When planting your vegetables you should be rotating your vegetables to different spots to avoid building up nasty diseases and insect populations that can make your job of disease and insect control much more complicated. Rotate back to the same spot in about three to five years. Generally there should be a physical separation between these spots or beds so when you are preparing your soil you are not contaminating it. How important is this concept? It has been around for many many years and is one of the most simple concepts in organic and conventional gardening. Here is something I wrote for an NGO a few years ago when working in Lebanon.
Rotating Vegetable Crops to Prevent Diseases
Rotating
fields to different crops each year is one of the most important and easily
implemented disease control strategies for farmers. This practice avoids the
buildup of many plant diseases in the soil. The longer the rotation before
coming back to the crop, the less likely a disease will occur. Because diseases
usually attack members of the same plant family, it is best to avoid planting
crops after each other that belong to the same family. Insect damage may increase when the same crop is planted in the same
area over several years as well. Here are some common vegetables and
the families they belong to.
fields to different crops each year is one of the most important and easily
implemented disease control strategies for farmers. This practice avoids the
buildup of many plant diseases in the soil. The longer the rotation before
coming back to the crop, the less likely a disease will occur. Because diseases
usually attack members of the same plant family, it is best to avoid planting
crops after each other that belong to the same family. Insect damage may increase when the same crop is planted in the same
area over several years as well. Here are some common vegetables and
the families they belong to.
Tomato
Family: Tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers
Family: Tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers
Cucumber
Family: Cucumber, melons, squash, pumpkin, gourd
Family: Cucumber, melons, squash, pumpkin, gourd
Lettuce Family: Lettuce, endive, salsify, Jerusalem
artichoke
artichoke
Onion Family: Onion, garlic, leek, shallot, chive
Carrot
Family: Carrot, parsnip, parsley, celery
Family: Carrot, parsnip, parsley, celery
Cabbage
Family: Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, turnip,
radish, Chinese cabbage, kale, collards, rhutabaga
Family: Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, turnip,
radish, Chinese cabbage, kale, collards, rhutabaga
Beet
Family: Beet, Swiss chard, spinach
Family: Beet, Swiss chard, spinach
Pea
Family: Peas, snap bean, lima bean, soybean
Family: Peas, snap bean, lima bean, soybean
Okra
Family: Okra
Family: Okra
Corn
Family: Sweet corn, field corn, wheat, barley, oats
Family: Sweet corn, field corn, wheat, barley, oats
Some
choices of crop rotations include Pea Family to Corn Family, Lettuce Family to
Cucumber Family, Cucumber Family to Cabbage Family, and Cucumber Family to Corn
Family. Rotating beans with a grain crop such as barley, oats, rye, wheat, or
field corn or with a forage crop is very beneficial for root-rot control. One
or two years in a grain crop is often long enough to prevent severe root rot
when the field is not heavily infested with this disease.
choices of crop rotations include Pea Family to Corn Family, Lettuce Family to
Cucumber Family, Cucumber Family to Cabbage Family, and Cucumber Family to Corn
Family. Rotating beans with a grain crop such as barley, oats, rye, wheat, or
field corn or with a forage crop is very beneficial for root-rot control. One
or two years in a grain crop is often long enough to prevent severe root rot
when the field is not heavily infested with this disease.
Some
diseases that come from the soil are not easily controlled by rotation. Such diseases
can live a long time in the soil and are not affected by rotation. Examples
include clubroot that attacks the Cucumber Family, Phytophthora blight, and Fusarium
wilt of several crops. Other diseases attack so many vegetables that they can
survive indefinitely on many different plants including weeds. These diseases
include Sclerotinia, Rhizoctonia, Verticillium and root-knot nematodes. Many
diseases can survive successfully because they can live on plants and plant
parts left in the field after harvest. However they are unable to survive once
the plants left in the field decompose. Destruction of plants and parts of
plants left in the field after harvest can eliminate this problem. Plowing the
field after harvest and before letting the soil rest can reduce the amount of
disease that will survive.
diseases that come from the soil are not easily controlled by rotation. Such diseases
can live a long time in the soil and are not affected by rotation. Examples
include clubroot that attacks the Cucumber Family, Phytophthora blight, and Fusarium
wilt of several crops. Other diseases attack so many vegetables that they can
survive indefinitely on many different plants including weeds. These diseases
include Sclerotinia, Rhizoctonia, Verticillium and root-knot nematodes. Many
diseases can survive successfully because they can live on plants and plant
parts left in the field after harvest. However they are unable to survive once
the plants left in the field decompose. Destruction of plants and parts of
plants left in the field after harvest can eliminate this problem. Plowing the
field after harvest and before letting the soil rest can reduce the amount of
disease that will survive.