Crop Rotation• The practice of planting different vegetables

in different places in the garden each year.

Best Practice:4 Year Rotation

• Rotate plant families to different areas of the garden space, not revisiting a particular area for 4 years.

Disease & Pest Prevention

• Rotation with a kind of plant that is not a host for a particular pathogen prevents buildup of that pathogen or insect over the years.

• Rotate by plant family, not just different plants, since different members of the same family may be susceptible to the same disease.

Maintenance & Improvement of Soil Fertility

• Rotation prevents depletion of the same nutrients from the soil year after year.

• Inclusion of leguminous crops and green manures in the rotation help add nitrogen to the soil.

Weed Control

• Vary weed-susceptible crops with weed-suppressing crops.

• “One year of seeds = 10 years of weeds!”

Cost Savings

• Good rotation practices result in less need for fertilizers, insect control products.

• They’re expensive!

Greener• Rotation results in fewer chemicals leaching

into our environment.

Better & Healthier Harvests

For a Better and Healthier You!

Develop a Crop Rotation Plan

• List veggies by plant family name.

• Divide garden into equal sections according to how many years the rotation is to last.

• Decide on a method to track veggie planting from one year to the next.

FAMILY VEGGIE COLOR CODI NG ALLIACEAE Onion Leek Gray 40% Garlic Shallot APIACEAE Carrot Orange Parsnip Parsley ASTERACEAE Lettuce Light Green BRASSICACEAE Broccoli Radish Cabbage Cauliflower Kale Green Pak Choi Collards Kohlrabi CHENOPODIACEAE Beet Chard Pink Spinach Good King Henry CONVOLVULACEAE Sweet Potato Tan CUCURBITACEAE Cucumber Watermelon Gourd Zucchini Gold Melon Winter Squash Pumpkin PANI COIDEAE Corn Light Yellow PAPI LIONACEAE Peas Beans Bright Green SOLONACEAE Tom ato Pepper Potato Red Eggplant VALERIANACEAE Mache Aqua

PLANTING LAYOUT BED # SEASON 2009 2010 2011 2012 Spring lettuce spinach 1A Summer butternut squash lettuce onion spinach Fall collards Mache Winter collards Mache Spring broccoli/radish spinach 1B Summer butternut squash spinach onion Tom ato/Peppers Fall collards Winter collards Spring lettuce broccoli/radish 1C Summer butternut squash onion Parsnip Fall collards Winter collards Spring lettuce broccoli/radish beet 1D Summer butternut squash onion beet Fall collards Winter collards Spring lettuce Cabbage 2A Summer beet tomato lettuce cucumber Fall Lettuce Winter Lettuce Spring pea spinach onion 2B Summer tomato cucumber spinach onion Fall Cilantro Winter Cilantro Spring onion 2C Summer cucumber beet tomato onion Fall Winter Spring 2D Summer bean cucumber tomato Fall spinach Winter spinach Spring Radish 2E Summer beet tomato bean cucumber Fall lettuce Winter

Thanks and Acknowledgements Text Credits: Master Gardening Handbook A Guide to Gardening in Virginia Virginia Cooperative Extension RodaleÕs Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening The Henry Doubleday Research Association Editor-in-chief Pauline Pears Picture Credits: Patty Townsend of the New Kent County Virginia Cooperative Extension Office Buddy and Max, Golden Retrievers Extraordinaire