Main Garden - Rotation

In 2009, Ann and Bill had already refined the crop rotation system of the main garden at Simpler Thyme, one which is generally based off of a system developed by Eliot Coleman. The garden has 9 sections or zones which move around on a yearly basis, generally in a clockwise direction (with an anomaly).
6 of the 9 sections tend to be homogeneous, with either one main crop (with many varieties), a family of plants, or a guild. This is only discussing the main east-west beds/rows {{while side beds are always planted in herbs or flowers; see upcoming blogs for discussion on this structural detail of the garden!!!}}.

Tomatoes are a distinct section (last year with 16 varieties), usually interplanted with basil; the "pepper" section actually has 1 in every 5 beds planted with eggplant; "brassicas" include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, khol rabi; the "three sisters" involves most beds having corn AND beans (corn never planted without beans), some beds just having beans, some beds just having squashes, but overall about half the beds having all three sisters together; "peas" involved snow, snap, and shell peas (the latter including ones harvested both green and dried), and after July/August pea beds (last year) were replanted with fall root and leaf crops; potatoes are usually a homogeneous section, with 9 varieties this year {not including sweet potatoes, elsewhere); usually onions, leeks, and garlic (alliums) take most of a whole section, with some beds going to other roots veggies (and planting of fall crops taking place after garlic harvesting which happened a couple of weeks ago); curcubits (squashes and cumcumbers) take most of a section with the remainder going to things like turnips, celery, and peanuts (in the case of this year); and finally a section devoted maybe 60% to greens like lettuce, spinach, new zealand spinach, and then some herbs, and also assorted beans and types of root veggies.




The below image {August 2009} is taken from the house looking "up" (south) along the very middle aisle of the garden and shows: foreground to both sides, peppers; mid-ground left, curcubits; mid-ground right alliums and other roots; background left, brassicas; and background right, empty-looking beds where peas have already been "ripped and stripped" and new crops planted.



Here is an image from a similar vantage point near the house showing a bit more of the garden, this time in 2010.



What we see here is, first off: the main aisle shown before now has a set of arching trellises overhead; and more importantly, everything has moved! Where curcubits were now are alliums; where peppers were now are tomatoes; brassicas to three sisters; pea section into brassica section (looking a little bare at the time of this picture, due to some beds not yet being planted); where alliums and other roots were now is mixed greens et.al. We also see potaotes in the back left corner and peas in the back right corner.

Below I will map out what the garden looks like today: it's sections, and arrows pointing the direction from which they have traveled to their current locale.
Note that this is only a depiction of this point in time... The garden is going to be undergoing a drastic change in the weeks ahead, which I will just have to blog about in a few days when I describe some of the other ecological structural details, and changes, going on in this place.