crop rotation with limited veg

[vegface]

Hi,

I'm new to growing fruit and veg but I would like to make a success of it. I have limited space in my garden and a limited palate when it comes to veg. I've only got 2 raised beds and a 2 veg trugs but this seems adequate for my needs. One veg trug is used for growing strawberries so lets forget about that one for now.

I have been reading up on crop rotation, something I should have done before starting to grow things randomly. My list of veg consists of:

Onions
Spring Onions
Garlic
Carrots
Tomatoes
Potatoes

The problem is that I don't like eating brassicas (sprouts, cabbages etc) and legumes (peas, beans) which are two of the main groups in crop rotation

Does anyone know how best to rotate my crops? For simplicity should I split each raised beds into 2 sections creating a total of 4 growing zones and grow the brassicas, legumes in rotation anyway, to look after the soil?

I'd appreciate any advice you could give me.

Many Thanks

[Martin H]

I don't eat enough variety to do a proper rotation either. I solve the problem by putting various flowers as part of the rotation, so I only grow potatoes (about a third of the plot!) in the same place one year in three.

This wouldn't work for you. I think the most important benefit of the rotation arises from the 2-year break, so I would grow potatoes in one raised bed and tomatoes in one trug for 2 successive years, then move them to the other raised bed and trug for 2 years. Everything else goes in the other raised bed and trug.

Some contradictory opinions will be along shortly...

[Jungle Jane]

Tomatoes & potatoes can infect each other with blight if next to each other if one of them has blight. Potato haulms are huge they could shade everything? Tomatoes with onions garlic & carrots in between the gaps in one bed? If tomatoes are spaced about 18" apart there's space inbeween for a line of onions & garlic. How big is the veg trug for spring onions & some salad leaves? Mines about 18" long its small,last year I had a tumbling tom tomato,marigold,rocket & a couple of spring onions (I sowed loads of spring onions,didn't have very good germination,good to have other things growing next to it that does grow).

[marchogaeth]

Onions
Spring Onions
Garlic
Carrots
Tomatoes
Potatoes

Would you grow anything else in future years?

[Penellype]

There are various factors which could limit your plans even further and almost decide for you what you are going to do.

How much sun do the various areas get? Tomatoes need sun to ripen, onions perform better in sun, carrots and potatoes don't mind shade.
How easily can you net your beds? Carrots need netting against carrot fly, depending where you live you may also need to net onions against onion fly or leek moth.
I would be inclined to grow the taller plants in beds rather than in the trug - tomatoes in particular may blow over if it is windy and they are high up.

These factors are possibly more important than crop rotation unless you have a problem. You can always grow potatoes in bags or pots if you are worried.

[vegface]

Thanks for the advice...I might leave tomatoes out the mix to avoid blight plus they'll be more space for my potatoes. My veg trug is 5ft 6 by 2ft 6 so its a good space - I think i'll rotate the veg in this space over a 4 year period or I could always change it purely to fruit.

In terms of the raised beds, I've come up with the following rotation (2 raised beds, split into 2:

1. legumes&onions (onions, garlic, spring onions)
2. potatoes
3. roots (spinach, carrots)
4. brassicas (kale, rocket, brocolli etc)

I guess I could always hide the brassicas in a soup or smoothie. Failing that I could give them away.

The raised beds are shaded at certain hours of the day due a hedge & fence either side but it could be improved by cutting back the hedge to let more sun through.

Thanks

[muddled]

re the lack of legumes,
you could bung in some sweet peas....not edible of course but very pretty and bring in pollinators.

Fot the rotation,
I wouldn't stress too much about it this year.
Next year plant things in different places,
By year three you might decide to get a big pot for your spuds, who knows what else you'll be growing by then?

[Thelma Sanders]

Next year just make sure you don't put something in the same place you grew it this year.
IMO that is the only thing that matters in a small plot.

[Penellype]

I really wouldn't be growing things you don't like to eat just for the sake of crop rotation. It is hard enough to get enough of anything to eat from a small space without growing stuff you don't like!

