Crop rotation

If we have a garden of a certain size we would be able to establish a crop rotation system that will help to fight the pests and to improve the use of nutrients by different groups of plants.

If we have enough space to organize 5 beds, we will establish a 4 year rotation.

1. Legumes: They are good nitrogen fixes. They do not like fresh lime
2. Brassicas: They are heave nitrogen user. They do not like lime
3. Alliums: They have shallow roots. If they grow in the same area for more than two years the fungi white-rot will appear and ruin the crop
4. Root/tubers: They are heavy fresh manure users (high potasium and sodium). They have deep roots (potatoes, tomatoes... never plant potatoes and tomatoes together as they will spread a disease from on to the other)
5. Permanent crops (crops that will not rotate every year) 

• Artichoke
• Rhubarb
• Aspharagus
• Strawberries
• Currants
• Apple... 

 In our rotation plan we have to consider rotating also between the indoor and outdoor crops.

Flowering plants

They are divided into 250 groups. In each of the groups there are plants that are edible and some that are poisonous. Each group has similar flowers. Each of the groups would also have specific diseases that is why the crop rotation is needed, so diseases do not get used to the plants of that group.

The most important families are:

• Brassicas (they have buds;  cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts...)
• Legumes-Fabaceae or Leguminosae (they have a pod that contains seeds;  alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts...)
• Apiaceae (carrot family, root crops; angelica, anise, arracacha, asafoetida, caraway, carrot, celery, Centella asiatica, chervil, cicely, coriander/cilantro, cumin, dill..)
• Curcurbit-Cucurbitaceae (cucumber family;  cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...)
• Solanum (Most parts of the plants, especially the green parts and unripe fruit, are poisonous to humans (although not necessarily to other animals), but many species in the genus bear some edible parts, such as fruits, leaves, or tubers. Several species are cultivated, including three globally important food crops:

1. Tomato, S. lycopersicum (they do not grow tubers ant the tomatoes are edible)
2. Potato, S. tuberosum (the tomatoe/berries that grow in the potato plant are poisonous)
3. Eggplant, S. melongena (the tomatoes (aubergines i.e.) are edible)

• Rosaceae (rose family, the seeds look quite similar in all of them;  apples, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, pears,raspberries, strawberries, rose...)
• Polygonaceae (leaves are somehow triangular, the seeds are pyramidal; rhubarb, buckwheat, sorrels, ...)
• Asteraceae - Thistle (aster means star in greek, its name its related to the inflorescence star form; daisies, fleabane, chrysanthemums, dahlias, zinnias, globe artichoke, sowthistle, hawkweed, dandelion...)
• Amaryllidaceae - Allium (bulbous flowering plant; onion, garlic, leeks, tulips, lily, ....)
• Poaceae/Gramineae (grass family; wheat, ryegrass, oats, bamboos, thatch, ...)
• Rubiaceae (coffee family; coffee, quinine, ...)

Groups of plants

Moss & Liquens	Ferns	Conifers	Flowering plants
Non woody. First plants to colonize Earth. An area where there are moss & lichens it is a clean area. The least moss and liquens there are, the most polluted its the area.	They reproduce by spores. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem (making them vascular plants). They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers.	Plants that produce cones. They tolerate cold thanks to the resine. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs.	They propagate by flowers. They evolved when insects appeared. They were the last group to appear in Earth.