I was out at our Seed to Supper Farm early last week for what was likely our final harvest of the season and was able to harvest some beautiful Chinese cabbage. For those that aren’t aware, we have about a 3-acre farm in Bixby at one of the Research Stations OSU operates throughout the state. At this farm, we grow a variety of crops to donate to area food pantries. This is the fourth year of our little farm, and we learn something every year.

In our first year we donated about 5000 pounds of fresh produce to area food pantries. Each year we have been able to increase our production such that in 2025 we were able to donate about 17,000 pounds. The crops we grow are what you would expect: corn, green beans, okra, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, radishes, kale, cabbage, squash, cucumbers, Chinese cabbage, potatoes, onions, and a few others.

We’ve learned a lot about growing vegetables and the struggles gardeners face with various pests in the garden. Squash bugs are a formidable foe. Potato beetles are an annoyance. But the most daunting foe we face are the 4-legged ones: coyotes and deer. Coyotes usually get all our watermelons with deer loving to eat delicious greens and especially loving those sweet potato leaves.

We tried using motion detecting lights as a deterrent, but it seemed like once they realized nothing bad happened when the lights came on, all we were doing was helping them see better as they devoured those crops.

And so, with this season all but over, our sights are set on next year - what didn’t work and what we can do better. Now is also a good time to start planning the layout of next year’s garden while the year is still fresh in our minds.

When we get together next, we’ll be discussing our 4-legged friends, and what we are going to grow next year, we’ll move on to determining the location where each crop will be planted, factoring in good crop rotation practices.

Most of us have a favorite way we like to lay out our vegetable gardens. We like the tomatoes over there, the green beans up here, the peppers in that area, and the cucumbers over on the trellis. However, we need to mix up our garden layouts to minimize the buildup of disease. To do this, we need to rotate our crops around the garden.

We need to rotate locations because when you plant the same crop in the same place every year, you are unfortunately creating the circumstances in which disease can build up over the years. Rotating your crops around your garden can help minimize the potential for this disease build up. On the surface, crop rotation seems pretty simple, but here’s the problem.

Let’s say you grow potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers, among other vegetables. So when it comes time to rotate, you plant the potatoes where you planted the tomatoes last year, and the tomatoes where you planted the peppers last year, and the peppers where you planted the potatoes last year. Good crop rotation, right? Wrong. All three of those crops are in the Solanacea family making them all susceptible to the same diseases. And you thought gardening was going to be easy…

To rotate crops effectively, you are going to need to be familiar with the plant families and rotate according to plant family rather than by type of crop. Here’s a quick overview of the various plant families.

Solanaceae or Nightshade Family - tomato, eggplant, bell pepper, and potato

Leguminosae or Bean Family - peas, green/string beans, fava beans, cowpeas, peanut

Curcurbit or Gourd Family - cucumber, melons, watermelon, winter squash, zucchini, gourds, luffa

Malvacea or Mallow Family - okra, cotton, hibiscus

Alliaceae or Onion Family - onion, garlic, leek, chive

Poaceae or Grain Family - corn, rice, wheat, lemon grass, sugar cane

Asteraceae or Aster Family - lettuce, artichoke, sunflower

Brassicaceae or Mustard family - broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, mustard, radish

Chenopodiaceae or Goosefoot Family - beet, chard, spinach

Apiaceae or Parsley Family - carrot, parsley, coriander, fennel, celery

A lot of gardeners pride themselves on learning and remembering the plant families, but feel free to copy and print this out for reference. No shame.

Something else to consider at the end of the season as you start to plan for next year, is think about any disease problems you had in your garden. At our farm, we’ve had issues with cucumber mosaic virus. So, in addition to crop rotation, we try to purchase seeds that have a built-in resistance to this disease. This resistance doesn’t come from genetic modification, but from crossing good producing plants with others that might have some natural resistance to the disease. This is a perfect way to minimize disease without the need for chemical applications.

So, with a little creative planning, we can help minimize disease in our garden for years to come. Now, it’s time to get our pencils or our spreadsheets and start laying out our garden for next year.

We have more information on plant families on our website. Just go to www.tulsamastergardeners.org, click on Lawn and Garden Help, then Vegetables. You’ll find a wealth of information there. We’ll also be offering our Urban Gardener - Growing Vegetables class next year. You can also find information on that class on our website. See you in the garden!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org.