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Post by desertwoman on Oct 22, 2022 18:57:45 GMT -5
I'm rethinking how I rotate my veggies. How often do you rotate your garden crops? Or do you? Please pass on some details of what has worked for you.
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Post by binnylou on Oct 24, 2022 9:36:04 GMT -5
Rotating crops in my garden is a bit challenging. Because of the big walnut tree, I need to keep tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers toward the east end of the garden. That puts squash and melon toward the west end. Beans are staying in the same spot. Greens and lettuce enjoy the shade of the Oak tree…three beds eligible for those crops, but only one has hoops.
If I wanted to rotate the tomato planting, I’d have to only have one raised bed of tomatoes. That ain’t happening…yet.
But, I do think about crop rotation. Does that count?
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Post by breezygardener on Oct 24, 2022 11:57:15 GMT -5
Since I do deck container gardening & have large pots/tubs set up with permanent supports, it's difficult to rotate all that much. But I do remove & replace a certain amount of soil in each container, which does seem to help with recurring diseases in tomato crops.
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Post by datgirl on Oct 24, 2022 12:52:14 GMT -5
I rotate the tomatoes, cucumbers and beans every year. They kind of alternate one side to the other. It's the best I can do. Peppers are in pots. Next year I'm going to replace the dirt in the pots. It's been a few years.
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Post by gardendmpls on Oct 24, 2022 16:00:30 GMT -5
Some things are switched out, but it doesn't seem to make a difference in yield. I think rotation is partly based on maintaining soil fertility, the idea being that each crop uses different nutrients. If you keep adding compost and mulch to your soil, that shouldn't be a problem. As far as insects and disease, if your garden is backyard sized the beds aren't far enough from each other to make much of a difference.
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Post by emmsmommy on Oct 27, 2022 1:56:00 GMT -5
I try to rotate the tomatoes but that's about it. The green beans in the concrete block holes did exceptionally well this year so my hopes are to add a handful of compost to each and continue with them again next year. Of course we had an exceptionally wet August and September and I'm sure that helped a bit. Otherwise I'll be adding a layer of compost to the beds, topping with a layer of leaves and start dreaming about spring before long.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Oct 28, 2022 12:15:11 GMT -5
When I first turned my back yard into a garden, I tried different crops in different areas. The S side which shares a border with a neighbor, who at the time provided little care for the yard, was lined with a massive cottonwood, 3 not very stable trees (poplar I think??), and another large tree, the variety of which I can't remember. I learned that they shaded the entire south half of the yard, and not many sun needing crops grew well. So I switched the next year, and the sun crops were planted in the North side of the yard.
I also realized that the Northen section of the South side was a completely shady area, so that became more of a decorative bed with ostrich ferns and 3 Trilliums my mother grew (with up to 80 some blooms as of this year). I tucked some shade loving herbs in as well.
Over time I rotated the bean, pea and tomato areas annually, party b/c I learned by then that the yard had been a swamp, and I wasn't sure how good some of the soil really was, especially the area where Dad and I found little glass bottles and chunks of concrete when we tried to dig new beds. I gave up on corn; it never survived the raccoon feasts.
I also like to rotate annual flowers, just to change the schematics.
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Post by raphanus on Oct 28, 2022 18:57:49 GMT -5
I rotate everything using no-till or low-till methods for both in-ground, raised bed, and container gardening. After a crop is finished, I don’t rip it up usually, I just cut at the base chop and drop style so as not to disturb roots and beneficial microorganisms. I add some fresh organic compost and then plant something from a completely different family. I try not to plant the same family for 7 crop cycles, for in ground, raised bed, and container stuff. So it skips around, some years peppers are in the ground and some years they are in pots or raised beds. So last winter my large fabric pots on the drive way were carrots and onions, this summer they were peppers, this fall they will be peas, in the spring they will be radishes, next summer they will be cucumbers, next fall they will be Swiss chard, next winter they will be barley, etc so that crops from the same family aren’t planted for a while.
I don’t worry about this with flowers, I plant zinnias and crimson clover and sunflowers in the same spots every year.
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