crop rotation

Hi,

You are receiving this weekly newsletter early, not because I am faster this week but because my sister Anna, who checks, corrects and organizes my letter every week, is abroad. Accordingly, this is my unchecked version. So, I apologize for everything that may be impossible to understand. Also, this is a perfect time to publicly tell my dear sister Anna, who I love, thank you for your fast and important help every week.
And now to crop rotation. I have been threatening you with this subject for a long time, so here it is.
As they say, everything begins at home, or, in the plant world, comes from your roots. It is simple - to grow healthy and strong plants, you need fertile earth. However, fertile earth is not a simple matter at all. Because the earth is actually alive, an entire world lives in the soil - there are lots and lots of microorganisms under the surface of the earth. As always in nature, to work well, everything must be balanced. If the world beneath the surface is balanced, we have fertile earth. If it is not balanced, it is either dead, or a haven for illness, neither of which supports plant life.
Crop rotation preserves the balance. It is a system of alternating crops growing on a specific piece of land in order to not deplete any one or more elements without replacing them. For thousands of years, agriculturalists have used such a system to keep their crops healthy, to maximize their yield and to preserve their land's fertility so that they can continue to produce crops year after year.
The veggies we eat are filled with minerals which they get from the soil during their growth. Every plant needs organic matter in differing amounts, which they get from the earth. Moreover, each plant leaves something behind after its growth, which is a sign that it was present.
The reasoning of crop rotation is variety - different plants grow in the same plot of earth, one after the other. We choose the things that we wish to grow, knowing what will be left behind to return to the earth after their harvest. We thereafter plant what is appropriate for the soil after the previous crop. In this way we create a circle, or in different words, we maintain the balance in order to let nature do exactly what it does so well.
The different crops that follow one another in a specific plot must not be from the same family, because family members generally require the same nutrients. If this is not done, the soil will become depleted of needed elements and successive crops will be less well fed. Also, plants that share the same diseases or pests should not follow each other. Doing so can increase or encourage the spread of the harmful pests and diseases. In fact, some farmers make it a point not to plant successive crops that resemble one another in shape, such as lettuces which has a leafy growth after spinach, even though they are from different families.
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Remember the beans from the Legume family that I wrote about last week, which enrich the soil with nitrogen. That's great, but even too much of an important element is not good. I try to ensure that every plot in the garden receives a period of growth from this family once a year, but not more than once a year. It would not be smart to grow a legume after a legume, but it would be great to plant tomatoes after the beans, because tomatoes are very fond of nitrogen. Another example - garlic and onions, nature's antibiotics, would be a very good crop to plant before the cabbage family, which is very sensitive to fungi. The residue of the garlic and onions will repel or kill the fungi.
The duration of the cycle also has an influence. There are many methods of crop rotation in use. Some run two, three or more years. Generally, the longer the cycle (the shorter the repeat of the same crop) the better it is.
Today's conventional farming uses monoculture - raising large tracts of one species year after year on the same plot. This situation creates two problems: the first is a loss of minerals and fertility and the second is that it is easier for pests and diseases to develop. Of course, in this situation the one quick and immediate solution that farmers employ is to use large amounts of chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Of course, both of these substances are dangerous to us and to the world. Moreover, using these fertilizers creates a nutritional dependency. The land becomes infertile so the growers must "drug it" in order to produce. Further, the pests and viruses become resistant to the pesticides, which they do as a natural defense mechanism (nature even takes care of the pests). Accordingly, stronger and stronger pesticides must be used to overcome the resistant pests. It is a vicious and unhealthy cycle.
I think the farming community is catching on. Current reviews I get from the organic farming organization in Israel report that territory cultivated organically, both in Israel and in the rest of the world, has grown rapidly in recent years...!
I quote hippocrates: " may your foods be your medicines" for us and for our earth.
Have a good day, a good week and a great month!
Yours,
Maggie

Changes to boxes accepted until Tuesday at 11:00 am. Thereafter, no promises.

Expectations for our very summery boxes this week:
Regular boxes:
Corn or melon
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Parsley
Cherry tomatoes
Green onions
Piece of pumpkin or squash
Lettuce
Zucchini or cabbage

Large boxes also receive:
Eggplant
Celery
Zucchini or cabbage