[mamapamakel]

Hi everyone!

New to the forum and GYO, so would love to hear you seasoned growers' advice.  My lovely husband has built 4 raised beds each a 1 mtr sq, for me to GYO.  We are not big Brassica eaters, so was wondering what I should or could grow in the traditional brassica bed, if trying to adopt the 4 bed crop rotation?
Would it make any difference to the crop if that bed was omitted, as the whole point is to benefit the next seasons lot of crop which would be the root veg etc. Would probably fill the bed with courgettes, and spinach beat and  anything else I could fit in.

Love to hear your thoughts on the matter, thank you in advance. 

[Yorkie]

If you're not great brassica eaters, then by all means miss it out.  Beds of that size probably wouldn't be great for the bigger brassicas such as cabbages; you could grow something like chard (not a brassica) or kale which takes up less space.

Things like sweetcorn, courgettes, salad, leaf beet, etc do not fit anywhere in particular in a crop rotation so would be fine if you preferred.  Bear in mind that courgettes are large plants when fully grown, and would fill the best part of a bed.

PS Welcome to the site

If you add your general location to your forum profile it will help us answer questions, as climate is often relevant to an answer

[Auntiemogs]

Don't forget you can also go vertical with a number of plants including some types of courgettes. 

[mamapamakel]

Thanks for the feedback Yorkie and Auntiemogs.

I did wonder about Kale. Never actually tried it, but it could be an option.  I did grow some courgette in containers a couple of seasons ago, which started the GYO bug.  Not done much since, as OH totally revamped garden and it was a building site for almost 2 years.  They did OK, which is why I thought a two or three might do OK in a bed, as not looking to grow prize marrows!

[BabbyAnn]

maybe when a bed is emptied in late summer, you might be able to sow a mustard or radish green manure?