Guides
Crop rotation
Crop rotation is a planning option: what occupied the bed last year should not silently repeat if you can help it. Compare named crops — tomato, pepper, potato, eggplant versus bean, lettuce, onion — using the rest intervals cited below. Not a spray plan.
Rotation suggestions are planning options based on the records and assumptions shown. They do not replace local crop, pest, or soil guidance.
If-then (planning options)
- If last year was tomato, pepper, or potato → consider bean, lettuce, or onion this year.
- If you have no history → start a history. Save the bed so next season is not a guess.
Cited rest intervals (not one BioArva gap)
Separate source assertions — not a BioArva average.
- Clemson (South Carolina): they ask growers to pick a well-drained bed that has not had tomato, pepper, eggplant, or potato for at least three seasons.
- Cornell (New York): at least 2 years since those same crops.
- Iowa State (Iowa, 2025): that rotation sheet groups eggplant, pepper, potato, tomato, tomatillo, ground cherry, and husk cherry under what it calls the nightshade family (Solanaceae).
- Iowa State (Iowa): on that same sheet they publish 3–4 years (or 5+ if possible) before repeating crops they place in that grouping in one location.
What is the best crop rotation schedule?
There is no single best calendar. Use the named-crop rest intervals cited above as planning options. Unsourced slogans (including a “70/30 rule”) are not a schedule.
What is the recommended order for crop rotation?
A common planning option is to follow tomato with a different named crop the next season (bean, lettuce, onion). Cited rest intervals differ by publication. There is no single BioArva gap.
Save this bed. See it coming next year.
Your checks stay in the Field Book so next season is not a guess.
How we know — methodology. Ranges and assertions are cited per source, not blended.