Plan Your Plot Rotation

A season-by-season rotation planner for allotment and community garden beds. It tracks nitrogen balance and flags pest carryover risks so your soil stays healthy year after year.

Why rotate? Planting the same crop family in the same bed each year drains specific nutrients and lets soil-borne pests build up. A four-year rotation breaks those cycles and keeps your garden productive without extra chemicals.
1–8 beds

Walkthrough: Planning Your First Rotation

  1. Count your beds. Enter the number of growing beds or plots you manage. If you use containers, count each large container as one bed.
  2. Record last season. For each bed, select what was actually planted. If you are starting fresh, choose "Empty / Fallow" for every bed.
  3. Generate suggestions. Click "Suggest Rotation" to see what the planner recommends for the coming season. Green highlights mean the bed is nitrogen-positive. Yellow means caution. Red means a pest carryover risk.
  4. Adjust to taste. Swap any suggestion for a different crop. The colour coding updates live so you can see the effect on nitrogen and pest risk.
  5. Save and print. Save the plan to your browser so you can load it next season. Print the bed map and pin it in your shed.

Common Rotation Mistakes

Planting tomatoes in the same spot

Tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes are all nightshades. Moving them to a new bed each year prevents blight and eelworm from building up.

Skipping legumes

Beans and peas fix nitrogen in the soil. Without them in the rotation, heavy feeders like squash and corn will deplete your beds faster.

Ignoring root vegetables

Carrots, parsnips, and beetroot break up soil structure. Including them helps the next crop's roots penetrate more easily.

Not tracking what went where

Memory fades. Use the save feature or print your bed map at the end of each season so you know exactly what was planted where.

Questions Gardeners Ask

What if I only have one or two beds?

Rotate within those beds as best you can. Even a two-year swap between legumes and heavy feeders makes a difference. Add compost between seasons to help.

Can I grow the same crop every year if I use containers?

Containers reduce but do not eliminate pest carryover. Replace the compost each season and rotate crop families when possible.

How does the nitrogen score work?

Each crop family has a nitrogen rating. Legumes add nitrogen. Heavy feeders remove it. The planner totals the score for each bed so you can see which beds need a rest or a legume crop.

Is this suitable for organic plots?

Yes. Rotation is one of the core techniques in organic growing. It reduces the need for both synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.