Seed-upbecause any fan of growing country crops has a great knowledge that the soil has been depleted over the years, becomes less nutritious and is getting worse and worse helping the plants to grow. There are many prerequisites for this. How to avoid the fall of the harvest and make your garden flowering and constantly fruitful? Details in this article. Read also the article about when to plant squash in the country!
What gives us a crop rotation in the garden?
Year after year, pathogens that accumulate in the soil and various pests worsen the quality of the grown crops. If the plantations, which are made by the tender love of summer residents, are practically unchanged and do not change their location, then the pest does not leave its familiar places.
For example, the Colorado potato beetle who loves potatoes. If you do not alternate planting potatoes every year with beets, then the number of Colorado potato beetles will not decrease. And even if you take a lot of measures to its destruction. In addition to the Colorado potato beetle, soil stagnation provokes the emergence of late blight pathogens, as well as the colonization of larvae of other pests that inhabit the beds.
If we are talking about other cultures, then the same scheme works with them. A plot that is always planted with the same crop will only increase the number of those harmful beetles that love to feast on fruits and roots. Stand up against the huge insect invasion is very difficult, so not only plants that are their favorite delicacy, such as cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, beans and lettuce, but also those that are extremely vulnerable by nature will suffer from this factor..
The next factor is the increased content of harmful substances in the soil, which contains a system of different crops. These excretions possess toxins not only for the surrounding plants, but also for the colins themselves, this is how the root system of vegetables is called.
For example, beets and spinach are hit first. Carrots and pumpkins are more stable, and corn and leeks pay little attention to poison Colina.
Crop rotation helps to avoid depletion of vitamins from the country ground. After all, each vegetable has its own set of substances for nutrition, which is laid in their cells from birth: the plant needs it for normal development and growth.
Naturally, these substances are trying to extract vegetables, berries and fruits from the soil when their “kit” ends. Cabbage respects potassium, but if radishes are planted there, then potassium reserves will decrease somewhat slower compared to cabbage, which means potassium is needed in smaller quantities.
. Seed planning
To correct the situation with the content and quantity of the necessary substances in the soil, it is only necessary to observe the correct sequence of crops, and also plant them on the site from year to year in the required sequence. This is called crop rotation and is a whole agrarian science. Too deep into the scientific jungle is not worth it, just follow a few rules and of course stick to a good seeding plan.
What then planted or competent planning of crops using the following rules:
- At the same site it is impossible to plant the same culture for several years in a row. The same applies to those plants that are "relatives", because they have a set of common pests, and also show the same response to the amount of toxic substances that will release Colin. Naturally they take from the soil the same composition and set of substances necessary for growth. All gardeners who do not comply with this rule may come to the fact that their soil will not be fertile at all and will be completely depleted in terms of food supply. It will be necessary to take a new soil to the site and fertilize it again, which of course flies into a large penny for those who like gardening plots.
- Compliance with a certain interruption, after which the site must rest from a certain culture planted on it. The period of rest is 2 years. Although many gardeners say that 1 year may be enough if light crops were planted, such as celery salad, but still not enough years to fully restore nutrients and trace elements in the soil. Some plants will produce better crops if you extend the rest period. For example, for carrots, cucumbers and parsley - this is 4 years, and cabbage is recommended to be planted every 7 years in order for the crop to be quite large-scale. Cabbage, like strawberries, is the most capricious element of the garden plot.
- Plant properties are difficult to overestimate, since not many gardeners suspect that they not only take nutrients from the soil, but also enrich it with their beneficial composition, which is contained in the root system initially. Thus, if you alternate cultures correctly, then you not only maintain the necessary supply of trace elements for a given plant, but also improve the composition and structure of the soil for the next crops. At the same time without doing for this virtually no procedures. For example, legumes loosen the ground well and bring a lot of mineral substances into it. Planting melon and buckwheat will help saturate the soil with calcium. If you land dope grass on the sides of your plot, then provide the plants with phosphorus, replacing the weeds with tobacco - increase the level of potassium in the soil. And if you use planting nettle nettle as a preventative between cultures, your soil will be enriched with iron, which is useful for the growth of many healthy vegetable crops. If you follow these rules, you can easily plan the planting of plants for a fairly long time, in order to accurately understand their benefits in terms of yield.
