Crop rotation
Sherlockofsheff
Posts: 8
hi
am starting first year of growing veg after finishing off raised bed system. Could someone with a bit of knowledge cast an eye over my plan please and point me in the right direction. Have got 8 beds working on a 4 year rotation.
1. Legumes (manure soil in autumn before)
2. Brassicas (lime in autumn before)
3. Others (manure in autumn before)
This group includes
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Sweetcorn
cucumbers and squashes
4. Rootcrops (manure in autumn before)
This group includes
onions
Beetroot
Fennel
celeriac
My queries are as follows:
1. Should I put my turnips with brassicas, because this bed is likely to be full and i will have more room in the roots bed or would that be risking diseases given that they would be following brassicas only 2 years after.
2. Do i put chard and perpetual spinach in with roots.
3. I know it says not to manure roots, but i am not growing carrots or parsnips, and from what i can see fennel, celeriac and beetroot all like a rich soil, or is 3 years out of 4 too much on the manure front.
hanks for all your help.
Steve
Posts
One word of warning - I wouldn't put tomatoes close to potatoes. They are the same family and both are prone to the same blight, so if one gets blight then the other is likely to.
I put perpetual spinach with beetroot and lettuces last year and they did well. That soil had been manured in the autumn.
Plant the sweet corn in a block, not a row, it makes fertilisation easier.