Show Transcript

0:00There's so many things that you have to think about when you're planning out your garden space, your farm space. And another thing that it's important to

0:08throw into the mix is crop rotation and rotating crops so you're not growing the same thing in the same plot year after

0:16year, month after month. So, we're going to talk about crop rotation a little bit, some of the dos and and don'ts maybe of, you know, successful crop

0:24rotation. So, um, what's the the key points for doing this, right?

0:31Well, I would say the the key point is just to mix crops up as much as

0:37possible. Um, and I would just refer you to Elliot Coleman's, the new organic

0:43grower. He has written the definitive chapter on crop rotation.

0:52any other person I've read talking about crop rotation quotes from from this chapter. So

1:00I think this is like I say the the seinal work on crop rotation and of

1:08course he goes through all the the benefits of crop rotation. He says it's

1:13the single most um important um practice on the small farm. H.

1:23But the challenge is with winter growing that you only have a few families to

1:34uh to work with. So, you know, he he lists

1:41a table of all the botanical families that you grow in your vegetable garden.

1:48And of course, some of them are are just warm weather crops like the solenacas,

1:54the the peppers and tomatoes and um the poacier is the corn and cucurbidacier is all your your squashes and cucumbers.

2:08So those are all warm weather um families.

2:14And so you're we basically grow from I think I counted four families. The APAC which is your carrots, celery, parsley,

2:26parsnips.

2:28Asteracier which is your lettucees. Brasicacia which is all of your your brasacas and

2:37your Asian greens. um chennipotaca which is your spinach, swiss chard and

2:44beets and then a little bit of the lilyacier which is your aliums your you know we

2:54grow like um bunching onions scallions in the winter but largely you're growing

3:02from from the apaca asteracier and brasic KCA and Chennipotia.

3:11So the the challenge is as you read this crop rotation chapter,

3:19he he classifies the families as either beneficial or detrimental.

3:26And the way I like to think of it, the beneficial crops leave the soil better than they found it, whereas the

3:34detrimental crops um leave the soil worse than they found it.

3:41So of those four categories, asteracier, which is your lettucees,

3:49is the only beneficial crop that doesn't leave the soil poorer than it found it.

3:58So that's a good thing actually because lettuce is what you're growing the most of and then the other ones are considered detrimental.

4:10So, all that to say, what we try to do,

4:14and Elliot talks about this in the winter harvest handbook, basically the idea that you can't do these elaborate

4:22crop rotations, but just try to rotate as much as you can. So, we try to always

4:30um follow a detrimental family crop with a beneficial one. So,

4:39if we've grown spinach somewhere, we're going to follow it with lettuce. Or if we've grown brasacas somewhere,

4:47we're going to follow it with lettuce. So,

4:52I don't know. That's that's kind of where we're at with crop rotation. Just keep track of what was grown there

5:00previously for the last two or three crops and try to not repeat it.

5:06Yeah. Excuse me. So, do you have like a master rotation plan that that everything's kind of planned out, you

5:14know, a year or at least months in advance as to where things are going or is it more of a kind of on the-fly uh figure it out as you go? I mean, it's a little bit of both in that, you know,

5:26with our green houses and with our outdoor space, we do have a master rotation, but then within that,

5:36um, there's, you know, like Yeah, there there's definitely some of

5:45just Okay, well that we had lettuce here, so let's plant um brassicas here next. Yeah.

5:52So, we just have a sheet where we keep track of what was grown, you know, like for the season. Okay. You know, on our

6:02intensive plots, we started with with brasacas, go to lettuce, come back with

6:10um well, in the summer, the good thing is you've got more beneficial crops. You know, your your beans and stuff are

6:19beneficial. your cucurbits are considered beneficial.

6:24So, you know, in the summer we can mix it up more. Um, so the biggest challenge is the winter.

6:32Okay.

