onions then sprouts

[the big lebowski]

hi all i have changed my lay out and i now have 7 beds that are 1m w x 2 m l i was planning on getting some onion sets this week and overwintering them and i was wondering if i will be able to plant brussell sprouts in the onion bed after they have finished ,i have always said to my dad id grow him sprouts for his christmas dinner so that would be the target time but tbh he`s not fussed about when he eats them he just likes them ,i have a greenhouse up my plot so that will help ,just wondering what everyones thoughts are on this ,any advice welcome cheers

[Zelenina]

Sounds like a good plan to me, as long as the onions are ready for harvest early enough. You could grow the sprout plants from seed in a seed bed or modules, or you could buy them in. There are varieties with various maturity times, so you could pick one that will be ready around Christmas, or have a few plants of different varieties to get a succession.

[KevinM67]

I can't remember off-hand the proper crop rotation cycle, however in my view it should be used more as a guide rather than a steadfast rule.

With the advances in science, some gardening practices have been questioned - and shown as myths.

So to answer your question - a more knowledgeable grape should hopefully be along soon to give you a definitive answer.

[the big lebowski]

ok thanks ,i like the idea of growing a couple of diff types to spead out the harvest time and i was thinking of starting them off in my greenhouse so they are ready to go into the ground as the onions come out ,im trying to do this more for space saving reasons rather that crop rotaion ,i will move everything down a bed every year anyway ,im going to have 2 beds with strawberrys in so id be running out of beds pretty fast with onions,potatos ,salad lettace and other thing so this seemed like a good idea rather than just having empty beds ,cheers

[KevinM67]

I know where you're coming from - I've got 10 beds currently of various sizes and will add another couple over the winter.

The problem I've got is sunlight, or more specifically the lack of it.

During the height of summer is fine, but as many crops take more than a season to produce and that many need an optimum amount of sunshine to produce properly, then your amount of growing space and crop rotation purposes is limited for specific crops (does that make sense ?).

I've never grown Brussels as I don't like them, so sorry for clogging up your thread, but best of luck whatever you do.

[Snoop Puss]

I think Zelenina might have identified the problem: the onions may still be in the ground when the sprouts need to go in.

Have you identified the variety of onion you're interested in and its potential harvest date?

[veggiechicken]

Planting sprouts after onions shouldn't be a problem. there are several Sprout threads at the moment that will give you some ideas about which varieties to grow, especially if you want to extend the cropping season.
When planting veg that are in the ground for many months you can still sow quick cropping veg in between them, rather than leave the space empty. Lettuce and salad veg are ideal for this and you can sow and pick these before the sprouts really get going.