Strawberries

Sonya2

Can I plant strawberries where I've had peas and beans last year? I'm trying to crop rotate in a raised bed but none of my lot eat cabbage, spinach etc. I'll try some brussel sprouts but not a whole bed of them!
Thanks!

Igrowfromseed

Nothing wrong with putting strawberries in after peas/beans- you'll get the added benefit of the added nutrition from their nitrogen fixating roots! My strawbs have been on the same plot for 3 years and still looking & cropping well so I'm not planning to replant/move them. 
We love calabrese which grows wells in our soil so I end up planting a large patch each year. Lettuce is so easy to grow and tastes much nicer than the pre-washed packets.

These are my strabs, just about to mulch with wood chippings.

Sonya2

Thanks!! Yours are looking good - I'd better get on with it!!

Blue Onion

I have two long raised beds, and I don't really bother with scientific crop rotation.  I just make sure I don't grow the same thing in the same place two years running.  The ends of each bed gets more sun, so the tomatoes go back and forth each year between the two areas.  Peas get grown down the center of one bed, then the other the following year.  The other veg get sort of mixed around between the two, so it may be four years before they get grown in the same place again.  I haven't had any issues that could possibly stem from rotation issues, so I figure it's fine.  

If you do go with strawberries, plan on them being there at least three years.  Grow on the runners in two years time, and use them as starts for a new bed.  Or, if you're like me.. just keep them in the same area five years running, thinning out more mature plants from time to time to give the runners room to grow on.  Not best practice.. but really the only space I have for them.  

Purple Orange

I like your method Blue Onion. I forget where I've planted stuff and it's so haphazard as I'm trying to grow more veg than I have space for. I try companion planting but then if there is a space it goes into that space. I try and space plants as directed but usually shave off a few cm (or more) to squeeze them in. 

Igrowfromseed

I limited my veg seed growing to calabrese, leeks, courgettes , gherkins, lettuce , climbing French beans & later some purple sprouting . Just don't have the space for all those seedling & growing on.

Sonya2

I just made a raised bed last year and started out with sugar snap peas and French beans which were pretty good. Also did some courgettes - planted a few more than the two or three suggested and we were completely inundated with courgettes - still quite a few jars of courgette chutney left!!!

Blue Onion

Igrowfromseed, it really depends on where you're at.  I used to sow most things direct when I lived along the greensands of Surrey.  It is warmer earlier/longer.. and sandy, so there seemed to be less issues with slugs than other areas of the country.  I found many things I direct sowed often passed up my carefully nurtured seedlings within a few weeks.  My moral is: if you want to grow something but don't have the windowsill space, try sowing direct.