Every year, more and more people are trying to grow their fruits and vegetables. Seeds are now available. I talk to people every day while they are looking for seeds. Time is now to sow some seeds to start, especially the cole crop veggies such as lettuce, spinach, cabbage, collards, kale, etc.—the leafy veggies that will grow in cooler soil temperatures and lesser sunlight.
Those of you who have been doing vegetable gardening for years are familiar with the need to do crop rotation. You can’t overlook the need to rotate your vegetables yearly, even if you only have a small space to grow vegetables. Rotating crops is critical to gardeners to help reduce diseases and pests. The bottom line is that planting the same vegetables, particularly the same vegetable family, in the same location year after year will affect soil nutrients.
ROTATE VEGETABLES BY PLANT FAMILY
Vegetable crops in the same botanical family are often susceptible to the same diseases and insects. For crop rotation to be effective, vegetable gardens must rotate plant families, not just different crops. For many novice vegetable gardeners, what I am talking about with rotating is something they were not aware.
For example: Did you know that tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes are all part of the same family called nightshade (Solanaceae)? So, growing peppers in the location where you grew tomatoes last year would not be an effective crop rotation. Conversely, planting peas where you had tomatoes the previous year would be an effective crop rotation plan.
A good question now would be, “Can I grow tomatoes next year where I had them last year?” The general rule is that you should not repeat family-type vegetables for three or four years as many disease organisms are soil-borne and may persist in the soil for many years. Keeping a record of your plantings could be very important.
I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU A FABULOUS OPPORTUNITY. SATURDAY, MARCH 15 IS OUR ANNUAL SPRING GARDENERS FAIR. STEVE GENETT WILL BE GIVING A TALK ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. STEVE AND KATHI HAVE TRANSFORMED THEIR ENTIRE LANDSCAPE AROUND THEIR HOUSE TO GROWING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. IT’S INCREDIBLE. I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM STEVE. NEEDLESS TO SAY, STEVE OFFERS A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE WITH VEGETABLE GARDENING – THE VALUE OF KNOWING YOUR SOIL, CROP ROTATION, SOIL MANAGEMENT, pH OF YOUR SOIL, AND MORE.
COME LEARN ABOUT VEGETABLE GARDENING AND “PLANT A LITTLE HAPPINESS”