- To rotate or not to rotate, that is the question.
In vegetable growing, this is a serious question.
And it's about, can you grow the same plant
in the same place year after year or plants
of the same family, which use maybe the same nutrients
and suffer the same pests and diseases?
In Western agriculture, and by implication gardening,
the understanding is four-year rotation is considered wise.
So you allow a gap of three years
between growing vegetables of the same family.
One family, for example, could be onions, leeks, and garlic.
Another family, Brassicas, could be cabbages,
cauliflowers, and radish.
Now I'm trying to get here where
as part of this trial, where we've already looked
at dig, no dig and different compost comparisons.
There's also a time element.
So I'm growing here, it is the fourth year
in a row of climbing beans.
The same beans, and I keep the seed from them.
This, three beds here, these three had squash.
Again, seeds saved for three years
and then the fourth year in a row this year.
And that there is the second year in a row of cabbage.
So really there's some interesting patterns
building up or not.
For example, with the cabbage, second year.
So there were autumn cabbage there last year.
These actually are looking even better.
And they're following broad beans.
And I've noticed there's quite a bit,
you can do things one, two years, not much problem there.
Here, in the fourth year of squash,
this is a curry squash, very bountiful plant.
Last year, 2015, there were 55 kilos of squash
from this area here, which is now Chinese cabbage.
So six plants grow 55 kilos.
Clearly, it was a good year for squash, weather-wise.
I was a bit blown away by that result
and was hoping for something similar this year.
Squash again, but the harvest this year was 28 1/2 kilos.
Down almost 50%.
And that's got me wondering, that's the fourth year.
Is this too many in a row?
Maybe I'll do it one more year to see.
And then here, same story.
Beans, so these climbing beans,
fourth year in a row, they're kind of falling
off a cliff to me a bit because you can see there,
most of the leaves have gone already.
On the Borlottis at that end, for example,
that's a bit early.
At least they're gonna dry nicely,
but the yield this year is going to be,
I haven't got final harvest figures yet.
It's going to be down at least 40%.
And we can look in a minute at a comparison
with the same beans sewn at the same time growing
in a piece of ground in my garden
where there had not been beans for three years.
It's been fascinating to see the difference this year
between beans grown where no beans have grown before,
still looking really strong and healthy.
Plenty of leaf, lots of crop to come,
compared with the beans where previously
there's been beans three years in a row
and they are looking tired.
And I don't know how far I can take this.
I might grow beans again one more year just to see,
but it's looking like we're close to the end.
Another aspect of rotation is
with vegetables that grow in half a year only.
So what do you grow in the second half of the year?
Here, I'm trying a second crop of calabrese.
So calabrese is a very demanding crop.
It takes a lot of nutrients, it grows ever so fast.
Takes a lot out of the soil.
And here already, was the first crop of calabrese,
which I sewed in modules in the greenhouse
February, planted March.
It grew through April, May, and gave lovely big heads
from the middle of June until early July
when we twisted out the plants
to the compost heap and replanted with calabrese.
So this calabrese is a second crop here
following the first one in the same year.
And the sod has not received any more additions of anything.
No more compost, no fertilizer, it's all organic.
And yet look at the results.
They are fantastic plants growing really healthily
and they're gonna be nice big heads.
Second crop through late September, October.
So if you're wondering in the summer what you can grow
after harvesting, say, Brassicas or, say, beetroot,
well, try another crop of Brassicas or beetroot.
For more information on organic, no dig gardening,
check out any of my seven books on different aspects
of this subject, growing vegetables above all.
And my website has fortnightly updates
to keep you up to speed on sowing,
planting, harvesting, and also you'll find information
on my website about courses I run, day courses here,
weekend courses, courses around and abroad even,
and lots more all about no-dig organics.
(gentle music)