Crop rotation
For thousands of years many different
forms of crop rotation existed. Many were used in broad acre farming. We
would really like to get into broad acre farming, grow our own grain for
example. On a five acre block worked by two people, that's just not
feasible, though. But what about larger crops of potatoes, corn and beans
for example? This goes beyond what is possible in the kitchen garden. The
vegie garden has room for such larger crops in eight beds, each eight
metres long and just under a metre wide. Two more beds will be planted
with strawberries. Strawberries last about three years before the beds
have to be used differently. A number of extra beds give us room to
plant crops which are not part of the rotation system.
There are many theories about crop rotation and we have listed some books
which were of great help to us, on the resources page. Then we came up
with our own version of a rotation plan which hopefully works. This system
should allow continuous use of the rotation beds without any adverse
effect on the harvest and without the need to let beds go back into grass
for a time to rejuvenate them. |
 |
|
|
Crop rotation in the vegie garden
rotations change in April
| Crop Rotation
Bed 1 becomes Bed 2 next year |
-April: apply lime, manure and complete organic fertilizer
-April to August: sow broad beans
-August to October: sow peas
-Spring onwards: sow bush beans, climbing beans and brassica (e.g. broccoli,
cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, Asian vegies,
kohlrabi)
-Slash legumes after harvest |
| Crop Rotation
Bed 2 becomes Bed 3 next year |
-April: sow green manure
-August: slash green manure and dig in; apply complete organic
fertilizer and manure
-August to September: plant seed potatoes
-Where space becomes available after harvesting, sow green manure |
| Crop Rotation
Bed 3 becomes Bed 4 next year |
-August: slash green manure and dig in; apply complete organic
fertilizer and manure
-Spring onwards: sow sweet corn, cucumber,
pumpkins, squash, zucchini |
| Crop Rotation
Bed 4 becomes Bed 1 next year. |
-April: sow green manure
-August: slash green manure and dig in; apply complete organic
fertilizer and manure
-Spring: plant tomatoes, capsicum,
eggplant seedlings |
| Other plants, e.g. lettuces, mustard,
spinach, herbs and edible flowers grow in all of the beds, often used as
companion plants |
|
A raised bed for asparagus
We always wanted to grow asparagus.
Asparagus should last for fifteen years or longer, so it's worth the
extra work needed to set up the bed. Asparagus needs very well draining
soil that has to be light enough to allow the fast growth of the spears
in summer. Our soil is heavy clay and not suited. We chose a slope at
the end of our vegie garden. We dug up 700mm of clay and grass and
placed a drainage hose at the bottom of the ditch. Due to the fall of
the ground the hose will naturally drain any water from the bottom of
the bed. We got a load of "sharp sand" delivered plus a load
of good soil. We built up the asparagus bed with a mix of both and added
plenty of horse manure and some organic fertilizer. We didn't want to
grow the plants from seed. That would have added another two years to
the time needed before the first harvest. We bought thirty green
asparagus "spiders", as the two year old plants are called.
These spiders are only available in winter, when they are dormant. We
planted them just under the surface of the new bed. Once they started to
emerge from the soil we raised the bed and built it up to its final
height of about one metre over the clay base. So
far the result is amazing: over two thirds of the 30 spiders have taken
root and a jungle of asparagus spears stands tall. The plants have to be
cut back to ground level in late autumn. Next year we should be able to cut a
few spears, and the year after, the bed should be in full production. |
 |
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)