Why Crop Rotation is a Waste of Time

Timestamps:
0:43 - Time requirements of growing food and excuses
1:46 - Crop rotation purpose and refresh of what it is
3:05 - Gardening techniques have progressed over the years
3:53 - Why crop rotation is needed
5:01 - The important link between succession planting and rotation
6:25 - Observe and interact, inspired by nature
8:17 - Lack of flexibility of rotating
8:41 - My version of crop rotation
9:34 - How I deal with a plant disease
10:44 - Garden examples 1
11:58 - Garden examples 2
12:49 - Weather's impact on yearly yields
13:14 - Importance of creativity

Instagram: @huws_nursery

HuwsNursery is a channel which dedicates itself to teaching you how to grow an abundance of food at your home. Videos are uploaded every week and cover a vast range of subjects including; soil health, sowing, transplanting, weeding, organic tips, permaculture, pest control, harvesting and low maintenance growing to name a few.

With thanks to the support of my top tier patreons; William Shidal, Ben Porcher, Namaste Foundation, Valeria Letelier and Mike Moore

#permaculture #organicgardening #selfsufficiency

[HuwRichards]

I hope you enjoy this one. Here are the timecodes mentioned for easy navigation after watching the video:
0:43 - Time requirements of growing food and excuses
1:46 - Crop rotation purpose and refresh of what it is
3:05 - Gardening techniques have progressed over the years
3:53 - Why crop rotation is needed
5:01 - The important link between succession planting and rotation
6:25 - Observe and interact, inspired by nature
8:17 - Lack of flexibility of rotating
8:41 - My version of crop rotation
9:34 - How I deal with a plant disease
10:44 - Garden examples 1
11:58 - Garden examples 2
12:49 - Weather's impact on yearly yields
13:14 - Importance of creativity

[stephaniehanuman-dale]

I have some crops that have their “favorite “ spot in the garden where I know they do well. I’ll move things around occasionally but I often let the plants tell me where they want to grow🌱💚 Gardening satisfies both sides of the brain, some science some art❤️

[buckhousedirector]

Cheers Huw. I never bother with the concept of crop rotation. I have hugelkultur beds that I built about three years ago that are now producing wonderfully. I let plants self seed and what comes up comes up when it's ready to do so and the resulting plants are strong and healthy. I also don't bother with monocultures, i.e. several rows of leeks for example. My garden is a massive mix of different plants in different places, all scattered amongst each other with no particular 'structure' in place. It's wild actually. This also helps confuse pests as they can't necessarily find the plant they're happy chewing amongst the myriad of other plants. Works for me :)

[JenMarco]

My stepdad’s mother grew the most delicious tomatoes in the same spot for decades. She added egg shells and other stuff to it all the time. I think crop rotation mostly applies to large farms.

[grannygreensocks]

What a very sensible video! I find it impossible to stick to a traditional rotation for the reasons you describe. It is so much more fun to pop more plants in wherever there is space, whenever they are available. And gardening has to be fun, not a chore!

[MatthewSherriff]

I'm always planting everything everywhere, so i end up doing crop rotation just by accident

[whatifitnt]

I’m sooo very happy to have found the no dig method... I actually stopped gardening because I couldn’t stand to destroy all the worms and bugs by tilling my beds ... and back then we didn’t garden until our beds were tilled... 😢 Thank you for sharing this... my garden is once again going in this year 🥳💃🏻

[martysgarden]

Just gold brother, building soil health 'FEED THE SOIL NOT THE PLANTS" is the future of organic gardening in my eyes!
All the best from Australia
Marty Ware

[k.hoferJHWDSAI]

Oh, wow, thank you!
My 90 year old neighbour told me it's not nessesary to change the beds for strawberries. Almost everyone tells that you have to change every 2 years.
I love your videos. 💞
Greatings from Austria.

[wendyd]

Absolutely brilliant! Thank you. It's so refreshing to hear someone explain why the 'rules' can be broken. I am relatively new to gardening with the intention of feeding my family (four people) but it has always bothered me that within the gardening community there were hard rules that must be followed yet those rules didn't feel right to me when I was harvesting delicious tasting and healthy looking foods, by breaking those rules. Watching gardeners on the telly on a Saturday morning did more to put me off gardening than they ever did in getting me motivated to garden but learning from your channel here fills me with inspiration and I am not only motivated to try my hand at growing new varieties and greater numbers but I am truly excited to do so!
Thank you,
Wendy, Australia

[MGoogle]

Hey mate, this is the first video of yours I watched and I really love how it's structured. I commented to my wife that I thought that quality of your video, the angles etc were of the same calibre as the content on the Lifestyle channel. Long story short, keep up the great work.