6:32Well, I think that's a a good highle overview of um the the importance of

6:39crop rotation. Now, when we say detrimental crops, some people might take that and and think, oh, maybe we

6:47don't want to grow detrimental or whatever, but it's not necessarily that it's causing, you know, detriment like that you can't overcome. It just means

6:55it's taking more nutrients out of the soil that you have to replace uh next time you plant in it. So, it's just, you

7:03know, one one factor in all of the planning that goes into farming. And you know, if you grow a detrimental crop,

7:11you just have to replenish the soil a little bit more after you take it out, right? Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

7:18Yeah. It's just detrimental to, I guess you could say, soil health. So, you have to work a little harder um after a detrimental crop to to,

7:31you know, build the soil back, replenish the soil a little bit. Yeah.

7:35So, it's just good to keep those things in mind and not just continue growing,

7:42you know, like brassacas in the same place because you you will eventually end up with issues. Yeah. Yep. All

7:49righty. Well, that's a brief overview of the importance of crop rotation and some pointers. Definitely, Dad's always bringing resources so you got some

7:57homework on on books to read. And uh hope that this has been helpful. If you have questions you would like us to discuss in a future video, please

8:05comment those or respond to this email and uh we may discuss them next time. Until next time, happy growing.

8:13[Music]

Crop Rotation for Market Farmers: A Practical Guide to Healthier Soil and Better Harvests

By Jonathan Dysinger and John Dysinger

Updated on

Crop rotation is the practice of changing which crop family you grow in a given bed from one planting to the next. For small-scale market farmers, the simplest effective rule is to always follow a soil-depleting ("detrimental") crop with a soil-building ("beneficial") one — and for winter growers, that usually means alternating with lettuce.

When you're running a small-scale market farm, the list of things demanding your attention never seems to end. Bed prep, seeding schedules, harvest logistics, customer relationships — the mental load is real.

So when someone tells you to add crop rotation planning to the mix, it's tempting to push it down the priority list.

But here's the thing: crop rotation might be the single most impactful practice you can adopt on your small farm. Not the most glamorous, not the most exciting — but arguably the most important for the long-term health of your soil and the quality of your harvests.

In a recent video conversation, my dad, John Dysinger — owner of Bountiful Blessings Farm with 27 years of market farming experience — and I sat down to talk through how he approaches crop rotation. I grew up working alongside him, and crop rotation was one of those things that was always part of the rhythm of the farm. Below, I'm sharing the key insights from our conversation so you can apply the same principles to your operation without overcomplicating things.

What Is Crop Rotation and Why Does It Matter?

Crop rotation is the practice of not growing the same crop family in the same bed over and over again. Instead, you alternate between different plant families so the soil isn't repeatedly asked to give up the same nutrients.

When you plant the same crop family in the same bed season after season, you're drawing the same nutrients from the soil repeatedly, creating the perfect environment for pests and diseases to establish themselves, and degrading your soil structure over time.

Rotate your crops thoughtfully, and you break those cycles. Your soil stays healthier. Your plants grow stronger. And you spend less time and money trying to fix problems that good rotation would have prevented.

As my dad puts it, the goal is to "mix crops up as much as possible." That's really the guiding principle. You don't need a PhD in agronomy to make crop rotation work for you — you just need a basic understanding of plant families and a willingness to keep simple records.

The Resource You Need on Your Shelf

If you want to go deep on crop rotation, my dad recommends one book above all others: Eliot Coleman's The New Organic Grower. According to him, Coleman has written the definitive chapter on crop rotation, and nearly every other author writing on the topic references his work.

Coleman lays out the botanical families, explains which crops leave the soil better or worse than they found it, and provides a framework you can adapt to your own farm. It's an essential read for any market farmer serious about soil health. My dad has used Coleman's framework as his foundation for over two decades of year-round production, and it's still the first book he recommends to new growers.

What Are "Beneficial" and "Detrimental" Crop Families?

One of the most practical concepts from Coleman's work — and one that my dad applies daily on his farm — is the classification of crop families as either beneficial or detrimental.

