4 Tips When Using Vegetable Crop Rotation to Control Pests and Disease in your Veggie Garden

Vegetable crop rotation is a common practice in many vegetable gardens.  This is beneficial for both vegetables and the soil. Crops requiring different nutrients can be planted in the same soil one after the other.  For example crops that require plenty of nitrogen should be followed by crops like root vegetables that don’t need as much nitrogen.

Tip 1 - Soil to Match Your Veggies

Vegetables are generally heavy nutrient feeders or light feeders.  Heavy feeders like sliverbeet, broccoli, pumpkins, sweet corn, cabbage, eggplant, potatoes, celery and capsicums should be planted in soil that is well fertilized with manure and compost.  Light feeders like peas, carrots, beetroot, beans radishes and turnips can be planted as following crops.

Tip 2 - Less Bug Dwelling Pests

Vegetable crop rotation is a successful way of growing vegetables largely because it controls pests and disease in organic vegetable gardens by reducing the build up of soil dwelling pests like potato scab and nematodes.  With different crops growing in the same location across each year these pests are unable to build up in numbers that could become problematic.

Tip 3 - Cabbage Family Benefits

Members of the cabbage family include radishes, cabbages, broccoli, turnips and Brussel sprouts are prone to developing clubroot.  This disease can live in the soil for up to two years so these vegetables should be rotated.  Vegetables in the onion family like leeks, garlic and shallots are prone to disease and should be rotated annually to avoid this.

Tip 4 - Growing Rotation for Potato, Beet and Squash Families

Vegetable crop rotation is also a good way of keeping members of the potato family like chilli, eggplant, tomatoes and capsicum disease free.  The beet family, spinach, beetroot and silverbeet and the squash family, cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins all can benefit from the same growing rotation to avoid diseases that just don’t get a foot in the ground as a result of easy variation in planting patterns.

As most vegetable gardens are comparatively small you will be able to remember where you planted what and when.  In the event that your vegetable garden grows or your memory isn’t as good as you’d like include these details on a written plan or on a computerized CAD plan of your vegetable garden.

If you'd like to read more about infromation about how to grow a successful veggie garden year round read my other articles on this website and go to my blog at www.blog.mightydigitaldownloads.com

Leave a comment | View Comments