Choose how many beds you have and what you like to grow. The planner sorts your crops into plant families and rotation groups, then moves each group to a new bed every year so no family comes back to the same soil until the cycle is complete.
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Your beds
Name each bed and, if you know it, choose what grew there last season.
Crops to grow
Tick what you want to grow this cycle. ·
Rotation groups and sequence
Each bed moves to the next group every year. Move a family to a different group if you want.
Plant family
Examples
Group
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How to use the Crop Rotation Planner
Set your beds: choose how many, give them names and, if you know it, pick what each grew last season.
Pick a rotation: 4 groups suits gardens with four or more beds; 3 groups suits smaller plots.
Tick the crops you want to grow. Add any that are missing with Add crop.
Check the family groups and move a family to another group if you prefer a different sequence.
Read the plan: each column is a year and each bed moves to the next group in the sequence.
Print the plan or download it as CSV to keep with your garden notes.
Vegetable families at a glance
Rotation works by plant family, not by individual crop, because related plants share many of the same pests, diseases and soil needs. Use this table to place anything you grow.
Family
Common crops
Feeding
Group (4 group plan)
Legumes (Fabaceae)
Peas, green beans, fava beans, lima beans, edamame
Each rotation group gets a number in the order it should follow in a bed: for the 4 group plan, 1 Legumes & salads, 2 Brassicas, 3 Roots & onions, 4 Fruiting crops. A bed that grew group g last season grows group (g + 1) this year, wrapping back to group 1 after the last one. If you leave last season as unknown, the beds are simply staggered so bed 1 starts on group 1, bed 2 on group 2 and so on, which means every group is grown somewhere every year.
Because each bed steps through all the groups in turn, a plant family only comes back to the same bed after a full cycle: four years with 4 groups, three years with 3. The repeat check outlines any bed and year where a group would return sooner, which can only happen if you change a bed's last-season setting partway through.
Tips for a rotation that sticks
Keep a record. Print or save the plan each year; memory is the weak point of most rotations.
Treat potatoes and tomatoes as one group. They are both nightshades and share blight and several soil pests.
Make beds roughly equal in size so each group fits its bed every year.
Leave perennials out. Asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries and perennial herbs need permanent beds.
Fill gaps with cover crops such as clover, winter rye or buckwheat when a bed rests or between crops. Check timing for your area with the Planting Calendar.
Frequently asked questions
What is crop rotation?
Crop rotation means growing each plant family in a different part of the garden each year, so the same family does not return to the same soil for several years. It helps limit soil-borne pests and diseases that build up on one family, such as clubroot on brassicas or potato blight carry-over, and it balances the nutrients that different crops take from and add to the soil.
What is the order of a 4 year crop rotation?
A widely used sequence is legumes (peas and beans), then brassicas (cabbage family), then roots and onions, then fruiting crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, squash and corn, and then back to legumes. Brassicas follow legumes because they need plenty of nitrogen, and roots follow brassicas because carrots and parsnips prefer soil that was not freshly manured.
How does a 3 year rotation differ?
A 3 year rotation combines groups: in this planner it runs legumes and other crops, then brassicas, then potatoes, tomatoes and roots. It needs fewer beds, but each family returns to the same soil after only two years away, so it gives slightly less protection against long-lived diseases.
Which vegetables are in the same family?
Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant are nightshades. Cabbage, broccoli, kale, radish and turnips are brassicas. Peas and beans are legumes. Onions, garlic and leeks are alliums. Carrots, parsnips, celery and parsley are in the carrot family. Cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and melons are cucurbits. Beets, chard and spinach belong to the beet family.
What if I have more beds than rotation groups?
Beds that land on the same group in the same year share that group's crops, so a garden with eight beds and four groups grows each group in two beds. If you have fewer beds than groups, one group rests each year; you can sow a cover crop or green manure in any bed that has nothing planned.
What should I plant after tomatoes?
In the standard sequence, legumes such as peas and beans follow the fruiting group that includes tomatoes and potatoes. Avoid following tomatoes with potatoes, peppers or eggplant, because they are all nightshades and share pests and diseases.
Where do herbs, lettuce and corn go?
Lettuce and other salad leaves are light feeders and fit into the legume group. Sweet corn and squash are hungry crops and sit with the fruiting group in the 4 group plan. Perennial herbs, rhubarb, asparagus and fruit stay in permanent beds outside the rotation.
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