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Message: [QUOTE="Susan BBPM, post: 251471, member: 17711"] Interesting and relevant (to no dig vs Yet another tangent, but there are huge criticism of monoculutre farming and whilst it's hard to get away from when you're mass producing food, in garden environments people are moving towards polyculture approaches. So that's one of the reasons why rotation is becoming less prelevant - if you're growing multiple crops in one bed how do you rotate? What's most beneficial in YOUR garden - rigid adherence to rotation or taking a pollyculture approach? There probably isn't a universal answer to that question. Just to throw thoughts and ideas into the pot here's Charles Dowding's comments on the matter. I'm not holding up Charles Dowding as the ultimate authority. Just as one of the pioneers of the no dig approach (so an expert in no dig). "You don't have to rotate in this way, I certainly don't, because it is simpler to grow what you want, leaving as long a gap as possible - which may be only two years - between vegetable families such as legumes, brassicas, potatoes, alliums, umbellifers; note that ‘roots’ is not a family so makes no sense in terms of a rotation to avoid disease. I spread some compost every year, to feed the soil and keep it in best condition and to allow double cropping as much as possible - which is difficult if you leave soil fallow. In a small garden I would never grow green manures;, because of their need for extra time and effort to grow, incorporate or mulch, and then to rot down; I recommend compost instead. Rotation needs bearing in mind, without letting it dictate what you grow. There are four or five main groups of vegetables with family associations, making them susceptible to similar pests and diseases which can be reduced by growing the same family in different places each year as far as is practical. All gardeners have favourite crops and I know many who successfully break the rules in this section, for instance by growing carrots and runner beans in the same place every year or tomatoes in the same greenhouse soil each summer. When rotating minimally, adding compost and manure does help to keep soil, and therefore plants, in good health. " [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Second-sowings-Ch-13-Veg-Course.pdf[/URL] More recently Dowding has been experimenting with growing the same crop in a bed for many years - without any problem or reduction in harvest size or quality. 8 years in a row with broad beans and potatoes in the same bed at the time of this clip: [MEDIA=youtube]I6Sy9lfcu3k[/MEDIA] [/QUOTE]

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