- Be sure to use compost after harvesting, as this helps the soil to get a fresher and healthier look. This is like a dressing for indoor plants, those flowers that caring hands of housewives cherish on their windowsill. If you add the plants listed above to the compost, then in addition to the fresh microelements that will flow in the growth and development of the data circuit, you will also receive a universal fertilizer, which contributes to higher yields even in those years when the soil seems to lose ground.
- Do not forget that removing pests from the site and thus can increase your crop rotation by planting those plants that scare away beetles and do not allow their larvae to grow freely in the garden . For example, an aphid cloud can be destroyed by planting garlic or tobacco all over the place. And the Colorado potato beetle is terribly afraid of thyme. Thus, planting these plants, you can completely expel the pests from the site and clean it for planting for the following years.
- And the last rule is the observance of a certain subordination among plants. Consume the food from the soil of vegetables in different ways, and therefore it is better not to plant a sequence of very demanding crops one after another. Best after such heavy crops as, for example, potatoes, beets, carrots and cabbage, plant light legumes on the garden bed or lay out the area with a large layer of fertilizers.
Compliance with these rules will help the soil to change systemically, not unilaterally, and in order to increase the concentration of certain types of nutrients, the gardener will only need to carefully monitor and keep records of his crops.
Another additional bonus for the annual rotation of plants is the constant struggle with weeds. The scourge of all summer residents can be easily and easily removed from your garden if you plant plants that are insensitive to weeds, such as garlic, onions, carrots and parsley. They are best planted after heavy crops, for example, after potatoes or peas. The latter produce very few weeds, since they are absolutely insensitive to this type of grass.
Read also: Good and bad predecessors for carrots
Planting scheme: your personal diary of crop rotation
The above rules are very good for studying the theory of crop rotation, but many summer residents who first encountered full workload in their gardens might not have enough time for that, to study fully the science of crop rotation and to understand the nature of planting plants on the site. To do this, agronomists make special lists, lists or tables, which indicate which crops should be planted first, which second and further, in the order of the general order. Let us consider in more detail the most well-known schemes of crop rotation.
Cabbage
Cabbage is the most difficult vegetable, as it is not only “sick” often, but also collects a large number of pests around it. Any gardener can easily answer the question: what can be planted after cabbage? Anything but cabbage!
Even other species of this plant can degrade the nutrient complex of the soil very easily. This is an extreme option, and of course after this plant you need to make fertilizer compost into the soil.
As predecessor plants, swede and turnip suit perfectly, as this group does not differ in the “set” of harmful beetles, which are not averse to eat tasty vegetables. After the cabbage leaves, onions or garlic take root best, but you can plant carrots, potatoes, beets, and tomatoes. Cabbage can not stand the neighborhood of tomato and beans with parsley. What can be planted before cabbage, so that the soil was rich enough in vitamin and mineral layers for our capricious vegetable.
Cabbage grows remarkably after the harvest of radishes, cucumber and carrot crops, as well as after peas and representatives of the onion family. The previous harvest of annual grasses, such as a fatsely or a colza also perfectly is suitable.
Garlic or Onion
Garlic culture is less demanding than cabbage, but it cannot be planted in the same place as onions. When using the services of garlic need to alternate it with other vegetables. The best option for planting vegetables after garlic will be potatoes, a good variety of early ripening. Tomatoes, as well as representatives of legumes or cabbage with cucumbers, also become quite suitable.
Perfectly after garlic, of course, plant annual herbs that restore the land for subsequent sowing and replenish the supply of mineral substances. And phytoncides, substances secreted by garlic with the help of their root system, will help to destroy weeds and prevent late blight in neighboring crops.
These annual herbs, which will perfectly go after the garlic bed, are wonderful: mustard, fatseliya, some varieties of green peas, as well as rapeseed and rye.
Then you can plant onions? Like garlic, it will rise perfectly after the harvest of legumes, potatoes and carrots.
Read also: Why do not the potatoes sprout?
Cucumbers
Another equally demanding vegetable crop along with cabbage are cucumbers, therefore the land in front of them is usually plentifully flavored with organic compost and any nitrogenous top dressing. It is not enough studied how much nitrogen is needed specifically for cucumbers, but nitrogen is generally useful for any plants, like hay for a cow. Therefore, for a good herbage, and in particular cucumbers, you need to pour the powder, which enriches the soil with this substance, quite generously.
