Garden-Scale Crop Rotation

You don't have to be a big-time farmer to benefit from rotating crops.

- ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY DANIEL JOHNSON

Beans are ideal for crop rotation because their roots enrich the soil with nitrogen through a process called nitrogen fixation.

Large-scale agriculture depends heavily on crop rotation.

Legumes such as soybeans, alfalfa or clover are often grown following heavy-feeders such as wheat, corn or canola to help replenish nitrogen in the soil. Crop rotation also helps to break cycles of damaging insects, plant disease, while at the same time encouraging the growth of varying root systems to benefit soil structure.

All these benefits can help reduce farm dependency on chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. But what about backyard gardeners? When your biggest crops are a few beds of peas, tomatoes, squash or potatoes, it's easy to think crop rotation doesn't apply to you. But it does. The same benefits that large-scale agriculture gains with crop rotation can work just as effectively without the boundaries of a family-sized vegetable garden. Let's look at the three main ways crop rotation can help you.

NITROGEN FIXING

Planting with soil nitrogen in mind isn't just for big farms. It's an equally valid way to operate your vegetable garden, too.

Nitrogen is one of the three important “macro-nutrients” that plants need in their soil: nitrogen represents the “N” of “NPK” fertilizers, along with phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Crops depend on nitrogen to facilitate their all-important photosynthesis (energy creation from the sun) and to build amino acids. Healthy nitrogen levels in the soil also help plants develop abundant leaves and biomass.