Rotating garden crops is one of the most basic techniques gardeners, homesteaders, and farmers can use to assure plant 
crop success. Everyone should consider rotating their crops, because it helps maximize productivity while minimizing pests and disease. The practice of rotating crops can be simple or complex – I like this system because it’s simple and easy to follow year after year.
What Is It
Farmers have been rotating crops since farming began, and there are many different strategies. In effect, you’re just making sure that when the bugs and diseases that like tomatoes wake up in the bed you grew tomatoes in last year, there aren’t tomatoes there for them to conveniently feast on this year. Instead, perhaps they’ll find carrots which they don’t happen to like, and die trying to find their way back to those tasty tomatoes.
How It Works (Legume <- Leaf <- Fruit <- Root)
I like this system that breaks the various garden plants into four groups based on their nutritional needs: leaf (nitrogen), fruit (phosphorus), root (potassium), and legume (fixes nitrogen). In this system, the leaf plants go where legumes were last year, because legumes fix nitrogen in the soil, and leaf plants need large amounts of nitrogen. The fruits follow the leaf plants because they need phosphorus, and too much nitrogen causes them not to have fruits. The roots follow the fruits because they need potassium and need nitrogen less than the fruits. Finally, the legumes follow the roots to put nitrogen back into the soil. Because this is a simple sequence, and it makes sense to me, I can remember how it goes each year. There’s a downloadable version of the graphic below here, if you’d like to keep it for your garden file.
The Leaf Group
The leaf group contains all the big nitrogen dependent crops like lettuce, greens, herbs, spinach, and the brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and kale). They need lots of nitrogen to grow strong leaves and stems but nitrogen is the hardest nutrient to keep in the soil. That’s why they follow the nitrogen fixing legumes in the rotation.
The Fruit Group
The fruits include tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, and squash. These plants need phosphorus to set blossoms and develop fruit, but shouldn’t get lots of nitrogen or they’ll make all leaves and no fruit. Technically, corn is a fruiting crop but I grow it as an exception in the leaf group because it does need lots of nitrogen.
The Root Group
Onions, garlic, turnips, carrots, beets, and radishes are all root crops that need potassium but don’t need much nitrogen. So, the roots follow the fruits since there’s little nitrogen left at this point in the rotation. Potatoes are root crops but I plant them with the legumes. That’s because they’re members of the nightshade family and suffer from the same pests as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, so I don’t want them to follow the fruits. They seem to suffer a lot more pest damage when they do.
The Legume Group
Beans and peas are said to be nitrogen-fixing because they pull nitrogen from the air and store it in their roots. So they follow the roots and insure there’ll be lots of nitrogen available for t
he next leaf rotation.
That’s all there is to this simple crop rotation system, now I just need to get last year’s garden plan out and decide where everything will go this year. Wherever the peas and beans were last year, that’s where this year’s leafy vegetables will go, wherever the leafy crops were, that’s where the tomatoes will go, and so on. It actually makes planning the vegetable garden pretty simple.
If potatoes are related to tomatoes (nightshade family) shouldn’t they be planted with fruits, not legumes?
Great post.
Thanks Jerry, I hope it helps your garden!
this is a great help, BUT, how do you companion plant with this method? For instance, tomatoes love carrots and onions, but they would be located with the root crops, or do you just scatter a few around your tomatoes and grow your crop in the right rotation zone?
Kim, I do just scatter a few companion plants in if I feel that the crops will benefit – but maintain the main crop of each vegetable in the correct rotation zone.
I was wondering if i could take your language and post it on my community garden website? we would site it as per your recommendation. thank you!
Hi Melissa, Unfortunately Google punishes websites if it sees the exact same content in two different places, so please don’t. It’s ok to use an excerpt, a picture, and link back though.
I love your explanation of this system. Often times when you are finished reading 100s of articles, you are so confused you don’t know WHAT to do. Keep it simple, like you have suggested. Thank you for sharing on Green Thumb Thursday.
Like Rick I find the diagram confusing. It seems the quadrants should read from the upper left: legumes, moving clockwise to leaf, to fruits, to roots and then back to legumes- according to the text.
The diagram as is reads (to me) as roots follow legumes, fruits follow roots, leaf plants follow fruits, and legumes follow leaf plants, which is the opposite of the text.
Great simple system, though. Thanks for posting!
How does companion planting such as leafy greens with potatoes work? How do you rotate the crops then?
Hi again! I tried again to print today from a printer at home. It looks like the error was on the printers at work. Sorry about any confusion!
I am definitely saving this info. Not only the graphic, which I printed, but the entire article is full of valuable information. Thank you. I am not a very successful gardener, so I am always looking for information that makes sense to me.
Hi there! This is great information, but I wanted to let you know about a website error I encountered. I tried (from 3 different printers) to print this article by clicking the ‘print’ button above. When the information prints, the text and images run into each other and overlap, making the information impossible to read. I tried to copy/select the article to print and it said content protected. I just wanted to let you know that your website isn’t letting readers print off articles! Thanks 🙂
Caitlin, thanks so much for letting me know about the website error – I’m not sure what’s happening on your end, but most people seem to be able to use the print functionality. Until I can figure out how to fix this for everyone, I added a link for you to download the graphic. It does take awhile to download, but seems to be working.
Oh, this is easier! I love it. And I would love to be able print out this graphic and put it in my gardening journal. Don’t suppose you could email it to me? That would be awesome!
Never mind, hon! I figured out a way to print it. It is now in my journal! VERY useful. Thanks so much!
Shouldn’t the arrows be going in the opposite direction? The arrow direction shows Legume Root Fruit Leaf.
Rick, and that’s the correct sequence, the legumes follow the root, the roots follow the fruits, the fruits follow the leaf, and the leaf follows the legumes 🙂
I’m sorry if I’m being confusing but the way you have it worded is correct, however, by the arrows on the diagram you have legume, then (arrow pointing to root) meaning that the root is next following the legumes, fruit next following the root, leaf next following the fruit, and lastly the legume coming after the leaf.
Rick, yes the diagram shows the legumes with the arrow pointing to the roots (meaning the legumes follow the roots), the roots point toward the fruits (meaning the roots follow the fruits), the fruits point toward the leaf (meaning they follow the leaf), and the leaf point toward the legume (meaning they follow the legume).
Rick, do as she says, not as she draws. 🙂
Lesa, this is an excellent description–clear and simple, with a helpful diagram. Rotation is so important and this takes the confusion out of it. Linking to this in our February how-to roundup!
Marie, thanks and rotation is so important! I’m excited to be in your how-to roundup 🙂