potato follow on crop

[serenity]

This is my first year growing potatoes. I have already bought some pink fir apple and charlotte potatoes and was hoping to grow some swift or lady cristal in pots but everwhere I tried have sold out of the smaller 1 kg sacks of the very earlies so looks like I am going to have to buy a 2.5kg sack.
I am not going to waste them so will plant some in the ground. SO if I plant them around begining of march and they take about 8 to 10 weeks to mature then they should be cleared by mid may? Could I then use the same bed to plant out my squash plants or to grow finger size carrots?

[Protea]

Absolutely! the potatoes will have broken up the ground nicely so putting a crop in afterwards makes best use of the space.

I can't remember which order you are supposed to rotate but i'm sure carrots or squash shoul be fine, in fact i'd chuck anything that would grow in there! (apart from more spuds or tomatoes/peppers/aubergines as they are from the same family).

I grew a green manure crop of mustard after my potatoes last year, i have the space on my lottie and it cleans the ground up nicely (reduces pests and soil diseases) and adds valuable organic matter to my clay soil. You could put any green manure in though if you wanted - clover is good for nitrogen fixing for example.

[Snadger]

Agree with protea.....empty soil feeds nobody! Peas or beans would be good after early tatties, followed by Spring cabbage! Hate to see bare soil, if nothing else, stick a green manure crop in!

[vicki lorraine]

Legumes, roots then brassicas. Thats the rotation.
But yes as long as you do not grow the same family on the same ground for 3 years you are ok.
This crop rotation is the most tricky bit about gyo. Knowing what you can put where and when. Hate to see bare soil too.

[Snadger]

Legumes, roots then brassicas. Thats the rotation.
But yes as long as you do not grow the same family on the same ground for 3 years you are ok.
This crop rotation is the most tricky bit about gyo. Knowing what you can put where and when. Hate to see bare soil too.

To be honest I don't stick to a rigid rotation but I would have thought the fixated nitrogen left from the legumes would have been more useful to the Brassicas than the roots?

What the heck, as long as crops are rotated!

[supersprout]

I hate to see bare soil too, as soon as a patch is cleared, something can go in. I've followed earlies on with winter leeks, brassica, runner beans, catch crops of salad veg, and main crops of e.g. carrots and beetroot which will overwinter in the soil. I keep modules planted up so that there's always something ready to go in

Just had a thought; my PFA seemed to be later than other spuds, are they maincrop?

[vicki lorraine]

My apoligies Snadger
YOu are correct - Legumes, brassicas then roots.

[endeavour]

Yes SS they are and can be harvested quite late, into October generally.

[supersprout]

Aha, that explains it ... I put garlic in after the PFA came out this year

[serenity]

thank you everyone. I am finding the whole "what to put where after what " bit so confusing. I only have about 19 sq yards (yes, another one who can't go metric ) which I am boosting with containers this year. Last year was my first experiment and I did grow quite a few things, strawberrys, runner beans, courgettes, tomatoes, peas, dwarf french beans, peppers and chillis, raddish, lettuce and rocket. Oh and my daughter grew a pumpkin plant,only had room for 1. once the crops had been harvested I was at a loss at what to put in after and so the ground has been left bare since .

I have bought a couple of books sinceand one of them by joy larcom has a plan for a family plot. there are suggestions on there for follow on crops but most seem to be for things like chicory and bitter salad stuf that I would not eat. I have not grown brassicas yet (except raddish? is this a brassica?) but to be honest appart from maybe sprouting broccoli I don't think we would eat them. I am the only person apart from the rabbit who will eat cabbage and we both prefer chard

[supersprout]

Yes, we could grow salad for England on our plot, it grows beautifully and none of us eats it!

My rotation is very simple. When a crop goes in, so does a large label with the family group e.g. Potatoes, Tomatoes, Beans, Roots, Alliums, Misc, Squash etc. When the crop comes out, the label stays in until a new crop is planted with a new label. That way, you know what went before in individual beds. I went back to my notes last year, here are some non-salady things that went in as follow-ons.

July
Sown: Beetroot, carrot, maincrop peas, fennel, kohlrabi, parsley, turnip, cauliflower All Year Round
Transplanted: Purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower (for winter and spring), leeks

August
Sown: Beetroot, carrot, autumn onions, seed and sets, winter hardy spring onions. At the end of August, will sow a pot of carrot for winter in the greenhouse.
Transplanted: Leeks, fennel, cauliflower

September
Sown: Beetroot, carrot, winter spinach (around the middle of the month) - variety Bordeaux - overwintering onion sets. In 2007 I'll try sowing turnip-rooted chervil this month.
Transplanted: Overwintering onion seed and Spring cabbage

October
Sown: Beetroot, carrot, Cauliflower for early summer, overwintering broadies, winter spinach, garlic.
Transplanted: Spring cabbage plugs (bought)

November
Sown: Garlic, overwintering broadies, overwintering onion sets

Not a chard, kale, lettuce, mizuna, texcel green or chicory in sight! There's always something you can put in or, failing that, green manure and mulch

[Snadger]

Aha, that explains it ... I put garlic in after the PFA came out this year

Me too, the PFA are late maincrop, but worth it!

[Snadger]

Yes, we could grow salad for England on our plot, it grows beautifully and none of us eats it!

My rotation is very simple. When a crop goes in, so does a large label with the family group e.g. Potatoes, Tomatoes, Beans, Roots, Alliums, Misc, Squash etc. When the crop comes out, the label stays in until a new crop is planted with a new label. That way, you know what went before in individual beds. I went back to my notes last year, here are some non-salady things that went in as follow-ons.

July
Sown: Beetroot, carrot, maincrop peas, fennel, kohlrabi, parsley, turnip, cauliflower All Year Round
Transplanted: Purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower (for winter and spring), leeks

August
Sown: Beetroot, carrot, autumn onions, seed and sets, winter hardy spring onions. At the end of August, will sow a pot of carrot for winter in the greenhouse.
Transplanted: Leeks, fennel, cauliflower

September
Sown: Beetroot, carrot, winter spinach (around the middle of the month) - variety Bordeaux - overwintering onion sets. In 2007 I'll try sowing turnip-rooted chervil this month.
Transplanted: Overwintering onion seed and Spring cabbage

October
Sown: Beetroot, carrot, Cauliflower for early summer, overwintering broadies, winter spinach, garlic.
Transplanted: Spring cabbage plugs (bought)

November
Sown: Garlic, overwintering broadies, overwintering onion sets

Not a chard, kale, lettuce, mizuna, texcel green or chicory in sight! There's always something you can put in or, failing that, green manure and mulch

Are you saying you don't like kale supersprout? With so many varieties available they really are a worthy vegetable and a neccessity in my plot! Spring Cabbage is a close second though so I'll let you off!

[Poledragon]

Going to try kale this year for the first time. I really like the stuff, but there's clubroot in my garden and at the lottie Time for lots of lime and rhubarb leaves, methinks.

[supersprout]

Are you saying you don't like kale supersprout? Spring Cabbage is a close second though so I'll let you off!

I'll eat most things Snadger, but the other half of my household (24-year old son) won't touch:

Jerusalem Artichokes
Globe artichokes
Kale
Parsnip
Aubergines
Raw tomatoes (though he'll eat passata til it comes out of his ears)

I'm ambivalent about kale so I stopped growing it. And he chomps his way through industrial quantities of alliums, squash, courgettes, spuds, carrot and swede, so I let him off too