The truth is that
every garden can
benefit from crop
rotation when it comes to
the positive effects that this rotation has on
the fertility of your soil.”
One such study was done in West
Africa over a 14-year period that
determined crop rotation increased
the yield and added more nitrogen to
the soil. This evidence points to how
everyone should be aware of how they
use their natural resources.
BEING SUSTAINABLE
One of the most important
considerations today in how we use
our ecosystem is sustainability. The
way that the bulk of our crops have
been produced for the past few
decades involves large agricultural
farms where the exact same crops
are grown year after year. This
takes a huge toll on the soil, as
these crops are always needing
the same nutrients to be used and
the pests that attacked the soil are
more than likely going to come back
again and again. To battle these
issues, farmers use large amounts
of fertilizers and pesticides to
get the crops to grow. Over time,
this system just isn’t sustainable
because of the damage that occurs
to the surrounding water and soil.
Crop rotation is just one practice in
sustainable farming that offers better
benefits for the world as a whole and
your little piece of it. By planting a
diverse group of crops and chang-
ing up where each is planted, you’ll
be helping the soil to be more fertile
for the following years in addition
to providing some natural pest and
disease control.
NITROGEN AND
CROP ROTATION
Nitrogen is one of the most important
nutrients that exist in your soil. Crop
rotations with nitrogen-fixing crops can
help put nitrogen back into your soil
naturally. Legumes and some cover
crops are a great opportunity for nitrogen
to be added to the soil. This makes
your soil healthy and can increase
your yields, and can also help reduce
your garden’s carbon footprint. The
manufacturing of nitrogen fertilizer uses
natural gas and increases your carbon
footprint without even realizing it.
SIMPLE CROP ROTATION
Even the simplest crop rotation sched-
ule can help to ensure that your garden
is growing at a sustainable rate where
you shouldn’t have to add a large
amount of fertilizer or use a lot of pesti-
cides. The simplest way to rotate your
crops is to designate four quadrants.
In each quadrant, you’ll want to plant
each of these types of crops: leafy, fruit,
root, and legume.
• The leafy section should have your
salad greens, broccoli, cabbage,
and so on.
• The fruit section should have your
plants that produce fruit, such as
tomatoes, corn, squash, eggplants,
and peppers.
• The root section should have your
plants that have edible roots, such
as carrots, turnips, radishes, onions,
and garlic.
• The legume section should have
your beans, peas, and peanuts.
In the first year, you’ll want to put
each group in their own garden
section. For example, start with with
leafy greens in quadrant one, fruits
in two, roots in three, and legumes in
four. Then, in the following year, you’ll
want to move each back a quadrant.
That means the leafy greens would be
in four, the fruits in one, the roots in
two, and the legumes in three. Keep
going through this schedule over the
coming years until they get back to
their original position. At that point,
you can start over again.
Creating a crop rotation in your
backyard garden is an excellent
way to improve the quality of your
soil without having to add a lot of
fertilizer to get that precious
nitrogen that your crops need.
Improve your soil’s fertility
while working to deal
with problem pests and
diseases following a
simple crop rotation
plan to do your part for
living sustainably.
grow cycle
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