crop rotation

[bobbin]

Oh dear I have had my plot 2 years and I have really messed up the crop rotation thing. My efforts are fairly successful but here's the problem.
Whilst I haven't grown the same things on the same spot 2 years running I overlooked the obvious and didn't plant in specific groups. ie brassicas, root veg etc The first year I didn't know what had been grown anyway so that was hit and miss to start with. How dodgy does any one think it would be just to start again but grouping properly this time. This means of course some items would be grown in the same area as this year. I find the rotation thing difficult when growing say sweetpeas or runner beans means slicing through part of a bed and then I don't want to shade some things blah blah blah. God I need help

[weekendwellies]

Crop Rotation from Allotment Vegetable Growing Advice
This is a pretty good link.
I would say that it doesn't matter too much about crop rotation unless you have a particular disease in any of your crops like blight.
When you take over a plot you don't necessarily know what grew where before you had it. So if you look on your previous 2 years as being a time when 'someone else' had it, and next season you are starting afresh, there is no difference really is there?
Start with a proper plan and if you can remember what you grew where last year then try to avoid putting the same family in those areas next year, but don't fret too much over that.
Basically, potatoes followed by legumes followed by brassicas followed by onions and roots is a reasonable crop rotation.

[SunnyU]

There's also a cool little gadget on www.growveg.com

Think you can geta 30 day free trial and then after that I think it's £15 per year and after your first year it will highlight in red the areas that you shouldn't grow the same group in again.

I did the free trial and found it quite helpful as it shows vegetables in coloured groups and that certainly helped me with the planning stages...

[Snadger]

................. as it shows vegetables in coloured groups and that certainly helped me with the planning stages...

They look better in glorious technicolour in the soil though!

[Alison]

I think that rotation is pretty important and definitely worth trying to get right to avoid various diseases and to ensure that one crop benefits the next. HOWEVER you don't need to get too worked up if you don't get it right 100% of the time. If you've had no diseases etc then it won't matter if you grow things in the same place for a couple of years. I wouldn't do this for potatoes but you'll be fine for some things eg legumes so pick where you start and then work from there. What ever you do, don't lose too much sleep if you're not perfect, very few people are and I'm pretty sure that most that claim to be are lying...

[Glutton4...]

There's also a cool little gadget on www.growveg.com

Think you can geta 30 day free trial and then after that I think it's £15 per year and after your first year it will highlight in red the areas that you shouldn't grow the same group in again.

I did the free trial and found it quite helpful as it shows vegetables in coloured groups and that certainly helped me with the planning stages...

I used the free trial a couple of years ago too - it helped me make sense of my Dad's veg garden that had not had any proper rotation system. Give it a try, it may help make sense of it all - Good luck!