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The farm we go to rotates which field is used as their season pumpkin patch on a year by year basis. We wondered if there was some crop rotation benefit to doin
by ashtonkem 5y ago
The farm we go to rotates which field is used as their season pumpkin patch on a year by year basis. We wondered if there was some crop rotation benefit to doing that, like maybe pumpkins fix nitrogen so they’re a good intermittent crop between other nitrogen depleting species.
- ImprovedSilence 5y agoPumpkin is a type of squash. Squash, bean, and corn is the “three sisters” so it makes sense those other ones could be rotated in.
- cmrdporcupine 5y agoThree things (from my experience at our little market garden farm): Cucurbits (squashes, gourds, pumpkins, zuchinis, etc.) are heavy feeders. They use a lot of nitrogen, require fairly rich soil. So they're typical grown in recently amended soil. So growing them multiple years in a row in the same spot has some challenges. They attract quite a few pests (fungal and insect). But those pests tend to be specific to cucurbits (or Cucurbitaceae, including melons, etc.). So it's a good idea to rotate them out so that overwintering pests in the plot don't have a free snack the next year. Finally, they make a good crop to plant at the beginning of a rotation because they grow quickly and cover the ground, blocking the sun and drowning out many weeds. So a good way to bring new land into production or to get some perennial weeds out of a plot that you want to use for something else the next year.