Topic: three crops one bed successions

[rollingrock]

I am working on a list of three crops succession plantings here is my list so far:

• a legume bed can be planted :peas > beans >Peas
• a root bed can be planted :radish>carrots>radish

I will add more later.

[squeezyjohn]

Do you mean as in 3 crops in one year of a particular type?

I don't think it needs to be so rigid in smaller raised bed type cultivation myself ... crop rotation is to ensure that you don't deplete the same nutrients from the soil year-on-year while minimising an increase in crop specific pests and diseases.  Carrots and radishes (for example) are from different families, have different pests and different needs so they don't need to be put together.

Far more important is to identify problem crops such as potatoes, onion family or brassicas and make sure you give the land several years rest to avoid build up of blight, white rot and club root ...

[rollingrock]

john your missing the point of the reason for these combinations.
peas are cool season crops spring and fall and bean are summer warm season crop.
the same goes with radishes being a cool season cop and carrots  being summer crop
the point is to have the beds producing a crops in spring, summer and fall
this in not about crop rotation for nutrients or pest prevention.
the idea is to plant one crop after the other and keeping the beds planted during whole growing season.

Far more important is to identify problem crops such as potatoes, onion family or brassicas and make sure you give the land several years rest to avoid build up of blight, white rot and

blight is air born unless leave  infected potatoes to over winter.
As for other two I don't have problem with them. but these can travel by spores on dirty tools so you need to use other means to avoid spread of them if your soil is infected.
 

[galina]

john your missing the point of the reason for these combinations.
peas are cool season crops spring and fall and bean are summer warm season crop.
the same goes with radishes being a cool season cop and carrots  being summer crop
the point is to have the beds producing a crops in spring, summer and fall

Plainleaf, this does not work in UK, because the growing season is simply not long enough.  Peas sown very early (February) are in full swing and won't be finished for another 4 weeks or longer in most parts of the country.  There is time for one other fast growing crop, but never two!

This may work in the USA (and definitely not in all regions either!) where plants grow much faster and peas are over as soon as the summer heat starts.  But not here   Summer heat this year is entirely absent with daily highs in the low sixties F and lows below 50F many nights 

If you will make such cropping plans, you need to take climate differences into account.  I know from my American friends that zucchini in Texas will produce  within 30 days after sowing!  Here our courgettes need three times as long.  And the further North you go in the UK, the longer crops need to get to maturity. 
 

[rollingrock]

galina how many days is you growing season?

[galina]

galina how many days is you growing season?

Plainleaf, it is not a question of actual growing days but a question of the heat units and sunshine hours during these days.  These are far more important for UK gardening. 

We had frosts in June and also in early October and we had years with few frosts over winter - take your pick! 

[rollingrock]

there are 4 solutions that will make
the pea>bean>pea
possible in you area the light issue may hit early and late in season but in mid season you make it up with longer day length
1. you can transplant you plants instead of direct seeding them.
2. you can interplant the peas and  beans overlapping the space they use part of
3 you can use fast maturing bush varieties  of peas and beans
4. you can use row covers to protect the peas at both end of the season.
by my calculation you have season length of 180-200 days that will be plenty of time get harvest from peas bean and  peas

[galina]

Plainleaf,

Planting beans alongside, rather than in succession, isn't really growing 3 crops in one year in the same bed, is it?  If the bed was empty/large enough to allow for planting alongside, then it should have been planted up better in the first place.

Can you please show us photos of your intensive planting?  We would love to see firsthand what you grow and how you do it.  I think after all your suggestions, we need to see your techniques, Plainleaf.  Remember, a picture means more than a thousand words. 

[rollingrock]

sorry but I think you have miss understood my last post and you do not seem understand what interplanting is and how it works.
I will post a set diagrams for you and planting calendar for that will explain what mean in few days.