rotation in the garden

 have realised what my problem is re rotating the garden beds in an organised
manner:

1: lots of brassicas. i seem to grow half brassicas & half other stuff!!
(only slight exaggeration). this makes rotation difficult! in summer, lots
of solanacae (sp!) as well, of course, which have to be somewhere different
each season.

2: not everything comes out at the same time - the garden goes all year.
(how is one to rotate in this circumstance?!) i try to keep a record & then
consider what was in each section of each bed - the entire bed isn't taken
as a whole because they're quite long, with perhaps up to 10 different
things along the length - and only in the same family if it's worked out
that way. if it hasn't worked out that way, i can't do it.

in a nutshell, if i rotate as best i can but still grow lots of brassica, am
i setting myself up for a disease disaster? i simply cannot think how to
plan good rotations under this circumstance. with the brassica i take out
the entire roots, so each location gets a rest - is that enough?

the whole family is now in love with chinese cabbage & pak choy, so if i am
setting up a problem, it is only going to get worse.

thanks for any help or ideas!
kylie

 On Tue, 06 May 2008 00:26:00 +0000, 0tterbot wrote:


It is a worry here as well as we tend to grow mixed beds and sometimes
they evolve rather than follow the strict idea of wipe clean and replant.

The real problem is that multiple plantings of the same crop(famil) in
the same plot allows pests/dieseases to buld up in that spot. so
spelling the ground from that family lets them starve away.

all you can really do is rotate different plots in turn from that family
until the family fad fades {:-).
 

 

I was at a lecture on this topic and the bloke described his 4 bed rotation
system.  Somebody asked did he rotate the sequence clockwise or anticlockwise.
He replied seriously that he went clockwise but he had heard that others went
the reverse.

Organic enthusiasts can be soooo serious sometimes.

David

 g'dau otterbot,

rotation isn't a part of our gardening to do it would almost mean
having twice as many gardens as space would permit. as much as we can
our agrdens get a month or 2 of fallowing between seasonal crops.

as we feed and top the medium continually and we try not to plant
exactly in the same spot as the last season but the next side postion
we have never had any unbdesirable effects ie.,. nematodes etc.,.

we've gardened this way for a decade now and we grow healthy plants
which give us healthy food all without any man made chemical or
fertiliser intervention.

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

 

  Rotation does not have to be circular though the word suggest it.  
Back and forth may give similar desired effects.  In some ways I'd
suggest the word rest or Fallow may be useful.  I'd recommend green
manure if you can add to your tilth.

 Bill  new to aus.gardens and ignorant. For instance can you grow food
stuff year round ? We can minimally as some hardy greens can over winter.

Someone crossed posted from wrecked gardens and I sort of resonated.

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA