Advantages of Crop Rotation for Vegetable Garden
While landscaping in Fort Worth and Mansfield for a vegetable garden, refrain from growing the same crop at the same location year after year. It makes them an easy target for pests. Crop rotation is one of the old landscaping ideas in Fort Worth/Mansfield that avoids soil nutrient depletion and allows quality crop growth without chemical fertilizer or insecticide.
What is Crop Rotation?
If you want an organic vegetable garden in your backyard, use the crop rotation technique to get nutritious produce each year. It is a technique where you change the location of botanically related plant families in your landscaping at Fort Worth or Mansfield every year.Focus on six vegetable plant families and apply crop rotation accordingly each year in your backyard.
●Alliaceae Family
It includes alliums that grow from bulbs, like chive, garlic, leeks, onions, scallions, or shallots.
● Amaranthaceae Family
It signifies the leafy green vegetables like arugula, beets, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, or watercress.
● Brassicaceae Family
It includes all cruciferous vegetables. These plants are broccoli, bok choy, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kohlrabi, radish, rutabaga, and turnip.
● Cucurbitaceae Family
It is also known as cucurbits or the gourd family that includes vegetables like cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, squash, and watermelon.
● Fabaceae Family
It contains various leguminous plants like peas, peanuts, chickpeas, snow peas, beans, soybeans, lentils, fenugreek, alfalfa, and clover.
● Solanaceae Family
These are also known as nightshade plants. It includes chilies, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, tomatillos, and tomatoes.
Advantages of Crop Rotation for Vegetable Garden
● Pest Control
Crops belonging to the same botanical plant family are susceptible to similar pests. These pests feed on the plants and hibernate or lay eggs in the soil. Growing different crops each year in the same landscaping space of your backyard at Fort Worth/Mansfield prevents pests from feeding and growing in number.
● Prevents Disease
Growing the same crop each year without changing the location allows disease-causing pathogens to infect them continuously. With time the disease buildup in plants and affect their nutrient level. Crop rotation prevents disease in plants.
● Regenerates Soil Nutrients
Each vegetable family contributes a unique type and amount of nutrients to the soil. Like – legumes or nasturtiums increase nitrogen in the garden soil, spinach retains soil moisture, and chives repel bugs. Crop rotation balances the soil nutrient generation and amends soil fertility.
● Improves Soil Structure
Roots of different botanical family plants allow air and water to penetrate through the soil. Planting the same shallow-rooted leafy green every year will benefit only the top layer of soil. Crop rotating with deep-rooted plants, like carrots, radishes, and turnips, loosen the soil, prevent compaction, and improve soil structure.
Conclusion
Consult a qualified landscaping service in Fort Worth to re-arrange your garden layout plan each year. Check the plant family before re-planting crops, and maintain your vegetable garden in the backyard healthy using the crop rotation technique.
