Crop Rotation is a great way to keep your garden soil healthy and your garden growing year and year. You may have heard of crop rotation before, possibly when you were out buying seeds for this year’s crop or from other friends and family. The truth is, crop rotation is one of the best kept secrets of gardening aficionados and is a system that has been handed down for centuries.

What is Crop Rotation?

While there are plenty of benefits from crop rotation, one of the most important is that it maximizes the productivity of your soil by ensuring that there is a balance of nutrients in the soil every year. Certain crops and plants can drain nutrients from the soil. By rotating your crops, different crops can help replenish the soil with their respective nutrients.

How does Crop Rotation Work?

Focus on using different types of crops, especially crops that have complimentary soil deposits. One of the best ways to keep your crop rotation cycle is to use this set up: Legume > Root > Fruit > Leaf and rotate as needed. For more help on what crops fall into each category, check out this great crop rotation article from the folks at Better Hens and Gardens!

How to Get Started

The best way to get started on your crop rotation cycle is by checking out this infographic:

Crop Rotation Infographic