This doesn't mean "detrimental" crops are bad or that you shouldn't grow them. It simply describes their relationship with the soil.

Beneficial crops leave the soil in better condition than they found it. They tend to add organic matter, fix nitrogen, or otherwise improve soil structure.

Detrimental crops draw more heavily from the soil, leaving it in need of replenishment after harvest.

Here's where it gets interesting — and a little challenging — for winter growers. During the cold months, most market farmers are working with just four or five crop families:

  • Apiaceae — carrots, celery, parsley, parsnips
  • Asteraceae — lettuces
  • Brassicaceae — brassicas, Asian greens
  • Chenopodiaceae — spinach, Swiss chard, beets
  • Liliaceae — alliums like bunching onions and scallions (in smaller quantities)

Of these winter families, only Asteraceae (your lettuces) is classified as beneficial. The rest are considered detrimental. This means that every time you pull a bed of spinach or brassicas, the soil is a little more depleted than before.

The silver lining? Lettuce is almost certainly your highest-volume winter crop. So your most-planted crop is also the one that's kindest to your soil.

The Simple Rotation Rule That Works

Given the constraints of winter growing, my dad follows a straightforward principle on his farm:

Always follow a detrimental crop with a beneficial one.

Pulled a bed of spinach? Plant lettuce next. Just harvested brassicas? Lettuce goes in.

It's not an elaborate rotation plan with color-coded spreadsheets and multi-year projections. It's a practical, workable system that keeps your soil from being drained by the same crop family back-to-back. My dad has been refining this approach across 27 growing seasons, and the simplicity is what makes it stick — especially in the middle of a hectic winter harvest week when you've got 200 heads of lettuce to cut and three beds to replant before sundown.

In summer, rotation gets easier. You have more beneficial crop families to work with — beans, cucurbits, and others join the mix, giving you more flexibility to rotate effectively.

How to Keep Track Without Losing Your Mind

You don't need fancy software to manage crop rotation. On Bountiful Blessings Farm, my dad keeps a simple tracking sheet that records what was grown in each bed for the current season.

The key information to track for each bed is what was grown there for the last two or three successions. That's it. When it's time to plant, you glance at the sheet, see what was there before, and make sure you're not repeating the same family.

For the greenhouses and outdoor plots, he maintains a general master rotation plan for the season. But within that framework, he stays flexible. If a bed just had lettuce, brassicas go in next. If it just had brassicas, lettuce goes in.

It's a blend of planning and real-time decision-making — and it works.

Summer vs. Winter: Two Different Rotation Challenges

One of the key takeaways from our conversation is that winter and summer present very different rotation challenges.

  • Winter is the tough season. With only a handful of crop families in play — and most of them classified as detrimental — you have to be intentional about alternating with lettuce and replenishing your soil between plantings.
  • Summer opens up your options significantly. Beneficial families like legumes (beans) and cucurbits (squash, cucumbers) enter the rotation, making it much easier to mix things up and give your soil a break.

If you're growing year-round, this seasonal shift is actually an advantage. The summer diversity helps offset the winter limitations, as long as you're paying attention to what goes where.

Don't Forget to Replenish

Crop rotation is a powerful tool, but it's not the only one in your soil health toolkit. When you do grow detrimental crops, you need to actively replenish the soil afterward.

That might mean adding compost, applying amendments, or using silage tarps (https://www.farmersfriend.com/p/silage-tarp) between plantings to encourage decomposition and worm activity that naturally rebuilds soil health.

The point is that rotation and soil building work together. Rotation prevents you from making the problem worse. Active soil replenishment makes things better.

The Takeaway

Crop rotation doesn't have to be complicated to be effective. For most beginning market farmers, the key principles are simple:

Track what you grow in each bed. Follow detrimental crops with beneficial ones. Give your soil what it needs between plantings. And pick up a copy of Eliot Coleman's The New Organic Grower — it's the best investment you'll make in understanding how rotation works on a small farm.

Your soil is the foundation of everything you grow. Take care of it, and it will take care of you.


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