A 4-year crop rotation for Utah vegetables — print version.
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SUS Farms · Utah Gardening
A 4-year crop rotation for Utah vegetables
design · advanced · ~7 min read
Crop rotation prevents soil-borne disease (Verticillium, Fusarium, club root) and pest cycles (cabbage maggot, cucumber beetle larvae) from building up in one spot. The 4-year minimum is rotation between four major plant families on any given bed.
The four families
Solanaceae (tomato, pepper, eggplant, potato). Brassicaceae (broccoli, cabbage, kale, radish, turnip). Cucurbitaceae (squash, cucumber, melon). Fabaceae (beans, peas — fix nitrogen, GO BEFORE heavy feeders).
A simple 4-bed rotation
Year 1 — Bed A: legumes, Bed B: leafy greens, Bed C: fruiting (Solanaceae), Bed D: roots. Year 2: rotate each bed forward one slot. Year 5: back to Year 1 pattern. Disease cycles can't catch up.
Why heavy feeders go after legumes
Beans and peas leave 50–150 lb of N per acre in the soil after termination. Plant tomatoes there next year and skip half the fertilizer. Plant brassicas there and they explode.
The exceptions
Perennials (asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries) get their own permanent beds — 10+ years before relocating. Onion family rotates loosely with anything except other alliums.