Crop Rotation
Crop rotation for home gardens: the vegetable families, why moving them each year matters, and a planner that warns when a family returns to the same bed.
Opening your garden…
Rotate your crops
- 01Plan this year's beds in the planner.
- 02Next year, start the new season from this one (Pro): the beds are copied, empty.
- 03Plant again, and the planner outlines any square where the same crop family grew in the last two seasons.
Why rotate
Pests and diseases that attack one crop family often live on in the soil: early blight on tomatoes, clubroot on cabbages, onion maggots on onions. Growing the same family in the same place year after year lets them build up. Moving each family to a different bed for two or three years helps starve them out.
| Family | Crops in the library |
|---|---|
| Onion family | garlic, green onion, leek, onion (bulb), shallot |
| Cabbage family | arugula, bok choy, broccoli, broccoli raab, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, napa cabbage, radish, rutabaga, turnip |
| Beet family | beet, spinach, swiss chard |
| Squash family | cantaloupe, cucumber, pumpkin, summer squash (zucchini/yellow), watermelon, winter squash |
| Bean family | bush bean, cowpea (southern pea), edamame, fava bean, lima bean, pea (shelling/snap/snow), pole bean |
| Tomato family | bell pepper, cherry tomato, eggplant, ground cherry, hot pepper, potato, tomatillo, tomato |
| Carrot family | carrot, celeriac, celery, cilantro, dill, fennel (florence), parsley, parsnip |
| Corn | sweet corn |
| Sweet potato | sweet potato |
A simple four-bed rotation
- Bed 1: the tomato family (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes).
- Bed 2: the bean family (beans and peas).
- Bed 3: the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, radishes).
- Bed 4: roots and onions (carrots, beets, onions, garlic), with squash and corn wherever there's room.
- Each year, every family moves one bed along.
Questions
How many years before I can plant tomatoes in the same spot?
Three or more is the usual advice for the tomato family, which includes peppers, eggplant and potatoes. The planner warns about the last two seasons.
Do I need to rotate in a small garden?
It helps even with a few beds. With only one or two, move families from one end to the other each year, and refresh the soil with compost.
More garden planning
Vegetable Garden LayoutLay out your vegetable garden to scale: beds or rows, the right spacing for each crop, plant counts, and planting dates for your ZIP code. Free.Companion Planting ChartTraditional companion planting pairs for 63 vegetables, herbs and flowers, and the pairs usually kept apart, from US extension guides.Raised Bed PlannerPlan your raised beds square by square: how many plants fit in a 4×8 or 4×4 bed, and when to plant each one for your ZIP code. Free, in your browser.