Letting land rest

[BethParticipant]

I was wondering if Charles let his garden beds rest, and if not, how long they have consistently been in production? I just finished reading Steve Solomon’s book “Intelligent Gardener” where he recommends having 6 to 8 small plots. You dig one up each year and the others are all planted in grasses, herb, and legumes. So with 7 plots, each plot gets 6 years of rest. In his earlier book “Gardening When it Counts”, he talks about old-time farmers having livestock on the land for 5 years and then switching by growing veggies on same land for 5 years.

Steve Solomon claims that over the years, the nutrient values go down and you struggle more with pests and problems. Letting your land rest cures these problems he says.

Just wanting Charles’ 2 cents as I am a new gardener and still in planning stages.

Beth in Idaho

[charlesModerator]

 His is good advice if you have more land than you need for cropping, and/or animals to run over the resting land.

On the other hand, for small plots it works well to keep soil fertile with compost and keep land cropping intensively. I have moved around a bit but my original garden at Lower Farm was as productive in it’s fifteenth year as its first.

Aa new gardener, I suggest you dare to consider all advice with a good dose of your own sense and intuition because every garden or plot is different. Take the essentials and add the details. Good luck.

[BethParticipant]

Thank you for your reply and I currently have more land than I can manage. I have 1.2 acres and am planning to garden by myself. Over time, my teenage boys may get interested and want to sell some veggies. Good to know about your plots being so productive after 15 years!

I read on your website that you don’t like green manures. How about the compost crops the Biointensive method talks about (yes, I’ve been reading lots of books and yours is on the way!). I am thinking we don’t need to grow crops for compost because we are primarily using manure as compost. I can’t wait to get your book!

Thank you, Beth in Idaho

[Author]

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