Polyculture and Crop Rotation

Hi all, new to permaculture and I have a question. I see traditionally you're supposed rotate crops every year between the various families, brassica, legumes, nightshades and root crops but I'm confused as to how I could implement that with polyculture.

I have a few beds planned that will look like this:

Bed 1: Tomato, basil, garlic
Bed 2: Corn, beans, pumpkin
Bed 3: Potato, chives, thyme
Bed 4: Onion, Swiss chard, lettuce

If I have more than one crop family in the bed, what is the crop rotation supposed to look like? I am thinking I should just go legumes (probably clover) by default after the heavy feeders since I don't want to deplete my soil of nitrogen. How do y'all crop rotate with polycultures?

You can just move your planting beds regularly and let the previous bed recover naturally.

I do rotate my beds and do it not only based on family, but on fertilizer, light and soil disturbance needs. I have 12 beds though. With 4, I do agree that you could simply rotate their use clockwise annually. (A five year rotation is generally what is recommended. With 4, you can almost get there.)

I do have some other thoughts though. Depending on where you live, some of your crops could be perennial so you may not want to rotate them. Chives, thyme and the perennial variety of chard grow yearround where I live. You might want to consider creating an herb bed for your perennial herbs next to your vegetable garden. Most perennial herbs (e.g., rosemary, oregano, thyme) do not need or want rich soil so they don't need to be in a vegetable garden bed.

As far as depleting the soil is concerned, many annual vegetables are known to be heavy feeders (e.g., tomatoes), but I find that almost all annual vegetables produce much better if they are fed what they need. If they are not, they will deplete the soil. Every time I plant a new crop, I start by adding at least a few inches of good compost, and I also use organic fertilizers based on each plant's needs. If you don't want to use fertilizers, I'd recommend at least adding ample amounts of compost annually. Composted chicken manure is also a great, fairly balanced, inexpensive soil additive.

Yes thanks I didn't consider the perennials, and I really like those along with some composting. I think for perennials to have survived this long, they must have built in traits that conserve nutrients...

Jim, welcome to the forum!

This thread might offer some information:

Amy said, " Is crop rotation counted in years or in the number of different plants which are grown in the immediate area?

https://permies.com/t/165160/Rotating-crops-years-crops

Jim said, "If I have more than one crop family in the bed, what is the crop rotation supposed to look like?

Since you are using a polyculture maybe something like this next crop rotation year:

Bed 2: Tomato, basil, garlic
Bed 4: Corn, beans, pumpkin
Bed 1: Potato, chives, thyme
Bed 3: Onion, Swiss chard, lettuce

I am not sure it is necessary to change up the plant order ... just change what is grown in the bed.

You can also follow your polyculture crop with a fall nitrogen building crop, such as mustard greens.