Have you ever wondered what would happen if you didn’t follow all the advice about crop rotation? Most of the advice says that my plants would get sick right away, and my yields would be record low! That sounds terrible, but is it true? At the end of an article about crop rotation, the grower admitted that she was too afraid to ever try not rotating her crops, and this fear is what keeps most of us from testing the rules and finding out where the limits are. Well that fear stops here!.
Concerns about crop rotation can really mess up our planning, so if we’re going to go out of our way every spring to make a crop rotation plan work, I want to make sure it’s worth it. This season, I intentionally planted several crops in bed where the same crop had grown previously. Did my vegetables spontaneously combust? Lets find out.
Brassicas like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale are susceptible to disease buildup when planted in the same spot year after year. That’s why crop rotation is key for keeping these vegetables healthy and productive. But what should you plant after brassicas as part of your crop rotation schedule?
In this article, we’ll look at the best vegetables herbs and cover crops to follow brassicas in rotation to avoid disease. We’ll also cover soil balancing amendments to replenish nutrients.
Why Rotate Crops After Brassicas
Brassicas are heavy feeders that can deplete soils of nutrients quite quickly, They also suffer from common soil-borne diseases that linger in the ground and infect subsequent brassica plantings,
Key reasons for crop rotation after brassicas include:
-
Avoid clubroot disease which restricts roots.
-
Prevent cabbage root maggots which stunt plants.
-
Reduce cabbage aphids and diamond back moths.
-
Replenish nitrogen and other nutrients that brassicas rapidly deplete.
-
Improve soil structure that can become compacted.
Follow a 3-4 year rotation schedule and interplant with disease suppressive cover crops to prevent disease and pest carryover while restoring nutrition.
Best Vegetables to Follow Brassicas
The best vegetables to plant after heavy feeding brassicas are lighter feeding root crops and fruiting crops from different plant families. Smart choices include:
-
Potatoes: A good nutritional match, and great preceding brassicas.
-
Carrots: Taproots help break up compacted soil.
-
Beets: Taproots add organic matter when leaves are composted.
-
Onions and garlic: Enhance nutrients without feeding heavily.
-
Tomatoes: Improve soil while avoiding brassica diseases.
-
Peppers and eggplants: Add diversity without depleting nutrients quickly.
-
Legumes: Beans and peas fix nitrogen to feed the next brassica crop.
Aim for plant families other than brassicas and alliums which share some disease concerns.
Ideal Herbs and Cover Crops to Follow Brassicas
Interplant or rotate with these soil-enriching herbs and covers between brassica crops:
-
Dill: Suppress soil nematodes and diseases.
-
Chamomile: Flowers contain a fungicide and suppress nematodes.
-
Comfrey: Dynamic accumulator concentrates nutrients. Use cut leaves as mulch or compost them.
-
Clover and alfalfa: Fix nitrogen from the air and enhance soil life.
-
Buckwheat: Rapid grower adds organic matter and improves soil aggregation.
-
Mustard: Biofumigant that releases compounds toxic to soil pathogens as it decomposes.
Herbal covers and green manures boost soil health between brassica plantings.
Soil Amendments to Replenish After Brassicas
Actively rebuild and feed the soil after harvesting hungry brassicas. Useful amendments include:
-
Compost: Boosts nutrients and beneficial microbes.
-
Worm castings: Concentrated nutrition and microbial life.
-
Manure: Improves water retention and adds nutrients.
-
Kelp meal: Provides micronutrients and growth promoters.
-
Neem meal: Adds nitrogen and protects against soil pests.
-
Gypsum: Aids drainage in compacted soils.
Recondition the soil after each brassica harvest to support healthy future plantings.
Optimal Crop Rotation Schedule for Brassicas
Aim for at least 3-4 years between brassica plantings in the same location using this ideal rotation template:
Year 1: Brassicas planted with dill and chamomile.
Year 2: Legumes or potatoes with buckwheat cover crop.
Year 3: Tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions or garlic. Include comfrey.
Year 4: Lettuce, spinach, beets, chard with clover and alfalfa cover.
Year 5: Brassicas again after soil is rejuvenated!
Varying between light and heavy feeders, including dynamic nutrient accumulators, and allowing beds to rest under cover crops optimizes soil health for ongoing brassica cultivation.
Adapting Your Brassica Crop Rotation
When first establishing a crop rotation schedule, it can take some years to achieve the ideal sequence. Here are some tips for adapting as you transition:
-
Initially alternate brassicas with lighter feeding crops like root vegetables that help condition soil.
-
Incorporate cover crops and soil amendments sooner than later.
-
If you must plant brassicas again before 3-4 years have passed, amend soil first and select disease-resistant varieties.
-
Monitor closely for any disease or pest flare ups and address issues promptly.
-
Keep records to help plan ideal crop sequences going forward.
