![]() ![]() One avoidance tactic is to grow potato varieties that mature in fewer than 80 days. Predatory insects (e.g., ladybugs) are the gardener’s friend and better in the long run for helping to control many insect pests than changing a crop’s location. If you grow potatoes, these visitors will come, even if they have to walk from Denver. No one can convince me that rotating potatoes will eliminate the problem of the Colorado potato beetle.Just add compost every year as well as some bagged organic fertilizer to help replenish minerals. If you’ve created a special area for a specific vegetable-for example, garlic-keep it there until you have a reason to relocate it.Once you have established two garden spaces, the extra work is minimal, and it is easier to avoid having family members follow each other. Be sure to cut down the buckwheat or till it in before it forms seeds. To keep weeds from moving into last year’s garden, grow a cover crop such as buckwheat.For example, four sheets of newspaper covered with a layer of straw or leaves will keep most weeds from growing. Cover last year’s garden with a layer of compost and then mulch it heavily. If you have the space (and energy!), develop a “spare” garden. A way to avoid depleting the soil of important nutrients is the time-honored tradition of letting the land lie fallow.Plant tall varieties of peas and beans on trellises and try growing cukes on fences. Have a tall-crop garden rotation and a short one. ![]() If this is true for your garden, consider these strategies: However, most of us have more of some plant families than others or we have other reasons for wanting to plant things in specific places. Here is a sample four-bed crop rotation chart: Perennial vegetables such as soft fruit, rhubarb, asparagus and globe artichoke aren’t replanted each year, so they may need their own dedicated bed. If your beds are divided into four groups, this means that members of each plant family won’t occupy the same spot more than once in a four-year period. Most crop rotation schemes tend to run for at least three or four years, as this is the number of years it takes for most soil-borne pests and diseases to decline to harmless levels. (One caveat: Try to arrange your plants within each quarter to avoid places where you had family members the year before.)Įvery year the plants grown in each given area are changed, so that each group (with its own requirements, habits, pests and diseases) can have the advantage of new ground. That’s why, for the average gardener, the easiest way to organize a crop rotation is to divide the garden into quarters.Įstablish a central point and rotate your plants around it each year.Īssuming that you grow the same vegetables every season and that all members of a vegetable family fit into one quarter, this system is perfect. Still, the question of where to plant can be a puzzle.
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