What should be planted next year after cucumbers? You need to pay attention to something lighter, for example, beets, turnips, carrots, parsley or celery. It is strictly forbidden to plant on the garden after cucumber cabbage, which needs very fertile soil. After the cucumbers, the soil is almost completely depleted, in fact, just like after the cabbage itself.
In order to improve the composition of the soil after the cucumber family, it is better to plant legumes, as well as tomatoes, corn and lettuce.
You shouldn't give in to the erroneous opinion that by pouring a compost bucket on a bed, you can make the soil fertile. It becomes fertile over time due to the fact that it combines a certain set of nutrients and other beneficial trace elements.
It is best to observe the correct crop rotation, than to constantly maintain the soil with fertilizers and only. This will lead to the fact that the soil will cease to be alive and, as a victim of plastic surgery, will constantly wait for a new dose of a lift.
Strawberry
Another demanding now berry representative of country crops is strawberry. This berry drinks all the juice from the soil so much that after it is transplanted( once in 4 years), the soil is so carefully fertilized with organic fertilizers and mineral fertilizer that the layer of compost sometimes reaches five centimeters. This should be done in the autumn, after the entire garden has been carefully dug up and all the necessary additives have been made.
Strawberry is very fond of nitrogen, so after it you need to plant those crops that enrich the soil with just such a chemical substance. These are beans, peas and beans, they emit with their root system the greatest amount of a given substance.
Also, a huge amount of pests remain after the strawberry bushes, and the gardeners will be helped by garlic: it will not only clear the soil of the remaining slugs that like strawberries, but also help the soil to acquire special phytoncidal properties. Your soil will bloom less and hurt. It is extremely important to observe the planting of raspberries, like strawberry-like berry. These sweet fruits have common pests, so it is better not to plant them together.
The best option is actually to plant flowers in the place of a strawberry bush: peonies, daffodils or violets that help the soil to acquire the supply of mineral substances that was completely lost during the growth of strawberries.
Potatoes The heaviest and densest crop among vegetables sucks a lot of phosphorus and potassium from the soil, so the soil will lack these trace elements. It is possible to replenish these costs with the help of minerals, and you can do it easier and plant a plot with annual herbs that release these substances with their root system.
The necessary annual herbs include:
- dope-herb;
- mustard;
- peas;
- canola;
- rye;
- phacelia.
If it is not possible to completely remove the potato crop from the site, then try planting a pumpkin next to it, it introduces the very necessary minerals required by the soil for growing potato culture at the proper level. However, remember that the second harvest will be significantly less than the first; this may even affect the size of the vegetables.
After potatoes, it is better not to plant tomatoes, eggplants, and all cultures are solanas. Before potatoes, it is best to plant a pumpkin, zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage or onions.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes will also be a rather capricious crop and after them it is better not to plant eggplants potatoes and peppers. After the regal tomatoes, as in the relationship with the potatoes, you need to plant grasses, which fill the soil with various missing beneficial vitamins and trace elements. If this cannot be done, then beans, peas and beans will work well.
After which crops is it better to plant tomatoes? Of course, after potatoes and carrots. After squash, squash, pumpkin, carrot, beetroot and green salad will also feel great. Carrots behave better, of course, since a tomato is the few vegetables after which carrots can be planted completely fearlessly.
Beetroot
Beetroot is the most unpretentious vegetable crop, so after it you can plant almost any vegetable, and potatoes, tomato and others are good for this.
Fertilizer in the ground still have to make and properly feed the soil with peat. After beet tubers, garlic, onions and carrots also show a good harvest.
Carrots
A medium-capricious vegetable that needs a strong and strong shoulder. Therefore, excellent predecessors of carrots will be: beets, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage. Carrot on the one hand is an active vegetable, and on the other quite dependent. It needs special mineral fertilizers, but at the same time it has a rather light vegetable character. Carrots can grow in completely different places of your plot.
Can I plant carrots after onions? Here he is the “strong” predecessor or even a neighbor who will help carrots and grow an excellent vegetable. Onions emit special substances that contribute to scaring off the tick, which often resides on carrot beds. Therefore, a pair such as carrots and onions is the perfect combination.
What to plant after carrots? After it, you can plant any vegetables in the garden, except potatoes and cabbage.
