Crop Rotation Planner
Grow the same family in the same soil year after year and you feed its pests and drain what it needs. This four-bed, four-year rotation does the opposite: each group leaves the bed better for the one that follows. Split your garden into four, follow the grid, and start over on year five.
The four-year plan
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bed A | Legumes | Leafy & brassica | Fruiting | Roots & alliums |
| Bed B | Leafy & brassica | Fruiting | Roots & alliums | Legumes |
| Bed C | Fruiting | Roots & alliums | Legumes | Leafy & brassica |
| Bed D | Roots & alliums | Legumes | Leafy & brassica | Fruiting |
Each bed moves to the next group every year; every year all four groups are growing somewhere. After four years a bed returns to where it began, the soil rested and the pests broken.
1. Legumes
Peas and beans pull nitrogen from the air into the soil, so they feed the bed for whatever follows.
2. Leafy & brassica
Greens and the cabbage family are hungry nitrogen feeders, so they go straight after the legumes that left it behind.
3. Fruiting
Tomatoes, squash, corn, and the rest of the sun-loving fruit crops take the warm middle of the season.
4. Roots & alliums
Carrots, onions, and potatoes are light feeders that break up and clear the soil before the legumes return.
Why it works
Rotation rests on plant families. Pests and soil diseases that build up under one family, the cabbage maggots under brassicas, the blight under tomatoes and potatoes, lose their host when that family moves on and have largely died back by the time it returns three or four years later. The feeding order helps too: nitrogen-fixing legumes leave the soil rich for the hungry greens that follow, and the light-feeding roots that come last leave little behind to waste. For the dates to actually sow each group, pair this with the Planting Calendar and the Planting Grid Designer.
Groupings follow university agricultural extension rotation guidance. A few crops (potato, radish) sit with their feeding group rather than their botanical family; keep potatoes away from tomatoes regardless.