crop rotation

sweetnest

hi all

im lucky enough that this year i have a huge area for my veges. I have mixed compost, manure, bonemeal etc into the soil and im hoping to enjoy about 10 different types of veg at least,( must stay away from b&q)!!!

My question is, the way i will be planting this year is ideal for my outlook from windows etc so i would like to plant again exactly in the same spot the same vegs next year.

is it really important to rotate my crops every year, or, could i, add more manure, compost etc and regularly feed them, would they be happy in the same spot every year ?

thanks, Tracey

Lotus-eater

Yes it's important to rotate as best you can.
Disease, pests and soil micro nutrients are the reason.

rabidbun

I always rotate as much as I can for potatoes, tomatoes and garlic/onions to avoid disease. Where possible I rotate everything else (mostly tomatillos, celery, chillies, salad leaves, chard, achocha) to avoid losing specific nutrients that a type of plant needs. I grow carrots in the same soil (and often beans and peas) out of necessity though.

Sally_A

As rabidbun wrote, beans can stay in the same area, but they like their trenches to be fed with new compost/manure every year.

So 2 bean wigwams would look structurally pleasing, and can be prettied up with sweet peas.

As the vertical structure will draw your eyes away from the rest - yes do rotate as best as possible.

valk_scot

Rotation is vital to both plant and soil health. Each plant takes a slightly different combination of nutrients from the soil and it's best not to take exactly the same combination year after year as the soil then becomes depleted of these specific nutrients. Commercial plant feed only contains the basic few plant nutrient, not the other micronutrients. The soil needs a chance to replenish these.

Also, soil diseases and pests build up and if one crop is grown in the same spot year after year the pests and diseases will build up exponentially. Not growing the same crop in subsequent years means that the disease/pest begins to diminish again.

Good crop rotation helps with the above and makes the most of your soil to give maximum yields. It's extremely important, so I'd just give in at this point and go with the flow tbh. There's more important factors in veg growing than how pretty things look.

sweetnest

thanks all for the replies

well, i shall follow your recommendations and will certainly rotate next year, i have a chart somewhere which i will follow

thanks again

Tracey