One of the biggest obstacles for gardeners is crop rotation. This sounds like a simple task, but when you take into account which plants are companion plants, what type of soil each needs, and try to work those into crop rotation, well it gets a little confusing.

Crop rotation is necessary whether you plant in a traditional garden or plant in raised beds. The bottom line is that soil needs to rest between different types of plants, no matter where they are rooted. Soil nutrients are depleted when a large number of the same plant family are grown in the same ground year after year. Also, certain pests like large numbers of the same crop. Rotation deters these pests.

When plants are grown in the same area year after year, the soil needs to be replenished. Often, this requires artificial fertilizers to rebuild it. Soil also becomes compacted if subjected to the same mechanical processes.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. For example, anyone who has ever grown mint knows how fast it spreads and it can literally take over a growing space. When growing mint, you may want to keep it in the same raised bed or spot in your garden. If in an open garden, be sure to plant in a metal ring or bucket with the bottom cut out to contain it. Perennial crops like rhubarb and asparagus also need a dedicated spot since they are not dug up every year.

This year, I ran across an article by Henry Homeyer in The Old Farmer’s Almanac that helps to simplify this process. Thank you to Henry, as I am going to share some of his highlights of planting in quarters, along with some of my techniques.

Advantages of Crop Rotation

Different plants extract different nutrients from the soil so it minimizes nutrient depletion.

Rotation reduces the spread of diseases that live in the soil. Certain funguses and bacteria can survive from season to season and planting their same host plants in the same spot year after year helps them to flourish.

Crop rotation lessons the need for pest control.

Crop Rotation Using Quarters

The simplest way to accomplish crop rotation is to divide your garden in quarters by establishing a central point and rotating crops around it. This works for beds and traditional gardens. For raised beds, simply rotate crops from one bed to another.

For regular gardens, if you grow the same vegetables every year and all members of a vegetable family fit into one quarter, this is fairly simple by rotating quarters. However, this hinders weed control a bit. If, like me, you like to rototill between the rows, then doing each quarter separately doesn’t work so well. Also, if you have more of one family of vegetables than others (like more tomato plants than green beans), then your quarters will not be equal.

For this reason, I like to rotate with the row method. Instead of a central point, I plant everything in rows like always. The first few rows that have vegetables of the same family will become the last few rows next year, the second few rows will become the first, the third the second and the fourth will move up to third.