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Crop rotation

mlgkmmlgkm Posts: 1
in Fruit & veg
Hi all I have a query re crop rotation. So I had onions and garlic in a bed and strawberries. When I took out the onions and garlic I planted french beans salad leaves  and leeks, onions didn't do too well but everything else has been great.

So for next season regarding crop rotation do I count everything I planted in this bed or just the last things? 

Posts

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I'd just count the last plants. Usually you're supposed to plant root crops in one bed, brassicas in another and beans/peas etc in a third bed in order to mitigate any diseases lingering in the soil. Then you rotate the crops on a three year cycle. The crops you mention probably don't suffer from disease build up so I wouldn't worry too much.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    Onions garlic and leeks all count as the same crop. and really should not be replanted more often that 3-4 years in the same place. beans don't seem to care.
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    I use 'threes' as my guideline, peas and beans/brassicas/root crops, each moving across the plot on a three year rotation.
  • WhiterotWhiterot Posts: 51
    I have a large allotment but because I have permanent beds of asparagus, strawberries and raspberries that take up a lot of space I find it difficult to work on a 3 year rotation cycle. I do my best but sometimes it works out at as 2 year cycle. I do not rotate my onion bed because I have white rot on parts of the plot and have now settled on this one area which I treat each September with garlic powder and I loose very few if any to the disease. Robinsons famous for their onions have not moved their onion bed in 100 years. I follow their advice almost to the letter but I am confident that my garlic treatment is a winner.
  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    the real problem of crop rotation is the is percentage issue. 

    some crop types take up a larger percentage of space an others. 
    sadly most people don't how to balance this properly. 
  • Chris-P-BaconChris-P-Bacon Posts: 943
    I have 3 raised beds I use for veg (half of one is strawberries). I don't grow much over winter..just kale really..although I have swede in this year. The rotation I follow is not planting the same crop in the same place year on year. It doesn't always work that way though. I've planted peas and beetroot in the same place quite often. Maybe I've been lucky but I'm beginning to think crop rotation is, at least at times, not always necessary. 
  • war garden 572war garden 572 Posts: 664
    good link for crop rotation.
    https://www.survivopedia.com/rotating-crops/
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