following potatoes with cabbages?

[heebiejeebie]

When the earlies come out of the ground my cabbages and caulis and sprouts will be a decent size and ready to go in. Should I lime in between? I mean: spuds up, add lime, plant brassicas. I have had clubroot trouble before but not on that part of the plot. Do I need to wait after adding lime before planting out the brassicas?

[Dobby]

I am going to do the same I try and mix lime with blod fish and bone dig a hole put the mix in then the brassica.
it worked last year the best way to buy lime we found is in a bog out side at wyvales its cheaper that the box
not had club rute yet tuch wood

[allotmentlady]

so is it best to put the brassica family in after spuds???? What else can you put in?

[SarzWix]

If you don't want to put brassicas in after potatoes, you could put over-wintering onions & garlic in. And put your brassicas in where your spring planted onions were.

As for liming, you should probably do a soil test first to check the Ph., it may not need lime

[heebiejeebie]

Fair enough - I even have a soil pH meter somewhere!

[Snadger]

In the grand scheme of things brassicas should follow legumes to benefit from the fixated nitrogen left by the bean crop.

In reality, a four year rotation relies on you growing the same amount of each group of vegetables, rather than growing what you like to eat.
Brassicas will be fine after spuds as long as you firm the ground a bit!

As has already been mentioned, adding chemicals like lime should only be necessary if the soil requires it and this can be ascertained by a soil ph test!

[moggssue]

So, in a true rotation scheme, would potatoes be classed with the roots? I was planning to plant leeks after my early tatties?

[Demeter]

So, in a true rotation scheme, would potatoes be classed with the roots? I was planning to plant leeks after my early tatties?

Different rotation schemes seem to suggest different things. My book says:
1 = potatoes and family (including tomatoes, peppers, aubergines)
2 = legumes
3 = brassicas
4 = onions and roots (inc leeks, carrot, parsnip, beetroot)
And other stuff goes wherever there is space - squashes, lettuce, sweetcorn, cucumbers and so on.

That is what I am following cos it's in the book, which also explains why they think each crop works best in that order. If I remember rightly, taters are good for newly-cleared ground, then along come the legumes to fix nitrogen which means brassicas go well afterwards, then roots come next because they don't like freshly manured soil, then potatoes again as by now after several years without lime the soil has acidified enough to keep off the scab and then you lime it and put in the legumes and round you go again. Something like that.

But I've seen other schemes recommended depending on who's doing the recommending and how many years you are doing - I've seen 2, 3, 4 and 5 year plans - Easy game, innit?

[JO,JO]

am gunna put in some yellow wax french bean.as hurrah they have finally sprouted, i have now learned that you should not plant french bean til end of april time as they rot.

[moggssue]

Oh gosh, decisions decisions!! Whats everyone else putting in after tatties then?

[Paulottie]

I normally follow 1st earlies with leeks!...I think Snadger made an important point. Ground tends to be fluffy after spuds and so not ideal for brassicas. As he mentioned tradition says plant after beans and don't bother digging, just cut off the beans and weeds. Liming is ideally done in advance but I line each hole with chalk that I collect in my dads garden and powder down in a hessian sac with club hammer.

[heebiejeebie]

My planned rotation from a couple of years ago is all to pot because parts of the plot have clubroot and I really like potatoes so I'm growing tatties in more than 0.25 of the useable plot area!