We're going to rotate two of the garden sections for next year. We currently have three sections to our vegetable garden, each 25 feet wide and 30 feet long, all adjacent with a walkway between the sections. From left to right, for the last three years they've been 1, the pumpkin patch; 2, vegetable left; and 3, vegetable right. The two vegetable sections have a variety of rows, containing corn, beans, potatoes, melons, tomatoes, etc. We have been changing the crops amongst the rows each year and add compost and manure to the rows every fall.

For next year, we're going to switch the pumpkin patch with vegetable left, putting the pumpkin patch between the two vegetable sections. After harvesting the pumpkins next month, we'll bring a few loads of sheep manure from the barn to spread over the gardens, then till them in before winter hits. Hopefully, the plants will enjoy a change of scenery.

In a few years, we'll probably switch the pumpkin patch with vegetable right.

Paul

Pavel314 wrote:
....
In a few years, we'll probably switch the pumpkin patch with vegetable right.

i try to rotate everything each season, but in
a few gardens the soil is so poor that i keep
planting beans until i can get it into shape.

the rest of the gardens i rotate the tomatoes
into first with the worms/worm compost and then
follow with onions the next year. i squeak some
garlic in one of the gardens.

after several years they're due for another
shot of worms/worm compost and since we don't
over do it with what we plant and harvest and
return all food/paper scraps and plant debris
the garden soil has gradually improved each
season.

i also rotate the areas i plant squash every
year or two. we went three years last year and
it was ok, but it was time to move on. this
year with the seeds going in late we don't have
too many squash out there to harvest.

considering where we started and how things
have changed and how much we do harvest from
these gardens i'm pretty happy with how it
has been going.

different plants use different nutrients so
it makes a lot of sense to rotate crops as then
you will not need to amend so heavily and still
can get decent crops.


songbird

Where are you? I'm in the Ohio river valley and if you drop a seed,
you have to be careful to step aside.

Hul

songbird wrote:
Pavel314 wrote:
...
In a few years, we'll probably switch the pumpkin patch with vegetable right.

i try to rotate everything each season, but in
a few gardens the soil is so poor that i keep
planting beans until i can get it into shape.

the rest of the gardens i rotate the tomatoes
into first with the worms/worm compost and then
follow with onions the next year. i squeak some
garlic in one of the gardens.

after several years they're due for another
shot of worms/worm compost and since we don't
over do it with what we plant and harvest and
return all food/paper scraps and plant debris
the garden soil has gradually improved each
season.

i also rotate the areas i plant squash every
year or two. we went three years last year and
it was ok, but it was time to move on. this
year with the seeds going in late we don't have
too many squash out there to harvest.

considering where we started and how things
have changed and how much we do harvest from
these gardens i'm pretty happy with how it
has been going.

different plants use different nutrients so
it makes a lot of sense to rotate crops as then
you will not need to amend so heavily and still
can get decent crops.


songbird

Hul Tytus wrote:
Where are you? I'm in the Ohio river valley and if you drop a seed,
you have to be careful to step aside.

mid-Michigan. things grow well here most of the time
other than the fact that we are in a low spot which gathers
fogs and colder air at times.


songbird

On Friday, September 13, 2019 at 3:41:07 PM UTC-4, Hul Tytus wrote:
Where are you? I'm in the Ohio river valley and if you drop a seed,
you have to be careful to step aside.

Hul


Not sure who you were asking but I'm in Maryland, northeast of Baltimore.

Paul

In article
Hul Tytus writes:
Where are you? I'm in the Ohio river valley and if you drop a seed,
you have to be careful to step aside.

I'm near-by (Miami Valley, Dayton-ish), but not quite that fortunate
on soil. We're on a post-WW2 (therefore, topsoil scraped) suburban
plot.

But after 10-ish years of mulch, with the remnants tilled in early
spring, Shallow rooted stuff does pretty well. As do tomatoes,
though I give them some help at setting out.

Not sure it is up to growing something hungry like corn, but my
wife has a corn pollen allergy, so that point is moot.

I had a couple years of gardening at a near-by 1905 house, and the
soil was absolutely amazing. The neighborhood, not so much.

--
Drew Lawson So risk all or don't risk anything
You can lose all the same

On Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 1:26:58 PM UTC-6, Pavel314 wrote:
We're going to rotate two of the garden sections for next year. We currently have three sections to our vegetable garden, each 25 feet wide and 30 feet long, all adjacent with a walkway between the sections. From left to right, for the last three years they've been 1, the pumpkin patch; 2, vegetable left; and 3, vegetable right. The two vegetable sections have a variety of rows, containing corn, beans, potatoes, melons, tomatoes, etc. We have been changing the crops amongst the rows each year and add compost and manure to the rows every fall.

For next year, we're going to switch the pumpkin patch with vegetable left, putting the pumpkin patch between the two vegetable sections. After harvesting the pumpkins next month, we'll bring a few loads of sheep manure from the barn to spread over the gardens, then till them in before winter hits.. Hopefully, the plants will enjoy a change of scenery.

In a few years, we'll probably switch the pumpkin patch with vegetable right.

Paul

I've grown chile on the same 26'x12' plot for ten years now and only recently have been seeing a lessening of plant/fruiting vigor. I just pile on about a foot of dry leaves in the Fall and till them in Fall if the weather stays warm or in the Spring. Suspect the leaves just can't provide enough nitrogen so I'm going to do a soil analysis on the current soil.