crop rotation

Christine Graf's picture
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Dear Andrea,

we were talking about your permaculture workshop and discussed the materials you provided with some Fitounais gardeners few days ago and one question came up:

how do you rotate plants in permaculture? I asked you during the workshop and you said there is no need for rotation when chosen the right combination and places for plants.

The objection of the gardeners: they plant some tomatoes which got blights (they tried to fight them with natural products). When planted tomatoes again in the following year on the same place, the deseases came again, earlier and more intensive than the year before. They thought moisture might cause that problem and they just changed the place this year, but still getting blights.

Anyway, besides of this very particular problem, don't you think that plant rotation is necessary to keep plants and soil healthy?

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Andrea's picture

Hi Christine,

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Hi Christine,
indeed, rotation is not that important in permaculture - in the guilds you should already have a mix of plants which do not compete for nutrients, but rather be beneficial to each other. But if you plant different guilds of annual plants in the following year around the perennials like fruit trees or bushes, even better.

For the problem with the tomato blight, I also discussed with Kathrin in Tolmezzo, so here are some suggestions:

  • improve the soil composition through mulching,
  • build a kind of roof over the tomatoes to prevent the leaves from getting wet (water at the trunk only),
  • remove infected leaves and best burn them,
  • improve the plants' immune system with liquid manure (e.g from nettle or garlic),
  • you can also plant garlic between the tomatoes for its fungi-repellent effect.

In general: try and plant tomato species which are not prone to infection with blight..

Hope it helps - good luck with the tomatoes for next year!
Andrea

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