Crop rotation / Planning your plot

At last the plot looks clean and you are on top of the worst of it. As you survey your efforts and enjoy a before work cuppa,  you are preparing yourself for the never ending story of garden life!

To continue: the perennial weeds are burnt (putting them in the compost doesn’t always destroy them) and cultivation practices over the years ahead mean that they  will not gain overall control again ( of course as soon as you disappear for too long their weed systems lurking deep in the soil and air borne seeds will continuously return and re-establish!)

Planning your plot involves the optimum use of the space that you have before you. And depends to a large degree on what it is you want from that space. If you want a variety of crops as opposed to just spuds every year then you need to use a method called crop rotation to prevent diseases building up in the same place and also managing the feed/fertiliser needs of certain types of crops ( See Manures, Composts and Fertilisers)

Having just the same crop on land over and over again brings with it problems of disease and nutritional loss (See Pests and Diseases and Weed Control)

Usually a three year rotation cycle is the traditional way of planning your garden. As I said above this is to manage the different demands of different groups of vegetable types and help to prevent the build up of diseases common to those types.

Divide your plot into three areas ( sections ) on your garden plan for the current year.

The crop in each section will change each year and move to a different position in subsequent years as the years proceed arriving back at the beginning in three years time and basically look like this:

YEAR ONE	YEAR TWO	YEAR THREE
Plot Section 1	Plot Section 1	Plot Section 1
Treatment: MANURE/COMPOST	Treatment:  FERTILISER/LIME	Treatment: FERTILISER
PEASBEANS ONIONS LEEKS LETTUCESTOMATOES SPINACH CELERY SUCCESSION CROP CARROTS BEETS/CABBAGE	CABBAGESPROUTS CAULIFLOWERS KALES BROCCOLISEED- BED SUCCESSION CROP ONIONS	POTATOESCARROTS BEETROOT PARSNIPS SWEDES SUCCESSION CROP SPINACH/LETTUCE
Plot Section 2	Plot Section 2	Plot Section 2
Treatment: FERTILISER/LIME	Treatment: FERTILISER	Treatment:  MANURE/COMPOST
CABBAGESSPROUTS CAULIFLOWERS KALESBROCCOLI SEED-BED FOR GREENS SUCCESSION CROPS ONIONS	POTATOESCARROTS BEETROOT PARSNIPS SWEDESSUCCESSION CROP SPINACH/LETTUCE	PEASBEANS ONIONSLEEKS LETTUCES TOMATOES SPINACH CHARD CELERY SUCCESSION CROP CARROTS BEETS CABBAGES
Plot Section 3	Plot Section 3	Plot Section 3
Treatment: FERTILISER	Treatment: MANURE/COMPOST	Treatment: FERTILISER/LIME
POTATOESCARROTSBEETROOT PARSNIPS SWEDES     SUCCESSION CROPS SPINACH/LETTUCE	PEASBEANS ONIONS LEEKSLETTUCES TOMATOES SPINACH CELERY SUCCESSION CROPS CARROTS BEETROOT CABBAGES	CABBAGESSPROUTS CAULIFLOWERS KALES BROCCOLISEED-BED FOR GREENS SUCCESSION CROP ONIONS

I said basically because these are the main divisions: Roots, Peas and beans, Brassicas, Potatoes,  Leeks/Onions, there are other vegetables that can be planted in between these cycles that are usually shorter growing periods and can fill in spaces; these are called succession crops such as lettuces tomatoes /spinach/carrots/ beets /cabbages for example.

Yes it can seem a bit confusing but remember the philosophy is to move plants to annually different positions to reduce diseases like club root in the cabbage family and where the root crops are they do not need manure that year because the  rotting material causes the roots to divide so they need a clean soil well rotted down from the year before which did suit other heavy feeders such as potatoes peas beans onions! As you become more comfortable with gardening you discover what works for your needs and adjust accordingly but keep the basics in mind!

Phew! More tea!