Confused!

Hi everyone,

I have been reading old posts on here about crop rotation, soil improvement, and general growing conditons and I'm getting a bit confused  I,ve devided my garden into seperate areas for growing veg this year to try and keep to some sort of crop rotation system.  I have clay soil which I have tried to improve with compost over the last couple of years and this year my veg was much better.  I haven't added a lot of manure just used chicken pellets a couple of weeks before planting.

This autumn I have seived my home made compost and used this to improve a new bed and I,ve bought a bag of stable manure to put on top for the worms to drag down.  Im going to use this bed for brassicas next year, but whats confusing me is that I know brassicas need compacted soil and roots need loose sandy soil so how does this work in a crop rotation system?

I have made three seperate areas but one is planted with permenent fruit,  I also have two raised planters.  I,m finding it difficult to know what to plant where, and what should follow on from what, please help 
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Your confusion is a result of information overload! What you need is a plan; make a list of what you would like to grow and then tailor your list to the space you have available.

There are too many articles in the main part of this website to list, but they include planning your plot/s, growing and harvesting chart, and yes, crop rotation.

Don't get too deeply into any one part of the subject at this stage, there are some definite no-no's but many aspects are really more to do with trying to achieve perfection which Nature will make sure you never do anyway!   

The phrase "crop rotation" makes my eyelids droop  That and the word "accounts" 

I try not to grow the same thing two years running in one place. That's me done.

Your soil improving efforts will pay dividends and your soil will get better year on year.  Brassicas do like firming in really well so they don't get wind rocked

There are a few plants that can cope on very hard soil, eg leeks, brassicas and celeriac. Potatoes are a good soil breaker-upper and you'll notice when you come to harvest your first crop how much better the soil is.  I add leaf mould when making new beds, or getting ready to plant a fresh crop.  I keep a wire enclosure on the plot for keeping leaves to let them rot down

Thanks, some straight forward advice is just what I needed, I was beginning to think I would have to create more beds but I can see now that I don't need to. 

I am a bit limited for space to grow runner beans, can these be grown against a fence in the same position each year?

but make sure to improve the soil each year with some home made compost, or some manure or the soil gets exhausted and you get poor cropping.

And compacted soil for brassicas is easily obtained by simply planting the seedling then firming the soil immediately around it with your foot.