I find it very difficult to use a traditional crop rotation as I am constantly putting more in and taking things out. The transition from summer garden to winter garden is perplexing for me. The most simple plan seems to be leaf - fruit - root. I understand that crop rotation minimises diseases that are crop specific and maximises the nutrients in the soil but I think I need someone to spell it out for me how to do this. I have four beds of varying sizes. My corn patch is new and although I grew corn in it this summer I really want to put potatoes in it in spring, I am going to plant a green manure crop this afternoon. My heat loving bed ( tomtoes and peppers ) will also be green manured over winter but the other two beds are needed for my brassicas and root veges which strictly speaking isn't right as they had beans and pototoes in them over summer. I would love to hear how others put crop rotation into practice.
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Abbie's ideas are very good but personally I dont want to get to pedantic when gardening so dont worry too much about crop rotation as it is just too difficult with the overlapping of seasons and the relatively small areas that become available at any one time.
Instead, while being conscious of what I plant in each area and what has been there before, I rely on making as much compost as I can and applying this regularly. I also compost directly in the garden by digging trenches. The soil I dig out is spread around and I fill the trench with kitchen scraps, grass clippings, weeds, light prunings, leaves and a smattering of lime. I pile this up to about 50cm above soil level and within a very short time, about 4 weeks, I plant directly into this, particularly nitrogen hungry plants such as celery. I also apply general garden fertiliser annually to ensure a balance of nutrients etc.
Thanks Rex, Those are great ideas, I am terrified of compost. To me dirt/compost is gold because I just can't get enough. I think I will get some lime and try the trenching.
I'm a novice gardener (still in my first year) and attempting to deal with the same issues as you. My approach, which I suspect will turn out to be overly pedantic and inflexible, is to define four beds for crop rotation, and then apply a square foot garden approach to each of those so that I can mix and match crops, make successive sowings and get the timing right between crops. I've ended up having to draw this up, and will probably need to do little drawings for each season, but the square foot approach takes some of the uncertainty out. However, as I've only just started this I can't tell you if it works or not. I look forward to hearing other people's thoughts as well.
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Abbie's ideas are very good but personally I dont want to get to pedantic when gardening so dont worry too much about crop rotation as it is just too difficult with the overlapping of seasons and the relatively small areas that become available at any one time.
Instead, while being conscious of what I plant in each area and what has been there before, I rely on making as much compost as I can and applying this regularly. I also compost directly in the garden by digging trenches. The soil I dig out is spread around and I fill the trench with kitchen scraps, grass clippings, weeds, light prunings, leaves and a smattering of lime. I pile this up to about 50cm above soil level and within a very short time, about 4 weeks, I plant directly into this, particularly nitrogen hungry plants such as celery. I also apply general garden fertiliser annually to ensure a balance of nutrients etc.