Crop Rotations - Move Your Vegetables Around

You have no doubt heard of the term "Crop Rotations". It refers to the fact that long ago, it was realised that it wasn't good to grow the same crop (or plant family)on the same piece of ground each year. Some crops in particular, potatoes, tomatoes, and brassicas (the cabbage family) will suffer from a buildup of disease, carried in the soil or from debris that is left lying around.
There are other practical reasons also, concerned with the cultivation and manuring of the soil, that make it advantagous to rotate your crops.
It is advisable to roughly divide your vegetable garden into 3 or 4 plots,resulting in the same crop being grown on the same piece of land every 3 or 4 years.

We have found that a 4 course rotation fits in with our vegetable growing plans fairly neatly as outlined below. Diagramatically, our vegetable garden is shown as being a square, divided into 4, with the crops being rotated one place each year. The garden could of courwse be a long strip, divided lengthways, or could be in totally separate blocks.
If you are using organic manure (highly reccommended), it is not necessary to apply this every year, and you shouldn't apply it immediately before sowing carrots, as it will encourage forked roots.
In the following rotation, it will be easiest to apply the manure immediately growing potatoes and before growing tomatoes etc.