Crop Rotation and Vegetable Plant Families

For healthy vegetable gardens, it's best to rotate your crops each year. By rotating your vegetable crops each year, you'll reduce pests and pathogens and add nutrients to the soil. That's why you should avoid growing vegetables from the same family in the same place more than once over a three-year period.

It's not always easy to remember which vegetables belong in the same families, which can make crop rotation a bit challenging. To make it easier, I've listed vegetable plant families and the common names of popular vegetables in each family:

Alliaceae: Chives, garlic, leek, onion

Chenopodiaceae: Beet, chard, spinach

Brassicaceae: Broccoli, Brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radish, rutabaga, turnip

Asteraceae: Endive, globe artichoke, lettuce

Cucurbitaceae: Cantaloupe, cucumber, pumpkin, summer squash, winter squash, watermelon

Poaceae: Corn

Fabaceae: Green bean, fava bean, lima bean, pea, snap bean

Liliaceae: Asparagus

Polygonaceae: Rhubarb

Solanaceae: Eggplant, pepper, potato, tomato

Umbelliferae: Carrot, celery, Florence fennel, parsley, parsnip

Tips: Keep a notebook to remember what you planted each growing season. If you grew eggplant in a certain place in the garden over the last two years, don't plant family members peppers, potatoes or tomatoes in the same spot this year. Instead, plant a vegetable from another family, such as carrots.

Perennials such as asparagus or rhubarb don't need to be rotated annually. Crop rotation is used for annual vegetables planted each year.

Plant Information Source: "California Master Gardener Handbook," published by the University of California's Agriculture and Natural Resources Department and the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Photo Credit: Isabel Gomes