Plan your plants to prevent disease in your garden!
When you’re thinking about what to plant where this year, you should be thinking bigger picture—what crop rotations each year will help you prevent the kinds of diseases that wipe out all your hard work and your harvest.
By following a simple rotation rule, you can avoid costly mistakes, protect your harvest, and keep your garden thriving year after year.
Would you rather watch than read? Watch the video at the bottom of this post instead!
Why Crop Rotation Prevents Disease
Planting the same crop in the same spot every year invites trouble. Diseases like black rot (affecting cabbage, kale, and collards), late blight (a common tomato killer), and bacterial wilt (a threat to cucumbers) thrive when crops stay in one place. Rotating crops breaks the life cycle of these pathogens, reducing their impact on your garden.
Group Crops by Family
To effectively use crop rotation, start by grouping your crops into families. For example:
- Brassicas: Cabbage, kale, collards
- Nightshades: Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants
- Cucurbits: Cucumbers, squash, melons
Rotating these families to different beds each year ensures that diseases don’t get a chance to establish a stronghold in your soil.
Shift Beds Annually
Once you’ve grouped your crops, make a plan to shift their location each year. For example, if you grow cabbage in one bed this year, plant cucumbers or another crop family in that bed next year. This movement disrupts the disease cycle and keeps your plants healthier.
Address Inevitable Pests
While crop rotation significantly reduces disease pressure, pests can still pop up. Rotating crops makes it harder for pests to locate their preferred plants. For example, if cucumber beetles find your cucumbers one year, moving cucumbers to another bed the next year forces them to search for their food elsewhere, giving your plants a break.
By rotating crops and shifting beds, you can lower these threats and enjoy a productive, disease-free garden. Take the time to plan your crop rotation now, and you’ll be rewarded with healthier plants and bigger harvests.
Would you rather watch than read? Watch the video below instead!
If you would like more in-depth instruction on planning your garden for success, check out our Crop Planning course. It’s a sure fire way to feel more in control of your garden every time you plant.
Related articles you may enjoy:
Pests & Diseases in the Garden Happen… What do you do?
Waking Your Inner Gardener – Growing Food Made Easy with Food Revolution Network
Unusual Edibles for Your Front Yard Garden
Vegetable & Herb Gardening in Different Growing Climates
Get a great start with Stacey’s Masterclass on YouTube:
What crops do you like to rotate? Let us know below!
I live near Lake Superior in NW Wisconsin. I rotate tomatoes, cucumbers, and all members of the cabbage family. This past year, I got my tomato plants in very late so put them in pots. I had to move a very large plant out of the sun for most of the day. I put the other 2 pots in a wagon so I could move them into the shade during the intense summer heat too. All of the tomatoes did relatively well.