We all know that crop rotation is critical to a healthy vegetable garden. Crop rotation helps reduce the risk of insects and diseases as well as manages the fertility of your garden soil.

While the concepts are not challenging, actually sitting down and planning out a rotation schedule can be a bit frustrating. Everywhere I read it talks about separating your garden into garden beds and rotating your vegetables through these. My problem with this is three fold:

1. I grow a disproportionate share of some plant families. We grow way more legumes (peas and beans) and nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes and peppers) than any other vegetable and we grow very little brassicas (kholrabi, cabbage, broccoli).
2. We will have two large vegetable beds this year, and dividing them into set sections seems an inefficient use of garden space to me.
3. I seem to keep adding to both our vegetable repertoire and garden space each year, sometimes at the last minute throwing a curve into the mix.So with experience I have been ‘adjusting’ my crop rotation schedule to suit our own particular vegetable profile. I am still following important crop rotation guidelines, I am just adjusting them to our own particular needs. For more information on how I grouped my vegetables read Practical Crop Rotation – A Second Look.