[georget]

Does anyone rotate their leeks within their crop rotation plan ive always thought you use the same leek trench every year.Any thoughts

[sunshineband]

I rotate mine to try to avoid a build up of any allium diseases. They follow my first early potatoes most years, which works for me.

[mumofstig]

snap 

[Yana]

I rotate mine to try to avoid a build up of any allium diseases. They follow my first early potatoes most years, which works for me.

And what goes after the leeks please? I put leeks where the broad beans went.

[sunshineband]

I use this space for Mangetout and beetroot the following year, which suits our rotation quite well.

With you planting your leeks after the broad beans, it might be better perhaps to follow with a different group such as brassicas.

(I follow broad beans with Spring Cabbage or kale plants usually)

[Yana]

I use this space for Mangetout and beetroot the following year, which suits our rotation quite well.

With you planting your leeks after the broad beans, it might be better perhaps to follow with a different group such as brassicas.

(I follow broad beans with Spring Cabbage or kale plants usually)

Oh ok. Back to the drawing board then. 

[Goosegirl]

Peas and beans have nitrogen-fixing nodules which is why you just cut off the stems and leave the roots intact. The following crop should be brassicas as they like nitrogen.

[mumofstig]

Modern science doesn't think that legumes actually leave much nitrogen behind, so don't worry about where they go in the rotation.

Nitrogen Return to the Soil and Other Crops
The amount of nitrogen returned to the soil during or after a legume crop can be misleading. Almost all of the nitrogen fixed goes directly into the plant. Little leaks into the soil for a neighboring nonlegume plant. However, nitrogen eventually returns to the soil for a neighboring plant when vegetation (roots, leaves, fruits) of the legume dies and decomposes.
When the grain from a grain legume crop is harvested, little nitrogen is returned for the following crop. Most of the nitrogen fixed during the season is removed from the field. The stalks, leaves and roots of grain legumes, such as soybeans and beans contain about the same concentration of nitrogen as found in non-legume crop residue. In fact, the residue from a corn crop contains more nitrogen than the residue from a bean crop, simply because the corn crop has more residue.

A perennial or forage legume crop only adds significant nitrogen for the following crop if the entire biomass (stems, leaves, roots) is incorporated into the soil. If a forage is cut and removed from the field, most of the nitrogen fixed by the forage is removed. Roots and crowns add little soil nitrogen compared with the aboveground biomass.

http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_a/A129/

[Yana]

Peas and beans have nitrogen-fixing nodules which is why you just cut off the stems and leave the roots intact. The following crop should be brassicas as they like nitrogen.

Oops. I followed broad beans and french beans with leeks and then plan to put brassicas in where the leeks were. I've got this all wrong 

[Yorkie]

Recent research has shed doubt on how much nitrogen is actually fixed by roots of legumes so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

We've just had a talk from an experienced local allotmenteer at our AGM.  He often puts leeks in after broad beans or early peas.

[Robster]

Yes thats what I do.  Broad beans out by july and leeks in and eat them until the bed is cleared for brassicas the following year.  This is mainly driven through harvest times than any horticultural/nutritional nuance

[Yana]

Yes thats what I do.  Broad beans out by july and leeks in and eat them until the bed is cleared for brassicas the following year.  This is mainly driven through harvest times than any horticultural/nutritional nuance

That's how I do it Robster but now I'm thinking I have to redo my rotation.
Thing is I don't grow many potatoes so it makes putting them in the plan tricky. I use a 3-year plan but with spuds it makes it a four year rotation and then I get confused.

[Goosegirl]

I'm beginning to think that, as long as you don't plant the same thing in the same place the following year, does it really matter? I have rotated my crops according to the recommended plan but, when I have used up a crop, I'm left with a wasted space.

[Yana]

Doesn't it also have something to do with making sure you don't put roots where manure has been?

[mumofstig]

It just means you decide where the roots are going before you put any manure down