Pepper
Pepper is related to those vegetable representatives whose root system lives best in the upper soil layer, where it feels best, therefore it is good to plant vegetables that have longer and deeper roots after it. This is primarily onions, garlic, cucumbers, beans and any other greens. This also includes any root vegetables, such as beets, carrots, radishes, or radishes.
After which crops is it better to plant pepper? After any, except potatoes and cabbage.
Peas
A practically ideal precursor for half the vegetable garden is peas. It will enrich the soil with nitrogen, but also help the growth of other vegetables. What to plant after peas next year? This vegetable also nourishes the soil with potassium and phosphorus, so after it, tomato, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, beets, melons, zucchini and so on are very fruitful.
Read also: Planning to plant: cucumbers after cabbage - "yes" or "no"
The only minus of peas is a susceptibility to fungal disease. Its root begins to rot with copious amounts of water, so the peas in no case can not be poured. After it, the soil is completely unsuitable for planting other beans, which can also “get sick”.All this, therefore, disputes persist in the ground for five to six years.
To collect all the knowledge clearly, you can make a special table alternating vegetables in the garden or crop rotation, which will help to visually assess those cultures that live well together on rotation. On the contrary, to arrange all those vegetables that are undesirable for planting in future seasons. You can also bring all your knowledge in order and make another list. It seems difficult only at first glance - you need to create another table: “what then to plant in the garden”.
Cultures “Neighbors” and “Enemies”
The rules of neighboring cultures become another important issue when planting and adjusting their crop rotation in the garden. Many gardeners have a certain impact on each other, which can be both good and bad. In order to avoid mistakes in this plan and get a good and bountiful harvest, you need to master the rules of the correct planting of crops "friends and enemies."
It all depends on the root system present in each plant, because the toxins released into the soil can either protect the neighboring vegetables from the problems, or attract them, thereby shortening the life of the neighboring plants.
The following vegetables are well tolerated in joint plantings:
- Potatoes and beans, cabbage, corn, spinach, eggplant, horseradish, carrots, radish, dill, lettuce. All these plants bring the potato invaluable benefits by sucking the excess water from the soil, and the onions and garlic, which are located closely, will protect the root crop from late blight, which can affect this crop.
- Garlic will have a positive effect on the many garden neighbors who are planted next to it. The tandem of garlic and strawberry will look best at the summer cottage, as these two cultures benefit each other mutually. Garlic helps strawberries to get rid of pests and diseases, and red berry helps garlic to gain greater yield. Similarly, garlic bulb will become larger if carrots grow nearby.
- Next to cucumbers, it is better to plant dill and corn, which enriches the soil with microelements.
- An excellent neighbor for carrots will be peas, and for the peas themselves the best neighbor will be potatoes, tomato or eggplant.
- We should also mention the flowers neighboring with many vegetable crops, for example, gladioli, carnations and roses, which will help not only enrich the soil with a vitamin-mineral complex, but also protect vegetables from pests.
Cultures that absolutely cannot get along with each other:
- Nuts practically do not get along with anyone, as they inhibit the root system of most vegetables by allocating juglone to the soil.
- Wormwood and legumes planted at the same time also become a bad neighbor for vegetable crops.
- Fennel is generally Non-grata person in the garden, because all cultures feel bad with him. It is better to plant it separately from others and next to a small flower garden or shrub.
- Crops such as potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries grow poorly together.
- Eggplants and tomatoes do not tolerate other members of the nightshade at all. Therefore, if you risk planting peppers nearby, then both will be badly developed.
- A couple of cabbages and strawberries will also have a poor neighborhood, since the former is the most demanding vegetable of all summer crops, and the latter surrounds itself with a huge amount of pests that can damage the cabbage root system.
By remembering these rules on a tooth, the summer resident can still experiment on his own plot. Because it happens that a large neighborhood can be harmful, and a small proportion of “communication” does not affect the growth of other cultures.
For example, valerian yarrow or nettle, which are planted in small quantities on the edge of the bed, in no way affect the yield of vegetable crops, on the contrary, even help them, enriching the soil with the necessary substances and trace elements.
Thus, any gardener can master such a concept as crop rotation, and applying it in practice will plan sowing at his summer cottage for many years. This will help protect the soil from the loss of all the nutrients, as well as help the plants to maintain a normal balance using the forces of nature. At the same time, the summer resident will not have to spend money on various top dressing, since the fertilizer of the plot will go naturally.
