[spartus117]

HI

I received an allotment last year and have spent most of my time clearing and building raised beds ect so i am new to allotments and this year is my first growing season.
i have x 3 beds for my permanent crops and i have.. x 8 16 ft x 4ft Raised beds all of which have been dug over, covered for the winter ,deweeded and ready to go

I am currently trying to create a Four year crop Rotation plan

i have done some research through websites and i have managed to cobble together a individual crop rotation plan loosly based on the examples i have seen about.
I am not a fan of Brassicas and plan to grow none. the plan i have cobbled together is like this

                year 1               year 2              year 3                year 4
 
plot 1      potatoes           legumes            onions               Roots
               followed by        followed by      followed by        followed by
               no treatment     no treatment    Manure              Manure

plot 2      onions              potatoes           Legumes            Roots
               followed by      followed by        followed by        followed by
               manure            no Treatment     No Treatemnt     manure

plot 3      Roots              Onions                Potatoes            Legumes
               followed by     followed by         followed by         followed by
               Manure           Manure               No treatment      No Treatment

Plot 4     legumes             Roots               Onions                 Potatoes
              followed by        followed by      followed by           followed by
              No Treatment    Manure             Manure                 No treatment

this rotation plan would be mirrored again so it would be like zone 1 x 4 beds zone 2 x 4 beds

I am a complete novice to this so any advice this would be great. 
qs/Thoughts     are the Plant groups in the right order?.      Are the treatments following the seasons growing correct such as manure and in the right places? Is there any such treatments i have forgotten or could add? i suppose i would not need lime as i have no brassicas to grow or if i did need lime how many times and where should i include it on my plan?

i have not soil tested my plot yet however in the process of doing so



many thanks for reading this .

[RJR_38]

On plot 1 I would put the manure after the legumes and not after the onions as roots don't like recently manured soil (they are more likely to fork)

[mikem]

In Year 3 you have onions in plot 1 and plot 4 i.e. no roots that year.
In year 4 you have roots in plot 1 and plot 2 i.e. no onions that year.

That may be what you want!  I'll leave it to others to give you professional advice on manuring, rotation etc.

[diospyros]

I don't quite get it because the crops are going in a different order in each bed?  Probably me being thick it has been a long day!

[peedee555]

i just go no manure roots in roots out manure in as most roots come out winter time manuring then wont do much harmcome late spring ( aslong as its wellrotted )

[Totty]

The simplistic way of doing it would be to just very heavily manure the bed your growing potatoes in each year. The Year after, put the bean family in there, then the onions, then the roots.
So long as a really good amount of manure is used initially in the rotation, I don't really see a need for adding more until four years later when you heap lots more on.
You will benefit from using other methods to feed your soil though. Garden compost, leafmold, green manures, BFB, seaweed etc etc etc etc can all be used at pretty much any point in the rotation.

Totty

[spartus117]

In Year 3 you have onions in plot 1 and plot 4 i.e. no roots that year.
In year 4 you have roots in plot 1 and plot 2 i.e. no onions that year.

That may be what you want!  I'll leave it to others to give you professional advice on manuring, rotation etc.

many thanks just noticed this mistake and have adjusted the plan 

[spartus117]

The simplistic way of doing it would be to just very heavily manure the bed your growing potatoes in each year. The Year after, put the bean family in there, then the onions, then the roots.
So long as a really good amount of manure is used initially in the rotation, I don't really see a need for adding more until four years later when you heap lots more on.
You will benefit from using other methods to feed your soil though. Garden compost, leafmold, green manures, BFB, seaweed etc etc etc etc can all be used at pretty much any point in the rotation.

Totty

HI Totty Thank you for your reply

I like your comment regarding the manureing once a year, it seems a lot simpler as you say and will keep down the ph i suppose?. i have adjusted my plan as follows...

                year 1               year 2              year 3                 year 4
 
plot 1      potatoes           legumes             roots                  Onions
               followed by      followed by     followed by      followed by
               no treatment     No treatment     No treatment   Manure

plot 2      onions              potatoes           Legumes            Roots
               followed by      followed by     followed by      followed by
               Manure            No treatment    No Treatemnt    No Treatment

plot 3      Roots              Onions                Potatoes             Legumes
               followed by     followed by        followed by       followed by
               No treatment    Manure              No treatment     No Treatment

Plot 4     legumes             Roots               Onions                 Potatoes
              followed by        followed by      followed by         followed by
              No Treatment     No treatment     Manure              No treatment

In regards to onions following Legumes can i ask why you have chosen this? do Onions Cope well with the Increased nitrogen fixed by the legumes better than roots? sorry to ask its just i have seen so many rotation plans all over the net and they vary so much its very confusing and i have seen some where roots follow legumes (non brassica rotation) i am aware brassicas are the standard to follow legumes but i am obviously not growing them .

Also been looking at green manures can you suggest what category would be best for green manure to follow considering my unusual plan .

many thanks

[mumofstig]

Unless you dig all the pea plants in after cropping, they don't actually add anything to the soil - according to modern thinking.

It doesn't matter in which order you rotate your crops, as long as you don't follow like with like. It makes it so simple, if you just remember that!

[Totty]

Unless you dig all the pea plants in after cropping, they don't actually add anything to the soil - according to modern thinking.

It doesn't matter in which order you rotate your crops, as long as you don't follow like with like. It makes it so simple, if you just remember that!

Exactly.

Over time with continued use of organic matter, and preferably organic fertilisers such as BFB etc etc, everything will grow well, no matter what crop it follows.

Totty

[diospyros]

Also been looking at green manures can you suggest what category would be best for green manure to follow considering my unusual plan .

many thanks

Since you are not growing brassicas as a crop, you are free to use them as green manure without worrying about passing on diseases.  Though don't forget that if "roots" includes turnip, swede, radish, these are in fact brassicas.

Also I read recently a word of advice that most green manures have been inherited from agricultrual systems and are actually quite difficult to dig in. Corn salad was always one of my favourites as it has nice soft foliage and fine roots, and you can have a nibble too.

[crh75]

If this was me I would go for potatoes, onions roots then legumes.  The reason being both the onion bed and root bed will have thing in over winter (leeks, parsnips etc).  This means it will be difficult to manure in the autumn, however all the legumes will be gone in late autumn so you can add the manure then.  This assumes you will be growing veg over winter of course.

Basically what I'm saying is think about the cut off point for when the change over as the growing season for one veg family can be very long.  For example, the onion bed could be in action for 18 months if you plant garlic in October for overwintering then sow your onions in spring then plant your leeks in the summer the last of which will be harvested the following spring.