Planning the Perfect Garden

If you are growing and planting an organic garden, starting a chart for crop rotation is a very important aspect of it. Crop rotation ensures that the fertility of the soil does not diminish. When a certain crop is planted, it uses some of the nutrients present in the soil. On the other hand, every crop also adds certain nutrients to the soil. If you plant the same crop again, it will continue to deplete and add the same nutrients in the soil, making it unfit for the crop in later stages.

So far, the solution people have for situations like this is to add more fertilizer to the soil with every crop. However, this practice is extremely harmful. Apart from the soil getting completely depleted of its natural nutrients, the crop contains residue of chemical fertilizers, affecting our health in the long run.

This is why keeping a chart for crop rotation is a must. In crop rotation, a single crop is never planted successively. Instead, a crop is alternated with another crop that reverses the soil condition. For instance, if one crop uses nutrient A from the soil and deposits nutrients B into the soil, you next crop should be the one that uses nutrient B and deposits nutrient B. It is important to remember that you may not get the exact combination of nutrient exchange and may have to plant 2-3 different crops before going back to the first one.

Start a chart to keep track of which plant is sown in which part of the diagram. Consult crop charts to identify the different families that crops belong to. This will help you ensure that the crops are planted in perfect rotation.