Dear William,

Thank you for reaching out to the UVM Extension Master Gardener Program with your question.

The fact that you are asking about crop rotation tells me that you know the importance of crop rotation in the vegetable garden. Plants in the same family tend to be plagued by the same diseases and insect pests. Some of these pathogens can persist in the soil so the disease may recur in the same crop the following season if it is planted in the same location. Plants in the same family can use nutrients from the soil in the same way so planting the same crop in the same location may deplete a specific nutrient used by that plant. Therefore crop rotation can even out the loss of different soil nutrients. The main principle in crop rotation is to keep plants in the same family together in the garden and plant them in a different location annually if possible.

Carrots belong to the family Apiaceae (or the older name Umbelliferae), which includes parsley, parsnip, celery, fennel, dill, and cilantro. So carrots should not be planted in the same location where carrots or any member of the carrot family had been planted the year before. Root depth is a determining factor in nutrient use. As plants in the carrot family have deep roots and a long season in the garden it may be beneficial to alternate the location of plants in the carrot family with short season crops with shallow roots like lettuce. Keep in mind that there are weeds that are in the same vegetable family so these weeds can serve as alternate hosts for diseases or insect pests that infect that specific family of vegetables. This is another reason why weed control is important in the vegetable garden.

For many home gardeners crop rotation is difficult because of space limitations but you have six large raised beds. It is important to keep track of your crop rotation schedule. Drawing a map of your raised beds and documenting the vegetables planted in each bed each year will help.

Here are some resources on crop rotation in the vegetable garden. Happy Gardening!

https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/how-to/crop-rotation-vegetable-garden

https://ag.umass.edu/home-lawn-garden/fact-sheets/disease-management-in-home-vegetable-garden

https://nevegetable.org/cultural-practices/crop-rotation

https://extension.psu.edu/plant-rotation-in-the-garden-based-on-plant-families