[BOB3554]

Sorry this is another query on rotation . Got my plot last July so have not done a whole year and only put peas and beans in last year. Have grown peas, beans and carrots in small raised beds at home for last couple of years, very successfully if I say so myself.
 Okay, my question is, we are only going to grow, peas, beans, carrots, leeks, potatoes, sweet corn, parsnips, tomatoes and swede. As you can see there is hardly anything in the Brassica group so we really only have two groups in a usual three bed system. How can we rotate the groups without leaving a third of the plot fallow and not have a build-up of pests/problems having the same group in the same bed two years running.
 The reason we wont do Brassicas is because we have laid out the plot with raised beds, my veg. books say that Brassicas need to be planted really firmly so doesn't that defeat the open soil condition of a raised bed.
 Any help/advice gratefully received, I wish everyone a good growing year,
                                                        Bob Stephens.

[Wiltshire Worms]

Depends how big the beds are. And how much of each crop you intend to grow. 1st plot would be the peas and beans.potatoes could fill up most of 1 bed with the leeks, and then a miscellaneous bed.Hope this helps as a SharePoint.

[Yana]

Sorry this is another query on rotation . Got my plot last July so have not done a whole year and only put peas and beans in last year. Have grown peas, beans and carrots in small raised beds at home for last couple of years, very successfully if I say so myself.
 Okay, my question is, we are only going to grow, peas, beans, carrots, leeks, potatoes, sweet corn, parsnips, tomatoes and swede. As you can see there is hardly anything in the Brassica group so we really only have two groups in a usual three bed system. How can we rotate the groups without leaving a third of the plot fallow and not have a build-up of pests/problems having the same group in the same bed two years running.
 The reason we wont do Brassicas is because we have laid out the plot with raised beds, my veg. books say that Brassicas need to be planted really firmly so doesn't that defeat the open soil condition of a raised bed.
 Any help/advice gratefully received, I wish everyone a good growing year,
                                                        Bob Stephens.

I grow everything in raised beds Bob, including brassicas. I do firm the ground down and so it is only that one bed that gets a good digging over. The rest of the beds don't get dug 

[BOB3554]

Thanks W.W., beds as follows, an 8'x4' and two 6x3s  for the three groups of plants. We will grow peas in the large bed and French beans in the two others. The other groups, bigger plants in the bigger bed and smaller stuff in the 6x3s,
                                         thanks, Bob.

[gavinjconway]

I do a 4 year as below.

Potatoes
Legummes & brassicas
Curcurbita / sweetcorn
Onions / roots

The main thing is not to follow potatoes / tomatoes with potatoes / tomatoes or brassicas with brassicas. The rest don't really worry too much.

So you could do....

Potatoes / tomatoes
peas & beans / parsnips
sweet corn
carrots / leeks / swede.

You can do a 3 year if you want like this..
Potatoes
peas & beans / parsnips
sweet corn / carrots / leeks / swede.

Maybe not the tomatoes and potatoes together as they both like to get blight and may effect each other. But Tomatoes really need a greenhouse / poly tunnel anyway.. The toms can be grown in bags / pots and soil changed each year.

See the info on Johns main site here http://www.allotment-garden.org/crop-rotation/three-year-crop-rotation.php

[crh75]

Okay, my question is, we are only going to grow, peas, beans, carrots, leeks, potatoes, sweet corn, parsnips, tomatoes and swede. As you can see there is hardly anything in the Brassica group so we really only have two groups in a usual three bed system.

I would say you have three groups:
1.  Legumes (Peas & Beans)
2.  Solanaceae (Potatoes & Tomatoes)
3.  Others (everything else you mention)

[mumofstig]

As long as you don't follow a crop with exactly the same crop in the next year - I don't think it makes much difference at all 

[lettice]

I've never really been one for rotation.
Many of my family generations (all great gardeners) have seen it as not necessary.

Have grown maincrop potatoes in the same plot for many many years and the other main non rotation plot is broad, runner and french beans, all grown in the same space.

Rest of my veg; leeks, carrots, parsnips, turnips, spinach. brassicas and peas all in about four raised beds and other small areas of the garden, which I do tend to rotate slightly, but not intentionally.
 
I have always had excellent crops, no problems or diseases in my garden.
Autumn layer of compost once the crops have been cleared and an early year digging around Feb.
For the beans I always make an autumn trench and put veg and fruit peelings into the trench over the winter and dig that in during Feb. No potatoes though, as they may start growing amongst the beans come April.

[Yorkie]

I wouldn't put sweetcorn in the same group as carrots and parsnips.  The former prefers heavy manure to retain moisture etc.  The latter are not advised to be grown in recently manured soil.  So, if growing in the same bed, don't manure all of it.