With attentive soil care between plantings, you can still enjoy growing delicious brassicas without diseases taking hold. Put crop rotation to work for you.
By thoughtfully selecting the vegetables, herbs and covers that follow heavy-feeding brassicas in your planting scheme, you’ll be rewarded with healthier plants, more bountiful harvests, and increasingly nutrient-rich soil.
Planting Broccoli After Broccoli
Crop rotation charts would tell you that you shouldnt plant any brassicas consecutively in the same space. The brassica family includes cauliflower, radishes, turnips, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, and our crop in question, broccoli. Thats quite few crops to rule out as possible successors every time I plant a brassica.
This idea of rotating brassica crops was put to the test when I planted two broccoli plants in the same bed at the same time. The first crop, eight broccoli plants, were moved into the bed on May 8th and were picked by July 7th, giving a total yield of 6 4 kg. The plants were taken out, and on July 16, a week later, the same bed was planted with more broccoli seedlings. Because the first planting was a bit too close together, I only put 6 plants in the same spot this time. The second heads were picked on October 12th, giving me a total of 4 heads. 5 kg. The overall yield dropped a little and the average head size dropped from 0. 8kg per head to 0. 75kg per head.
The first and second plantings of Gypsy broccoli were the same. However, my sample size was very small, and I didn’t have any other fall-planted broccoli beds to compare yields with. If you harvest broccoli in the fall, the yield might be a little lower because brassicas like being moved around in the heat of summer. These numbers could also be showing a drop in production because of all the crops that were planted at the same time. It’s clear, though, that the broccoli plants we planted as a second crop were healthy, and we still got a good second crop to harvest.
Planting Corn After Corn
No, you didnt! Yes we did. People say that corn is a heavy feeder that needs all the nitrogen it can get to grow well, leaving the soil lacking in nutrients and organic matter for the next growing season. What would happen if we planted corn in the same bed for two years in a row? To find out, we planted corn in the same bed for three years in a row.
We moved 60 plants of sweet corn into one of our standard-sized field beds (bed F) in 2021. 5) on May 29. We harvested all of the cobs between August 6th and 20th for a total yield of 23. 9 kg. The corn was removed from the bed and followed with a crop of fall spinach.
In 2022, we transplanted 60 plants of sweet corn into the same bed on May 27. We used the same method for preparing the bed and planting as in 2021, which was to move two-week-old seedlings through holes in landscape fabric. Between August 10th and 22nd, we harvested 19. 65kg of cobs.
In 2023, we started the season in the F. 5. A garden bed with early carrots that were picked on July 4 to make room for the corn Again, 60 sweet corn plants were put in the same bed, but this time they were planted on July 4th, which was a month later than the previous years. The entire bed was harvested on September 16th with a total yield of 19. 5 kg.
As an aside, we did plant an early bed of sweet corn on a different plot in 2023. The bed was the same standard size of 50 square feet. The total harvest from that bed was 20. 3kg, which falls right in line with the harvests from our other corn beds in 2022 and 2023.
The harvest total that stands out among each of these crops is the larger 23. 9 kg yield from 2021. I was interested in that higher number until I looked more closely at my harvest log and saw that I had also picked the smaller secondary cobs on the plants that weren’t fully grown the first year. The weight of these unusable cobs was added to the total, which shouldn’t have been done, but I can’t go back in time and only weigh the fully grown cobs. The next years, I only picked the main cobs from each plant and didn’t bother with the smaller secondary cobs that were there. I think thats why the yields in 2022 and 2023 are more consistent.
3 Brassica Planting Tips – Garden Quickie Episode 170
Can you grow leafy brassicas?
Many growers find it difficult to grow the leafy brassicas – cauliflowers, cabbage, calabrese, broccoli, sprouts – but if you follow these tips carefully you’ll be able to grow great crops. The real secret to success with any plant is attention to detail. So here are 12 tips that will ensure you get success with leafy brassicas.
How do you grow brassicas?
Try giving a liquid feed of trace elements (Chempack) to cure deficiency problems. Planting far enough apart is vital to growing good brassicas. When you first put them in their final place they look lost and lonely, all on their own. Don’t be tempted to squeeze more in, they will soon fill up.
How to grow winter brassicas?
A key part to learning how to grow winter brassicas is making sure you protect your plants once they are in the ground. This means cloaking the plantings in fine-mesh netting (5mm or less) to protect against wood pigeons and to prevent cabbage whites from laying eggs. Take special care that the leaves don’t touch the netting.
When should I plant brassicas?
As a general rule, when mastering how to grow winter brassicas, sow between April and June, then plant out in June-July. While your cool croppers are quietly developing, you can then distract yourself with summer harvests of peas and beans, tomatoes and courgettes! To find out more about how to grow courgettes, read our guide.
