Food growing · Design beds, crops and systems · food-6

Plan crops and rotation

Choose crops your household will eat that suit your climate, then plan where each goes so that the same plant family does not occupy the same bed year after year. Rotation and diversity support soil health and break pest cycles.

How

Shortlist crops from your food goal (food-1). Split them into warm-season and cool-season groups as Texas A&M AgriLife does.
Group crops by plant family: for example tomato family (tomato, pepper, potato, eggplant), cabbage family (cabbage, kale, broccoli), cucurbits (squash, cucumber, melon), legumes (beans, peas), onion family, and carrot family.
Allocate one or more beds to each group and move each group to a different bed each year. Iowa State Extension advises waiting 3 to 4 years, and 5 or more if you can, before the same family returns to the same bed.
Include a cover crop or fallow slot in the cycle where you can. USDA NRCS lists diverse rotations and keeping living roots in the soil as core soil-health principles.
Put long-season and perennial crops (asparagus, rhubarb, herbs) in their own permanent beds so they do not block the rotation.
Record the plan on your bed map with the year, so next year's rotation is simple.

Sources

Planning a Garden (E-289). Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, accessed 2026-11
Principles for High Functioning Soils. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, accessed 2026-11
Crop rotation in the vegetable garden. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, accessed 2026-11

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