: Legumes, onions and roots

Bed three: Brassicas

Year two

Bed one: Legumes, onions and roots

Bed two: Brassicas

Bed three: Potatoes

Year three

Bed one: Brassicas

Bed two: Potatoes

Bed three: Legumes, onions and roots

FOUR-YEAR PLAN

Year one

Bed one: Legumes

Bed two: Brassicas

Bed three: Potatoes

Bed four: Onions and roots

Year two

Bed one: Brassicas

Bed two: Potatoes

Bed three: Onions and roots

Bed four: Legumes

Year three

Bed one: Potatoes

Bed two: Onions and roots

Bed three: Legumes

Bed four: Brassicas

Year four

Bed one: Onions and roots

Bed two: Legumes

Bed three: Brassicas

Bed four: Potatoes

1. -