Crop rotation

Some people find the idea of this a bit complicated but unless you are deciding to become an arable farmer its a very simple thing.

Just don't grow the same vegetable family in the same space next year.

The reason for this is
a) to avoid continuing soil bound diseases and pests from season to season and
b) because different types of plants take different types of nutrients from the soil and it enables the soil to recover more quickly.

For the kitchen gardener there are the following main groups of vegetable plants:
* Brassicas (cabbage family including swede)
* Potato family (potato being the only one we grown outdoors in Iceland)
* Legumes (bean family)
* Onion family (garlic, onions, leeks etc)
* Root veg (carrots, parsnips, beetroots)

You don't need to have this many beds, I for example choose to put the potatoes with the onion family. The main focus for a smaller vegetable garden is to keep the brassicas separate as they can encounter more problems and rotating them is fairly critical. It also makes sense to keep crops which require similar soil together and brassicas love the soil to be very firm and compacted around their bases.

If you only have potatoes and a few other veg, just swap the two beds, its not ideal but its better than doing nothing.