[jeaniesf]

I love your method of crop rotation, that's my style as well. Gardening shouldn't be over-complicated, it's an art.

[ecocentrichomestead]

I move crops around, but I don't follow crop rotation rules. I think the biggest thing that keeps people from starting a garden is the multitude of must do and must not do rules that are preached as universal.

[mycozygardencottage]

Thank you! Nice video! A gentleman I know who runs an organic farm with his family told me this a few years ago. He said that you probably have a few weeds in your beds in the off season and that can serve as a crop rotation. Adding compost presumably puts back the nutrients that may be depleted. I no longer mind the weeds so much because they are easy to remove from the loose soil. In my mind, many of the weeds are like place holders and protect the soil until I'm ready to use the space.

[norwichhouse]

Thank you Huw for another great video. I learnt the basics of fruit and veg gardening from my Grandad in the 50s - no raised beds, very little rotation, but lots of cow manure and compost. We all used to do double digging but I stopped when it was said on 'The Victorian Kitchen Garden' that it was invented by head gardeners to keep journeymen busy in the Winter. I am able to make about 20 cu. yds. of compost each year which largely goes on the vegetable patch but I cannot get manure these days. One problem I seem to have is that I don't see many worms and I can't really explain that. Enough rambling.

[jennymullins]

Hi Huw, really enjoyed this video. Over 15years ago I was obsessed with making my own compost with grass clippings, veg scraps & manure, with occasional additions of blood & bone. The garden was doing very well, but as I was winging it, I wasn't confident I was doing the right thing by not practising conventional crop-rotation. We were only a family of 5, so I didn't feel the need to harvest huge amounts at any given time. I gave up actively growing things for years, & yet many things survived. Surely because of the compost used in place of artificial fertilizers pesticides. I've only just started again, with a passion, & i'm so encouraged to hear what you had to say. Thanks, & keep up the good work. Your vegetable plots look amazing.

[MuddyBootz]

Hi Huw, I am half and half with agreeing on this one. I find quite a few varieties are happy to be grown in the same place each year particularly the legumes but even those can sometimes leave too much nitrogen in the soil. Where I do agree with moving the crops each year is potatoes, tomatoes with reference to the blight and more importantly brassicas where club root is present. I mistakenly grew brassicas in the same bed two years on the run and the club root in the second year was unbearable. It destroyed the crops. Cheers Nigel 👍🏻

[bencowles]

I use the high crop rotation model. When one crop comes out, a new one goes in, following the same basic model as yearly rotation but in shorter time frame. I get three or four crops a year from the same bed. This is possible by top dressing the bed with compost twice a year. Once in early spring once in the fall. I also use low tunnels over my beds to extend the growing season. It is not a no till or no dig garden but it is close because i only harrow or tilth the top inch of the soil when i add compost. This helps preserve the microbioligy in the soil and is less disturbing to my favorite garden residents, earth worms. The high rotation method is great for market gardeners because production is much higher with less lost growing time. I learned it from J. m. forier and curtice stone as well as eliot coleman . Granted this is not traditional crop rotation but it does take the best of both worlds and i have very little problem with disease in my soil. If your soil is full of healthy microbs it helps fight off the bad ones and almost works like an immune system to defend against the bad microbes that cause disease. Love your videos and your garden. It is an inspiration to see other gardeners at work and your beautiful garden. Have a blessed day and happy growing.

[etiennelouw]

I started my veggie garden in August 2021 by digging up the grass, South Africa has tough grass. I am expanding my garden by the dig up method and have 1 patch that I am putting kitchen scraps into the poor sandy soil and have seen earth worms are now present in that space. I planted 6 trees, 3 in my back yard and 3 in the front so as they grow and mature I will eventually have mulch from the leaves that drop. I am amazed at how much I have harvested from the time I started. The first patch is going to be enlarged with more grass removal and compost put on top. It's a worth while challenge that give me organic veggies.

[eveforbes]

Happy soil, involved, observant, and happy gardener= happy outcomes.
Great stuff. Thanks.