[Kirk]

I would not worry too much about it. Say this as crop rotation was (or used) to be for people growing food to survive on. Days before supermarkets, air cargo and refrigerated container shipments.

That also meant that each unit of land was generally bigger, guessing 1/4 or more of an acre. We are no longer in that situation.

If one raised bed gets blight it will close to a certainty that the next to it will also. If you get a virus in one bed the way to reduce contamination is to change shoes and all equipment you used on the infected bed when you turn your attentions to the adjacent one. Bet that the number of people that do this can be counted in the fingers on one hand.

Another factor to my thinking is that one of the rotations was to let one of the areas, classically there were 4 I believe, lie fallow for a year or plant legumes to replace the nitrogen, that is not done now, we simply go buy a bag of growmore and throw a couple of handfuls of that on.

[Jungle Jane]

Potatoes can still get blight if you don't grow tomatoes,it's in the air,there's a blight watch online so you can see if it's in your area,nothing to be worried about though. I grow potatoes near tomatoes,If a plant gets blight I cut it down carefully in sections & put it in a bag,then it doesn't have the chance to spread. I had a bit of blight on some tumbling toms last year,no other plant affected & I had about 7 different varieties. If you're buying a tomato plant from the garden centre they sometimes have blight resistant varieties,it's a bit late to start tomatoes from seed now? Pests & diseases are a good reason to rotate crops,mixing flowers in is good for confusing insects with the scents & whitefly don't like to nest near french marigolds so they'd be helpful amongst the patch. Huge trug,you could sow carrots throughout June & July & have loads to freeze so you never have to buy veg?

[rafskitchengarden]

Hi, So with regards to this suggestion, here are some tips what I would do:

1. legumes&onions (onions, garlic, spring onions)
2. potatoes
3. roots (spinach, carrots)
4. brassicas (kale, rocket, brocolli etc)

because of the limited space you can't really have 3-4 years between each veggie type which would give you chance to eliminate any soil borne disease as blight comes form air so sealed poly-tunnel might be the only help really or some resistant varieties like potatoes sarpo mira for example.

on my plot I divided veggies into following groups of crop rotation (you can see more details on my youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhXBW8hQzZc)

Miscellaneous
Legumes
Brassicas
Potatoes
Alliums & Umbellifers

You can try to do the same by dividing beds into even smaller sections and treat each bed like few smaller one and rotate between those.

But the only sensible and easy solution I see is just keep record of what goes where and plant things in different place every year

If you after biggest crop possible I would skip on things like potatoes, cabbages as they occupy space for the whole season and you cannot squeeze to many plants in smaller space.

Instead I would plant tomatoes every 12 inches and do aggressive pruning so that they do not shade each other and for example onions in clamps of 5 every 10 inches, spinach can go every 8 inch.
Also if you can cover beds during the winter you can even grow some winter lettuce or endive, lamb lettuce and winter brassicas like kale, purple broccoli over winter which will give you early season harvest in spring and than follow with broad beans and than with tomatoes and so on.

Bescially saying don't worry about rotation, plant stuff in different space each year, use smaller spaces between plants to squeeze as many as you can and keep something in the soil whole year (if possible in your climate).

[Snoop Puss]

If you don't like brassicas, it seems a shame to waste your effort growing them. Is there anything else you could grow in their place? Maybe some cut and come again lettuce, lamb's lettuce, courgettes?

Edited to add: Big Mallly will be along to persuade you take up square foot gardening. It might work quite well for you.

[BilboWilbo]

Nobody mentioned this

You could consider emptying the soil out of your veg trugs into a composter and getting fresh soil each year. As long as they are cleaned thoroughly before re-filling, you should be able to grow the same thing ad infinitum.

Also you can get blight resistant potatoes. Last year I grew Setanta from Patch Potatoes, which are like blight resistant Kind Edwards. This year I've ordered again and also Blue Danube, Sarpo Axona and Vitabella. When I plant them, I put a few slug pellets in with each one also.

[Snadger]

Just grow what you like and try not to follow 'like with like' in each bed...............simples!