Skip 2 years between growing crops of the same type. (grain, legume, root, greens, etc.)

Cereal crops and non-cereal crops have extremely different diseases that they are susceptible to, so switch back and forth as much as possible.

The most disease susceptible non cereal (broadleaf) crops are dry beans, sunflower, and squash. Try not to grow these crops back to back. Plant resistant varieties, use clean culture, do not overwater, never water these crops from overhead, keep squash vines off the ground, etc.

Beet, turnip, buckwheat, leek, garlic, okra, onion, flax, and alfalfa are the most disease resistant of the non-cereal crops. Use these crops or grain between beans, sunflower, and squash. Beet and the onion family are especially good at resisting the type of white mold that can infect beans, sunflower, and squash.

Sorghum and oats are the more disease resistant of the grains.

Because of airborn fungal disease and insect migration, rotations should occassionally skip large distances. Crops should not just move to the adjacent field or plot every year.

Remove diseased plants and diseased parts.

Practice clean culture in the field and under trees and vines. Thoroughly tilling residue into the soil and watering will speed decomposition and reduce mold.

Do not practice clean culture in beneficial perennial plant plots. Many beneficial insects pupate in the soil and they tend to do it around beneficial perennials.

To control mold, grow mold resistant varieties, plant peas extremely early, plant brassica only in the fall (except turnip greens), do not water from overhead, do not overwater, till residue thoroughly into the soil, keep squash vines off the ground, keep a grass family member in the rotation, etc.

A grain cover crop can ruin a rotation if grain is already grown in the rotation.

Use fresh green grass as mulch to avoid perpetuating disease. Grow winter rye between beds to provide mulch and control weeds. Or, grow winter rye in an extra rotation, if necessary, to provide enough fresh mulch.

Try not to plant crops which are heavy feeders of the same nutrient in the same place consecutively.

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It is important to have a small kitchen garden where animals are never used during the growing season and it is far from fresh animal manure. This is the garden which is safe to eat raw from.

1. SPRING - inoculated green beans
   LATE SUMMER - turnips, collards, and kale alternating rows
   LATE WINTER - work in manure
2. SPRING - okra
   FALL - plant oats, buckwheat, or flax
   WINTER - work in manure
3. EARLY SPRING - beet, chicory, carrot, parsnip, salsify
                  , sugar beet, rutabaga 
                , transplant leeks between beets
   FALL - leave the leek
   WINTER - work in manure
4. VERY EARLY SPRING - inoculated peas
   LATE SUMMER - turnips, collards, and kale alternating rows
   LATE WINTER - work in manure
5. SPRING - transplant upland rice ( or sorghum )
   FALL - plant inoculated fava
   LATE WINTER - work in manure
6. SPRING - transplant squash, grow on trellis
   FALL - garlic, replant biennials for seed
7. SPRING - transplant onion
            allow garlic and onion to bulb 
            allow biennials to seed
   FALL - plant oats, buckwheat, or flax
   WINTER - work in manure

At least 2 years between each crop type, except for the cover crops. The cover crops are very disease resistent, especially the oats, and do not have time to mature.

A vegetable garden should only be big enough to grow what you will eat yourself and therefore can be substantially manually cultivated, mulched, and harvested. A manually maintained garden is more efficient than a commercial source if most of the crops are those for which it is very difficult to mechanize or there is a high value freshness advantage or a yield advantage. Most of the crops listed fit into these categories. Some are included to round out the rotation and provide complete self sufficiency. The long term health of societies is improved when each individual personally maintains a fresh local source of raw greens.

Rice must be mulched or seriously cultivated to control weeds. Flooding is not required. Adequate moisture is required during grain formation to maximize yield.

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Since many of these crops will be used as animal feed and large quantities will be required, they need to be grown with as much mechanical efficiency as possible. Growing these as part of a local community is really the most efficient method. A certain size is required before the cost of machinery can be long term sustainable.

1. SPRING - inoculated non-dormant alfalfa so it will freeze down.
            then plow under
   AFTER FIRST FREEZE - winter wheat
2. SUMMER - harvest wheat
   FALL - collards and kale
3. EARLY SPRING - beets, carrot
                , transplant leeks between beets
   FALL - marigold
4. SPRING - inoculated soybeans, white beans
   FALL - buckwheat
5. VERY EARLY SPRING - oats
   FALL - inoculated fava (or hairy vetch)
6. SPRING - roll or till cover, 
            plant sunflower
   FALL - collards and kale, garlic
7. VERY EARLY SPRING - flax, onions, misc.
   SPRING - okra, transplant onions, misc.
   FALL - buckwheat

2 years between each crop type, except for the cover and plowdown crops.

The most vulnerable broadleafs, sunflower and beans, are only one year apart, but oats are good at suppressing white mold and fava or vetch are fairly resistant.

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These rotations are not intended for commercial agriculture. Commercial agriculture demands adherance to the local environmental limitations much more strictly. Extra expense to overcome local restrictions can be justified because these crops are consumed locally with little or no distribution costs.

North Dakota State University
Oregon State University
University of Connecticut IPM
Texas Plant Disease Handbook
Ecological Agricultural Projects
ATTRA Cover Crops
Rodale Institute - hairy vetch winter cover