Planting up veg

[boosmummy]

This is (as most know) my first proper year on the allotment and i will be planting.

I just want to check im on the right lines, whilst im devising the plans for my plot.

Am i right in thinking you plant 'families' together; so in one bed plant the alliums, in another bed plant the brassicas and so on and so forth?

xx

[Matt94]

yep you got it, alliums, brassicas, legumes and roots ( all have individual beds and you rotate them every year)

[boosmummy]

yep you got it, alliums, brassicas, legumes and roots ( all have individual beds and you rotate them every year)

grand thanks for replying, i thought thats what the books were suggesting but i just wanted to make sure, it does make sense really doesnt it? haha

[Matt94]

yep, but its always good to double check if your unsure - best of luck with growing veg this year on your allotment.

[zazen999]

yep you got it, alliums, brassicas, legumes and roots ( all have individual beds and you rotate them every year)

Sorry Matt - roots are not a family. Roots encompasses alliums, brassicas, solanaceae and apiacae [that's onions/leeks, swedes/turnips, potatoes and carrots]. This is why people get confused.

[Matt94]

but i thought there where four family's? oh god ive got something else wrong

[Matt94]

ive just googled it and on some of the sites that explain crop rotation they put roots as a seperate just like alliums brassicas and legumes?

[boosmummy]

Sorry Matt - roots are not a family. Roots encompasses alliums, brassicas, solanaceae and apiacae [that's onions/leeks, swedes/turnips, potatoes and carrots]. This is why people get confused.

the book im reading says this:

the brassicas
the alliums
the root crops (carrots, parsnips etc..)
the cucurbits
the legumes
and potatoes



maybe matt meant as the above?

[Matt94]

yeh thats what i meant but i think zazen means that there is no root catergory as they fall into other catergorys? oh i dont know hahaha

[zazen999]

the book im reading says this:

the brassicas
the alliums
the root crops (carrots, parsnips etc..)
the cucurbits
the legumes
and potatoes



maybe matt meant as the above?

Sorry - but I was just clarifying that roots are not a 'family'. You asked about 'families'.

[boosmummy]

Sorry - but I was just clarifying that roots are not a 'family'. You asked about 'families'.

no it makes sense absolutely, i think maybe i havent worded it right - if that makes sense xx

[Matt94]

i wasn't saying your wrong zazen i was just under the impression at looking at crop rotation plans on the web and in a few books that root's where classed there own family - oh well you learn something new every day i suppose.

just to clarify zazen your saying theres only 3 family's? - brassicas, legumes and alliums

[zazen999]

i wasn't saying your wrong zazen i was just under the impression at looking at crop rotation plans on the web and in a few books that root's where classed there own family - oh well you learn something new every day i suppose.

just to clarify zazen your saying theres only 3 family's? - brassicas, legumes and alliums

No, there's hundreds of plant families. Roots are not a plant family. Roots are vegetables whose crop is a root part of a plant - I just gave 3 examples above.

[Matt94]

i think ill leave it there before i get more confused or confuse anyone else.

[zazen999]

What are you confused about?

You have plant families - alliums, brassicas, fabaceae, solanaceae etc
You have different parts of the plant - roots, shoots, flowers, leaves, fruit, seed

Each thing you eat will be from one plant family, and from one part of the plant.

So green beans are the fruit, and the dried beans are the seed; the family is fabaceae.

Onions are eaten as roots, but you can eat the leaves, and you can save the seed if left to flower.

Caulis - are brassicas but you eat the flowers.

We group them together as the same family gets the same pest and disease problems. EG clubroot for brassicas. Also, brassicas like alkaline conditions [6.0] whereas others aren't so fussy and prefer 7.5 pH.

People will put 'roots' together as the main nutrients for them are the same no matter what family they are from [phosphorus]. Ditto 'fruit' - like lots of potassium. Leafy veg like lots of nitrogen.

It's important as if you have clubroot and then strictly crop rotate your brassicas, but keep growing rocket, swede, turnip in the 'leaf' or 'root' beds; you are not leaving the beds to recover and your clubroot will continue.