Vegetable Garden Planning

Vegetable rotation, like any crop rotation, is necessary for the health of your garden.  If you do not rotate your vegetables the diseases and pests that attack specific crops will build up in the soil and become a problem.

Groups of vegetables

 

Vegetables are divided into four groups:

• Legumes – beans and peas
• Brassicas -broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, kale, rutabaga, and turnips
• Root Vegetables – potatoes, carrots, parsnips, plus tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and celery
• Onion family and squashes – garlic, leeks, onioins, shallots, scallions, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, and winter squash

You may put other vegetables in with any of the groups where there is space.  Vegetables such as rhubarb and asparagus need a permanent space since they are perennials.

How to rotate

The vegetables within each of these groups attract the same diseases and pests.  When you plan your garden, divide the available space into four main sections.  Grow all of the beans and peas in section one the first year, then move them to section two for the next year, and so on.  You rotate the vegetables in your garden like a pinwheel, with year five bringing each of the vegetable groups back to its original location.  You’re going to have the vegetables all in the same garden.  You’ll just have them in a different part of it every year.  If you grow in containers, either change out your soil every year or rotate your crops as if they were inground.  Consistant vegetable rotation will help ensure healthy crops for many years.