Crop rotation is one of agriculture’s oldest cultural practices. Crop rotation involves changing the planting location of vegetables within the garden each season. It’s used to reduce damage from insects and pests, to limit the development of vegetable diseases, and to manage soil fertility.
Why is crop rotation important? Plants belonging to the same family oftentimes are susceptible to similar insects, pests and diseases and have similar nutrient requirements. Over time, insect, pest, and pathogen numbers build in the area and damage to vegetable crops increases. Using crop rotation helps keep these numbers at low levels. Also, every vegetable is unique in the amount of nutrients it extracts from the soil. Crop rotation can even out the loss of different soil nutrients and allow time for nutrients to replenish.
To learn more about how to implement crop rotation in your home vegetable garden, visit https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/using-crop-rotation-home-vegetable-garden-0/
