[green_fingered_ash]

who actually uses it? is it a requirement? i;ve looked it up and it seems to reduce my productivity, where i could be growing winter and spring cabbages and kale it would be limited to only 1/5 of the plot???

so do you use crop rotation or just plant everything anywhere?

[Yorkie]

Well I use it - the point of it being that you prevent a build-up of pests and diseases in the soil, and that nutrients are not too depleted by constant use of the same family of plants.

Over time, not rotating is likely also reduce your productivity for the stated reasons.

[Brambles]

I use it too, though if I have spaces I tend to use them and fill in, trying to avoid the same crops in the same place each year.
Works well for me.   Don't forget if you use crop rotation it is not set in stone.... you can adapt it for your own needs

[Salmo]

Not all crops need to adhere to the same rotation gap.

Unless your site has a history of clubroot, more likely on old sites with heavy soil, brassicas are OK with a 1/3 rotation. Potatoes ditto for eelworm, more likely on light soils.

Onions on the other hand are best with a 6 year gap to avoid white rot.

If disease starts to appear either widen the rotation or give the crop a miss for a year or two.

Probably more important is general plot hygiene, e.g destroy diseased plants, be careful what goes on the compost heap.

Also be careful where you obtain plants. Here I am thinking especially of brassicas where it is easy to accept young plants from a kind neighbour and in doing so import clubroot. Other examples might be strawberry runners with virus, leek plants with leek moth maggots.

[green_fingered_ash]

think i can stretch to a 4 year rotation whilst still using most of the space (planting winter vegetables in place of any vegetables that mature by august, everything else will be sprinkled with green manure seeds

i guess its not to bad, although i will end up with alot of vegetables i wont be able to use, but who would turn down organic veg as a free gift lol

its actually funny the first crop i will get from my allotment will most likely be a winter crop

[sunshineband]

I certainly use it, and find that by intercroppping with non-rotationals like salad leaves, summer radish and other odds and ends in the beds where I have 'families' where I would be growing less, it keeps the shape of the rotation quite well.

The info on the link on the Home Page is useful too 

[zazen999]

I rotate the spuds. Everything else goes all over the place; in batches/pockets/intermixed, and only if I get major problems do I make sure that area is avoided for the next 3 years. I usually just fill a space with 'something different' all year round. As their neighbours mature and get harvested the newbies can grow on.

[Pompey Spud]

I have 4 large beds and so a 4 yr plan.

Everything follows the spud patch. Peseason it is double digged than manured. Than when harvested, mustard is sown and dug in.

Lime is than applied and allowed to settle before the Broad Beans are sown into a third of it. The rest has grazing rye. The legumes and some caulies go in here as well in Spring.

The last crop in the cycle is the Alliums as the soil needn't be too rich.

[RichardA]

I use a 5 year rotation but have a good big plot, if i was pushed to get in greens I would only use a spot that had not been used in previous two to two and half years. Lots of flexibility by putting sweetcorn, courgettes, salads etc where i want and still keep the plants that need rotation such as greens, potatoes, peas and beans, onions etc in 5 year rotation. Rotation is not just about disease control but also about best use of manure, lime, and getting ph to suit the crop.
R

[green_fingered_ash]

i have identified 6 different familys of over winter veg to use, hopefully when some veg finish early i can just bung in a different family (or the same depending etc) and grow through winter. im guessing in the end half my plot will be over winter veg and the other half green manure which aint all bad.

[stentman]

Before I did any reading up on here I laid out my plot, an elegant design, with tyres, bean poles, compost heap, water butt, raised beds and gravel paths a wonderful thing to behold on the computer screen I even considered were the sun would be at different times of day. Then I put in the manual labour and produced it in reality. Looked great, I was a happy bunny but then I read about crop rotation and realised that my lay out would not be at all practical for proper rotation. To small an area for spuds, onions don't climb poles, etc. So more manual labour later I have lay out that should cope with a four year rotation scheme. I think it was worth it. If nothing else it should reduce the chances of pests and nasties spoiling my efforts and keep the slugs guessing were the brassicas will be next.

[DD.]

I do something similar to Zazen.

Spuds take up the largest area for a single crop and these are moved around and get the majority of the manure. Other things go in where they can, but never follow like with like.

You can get too wound up with worry about rotation and graphic design. All these things are much more easily sorted with a pencil and the back of an old envelope.

[Leedsniner]

"You can get too wound up with worry about rotation and graphic design. All these things are much more easily sorted with a pencil and the back of an old envelope."

Presumably you then keep all your envelopes so that you have a record of what was grown where in earlier years.

[Alby]

I always use rotation. Got 10 raised beds so quite easy not to get mixed up, I use the back of a beer mat 

[beansticks]

4 year rotation for me.