Round and round the garden?

[grawrc]

I've just dug up the last of my early potatoes and replaced them with leeks and spring onions. I'm gradually clearing my onions and will replace them with turnips and swedes. My problem is : does it not mess up the rotation? If I grow 2 crops per year (from different parts of my 4 year rotation) in each bed does not effectively half the time between rotations? And if it does I'm only doing a 2 year rotation so ..... How does everyone else manage it to have  the ground planted as much as possible, not plant the same group immediately after itself and still have a 4 year rotation??? ??? ??? ???

Hope this makes sense

[grawrc]

[supersprout]

arg :-X
I have a five-year rotation master plan for five groups: nightshades, roots, allium, brassica/orientals/'weeds' (like rocket & spinach) and 'wild cards' - sweetcorn/squash.
I don't grow many spuds, so including them with toms makes sense for me, nor much brassica, so bundling them in with weeds and herbs made sense to make the growing areas for the five groups roughly similar. This bundling gives me six beds per 'group'. Sometimes it gets a little out of kilter, but so long as there's a two-year gap, or I don't do anything daft like forget which beds have white rot, it seems to work OK.

[sarah]

it is all a bit of a chase isnt it. it all sounds so simple - four or five beds and rotate.  i am having the same problem grawrc and am also wondering (if i plant swede and turnips now and leeks and spring onions) when do i dig over and put manure in  :-\ .  its a bit of a juggling act. 

[grawrc]

I've got the annual rotation worked out, Sarah x 2: I do potatoes, onions, roots, legumes and brassica (counting onions and roots as 1 in the rotation). My problem is with the stuff that I put in now, or to overwinter and how that fits in..... :'( :'(

[supersprout]

oh sorry anne (wrong end of stick) :-[ I picked up a great idea from one of these rotation threads which suggested thinking of a whole year(ish) per area per crop in the rotation. So it would be OK to put e.g. French beans in after broadies, that way you don't halve the time between rotations. Thinking about me winter planting, I use green manures and 'wild cards' (spinach/komatsuna) which get fitted in wherever, although winter brassica follow spuds and/or onions.

I'm finding it really hard to write about rotation without moving little boxes around on a piece of paper! :-\

[grawrc]

So plant the same family twice and change next season? Oh no I've got it all wrong :'( :'( :'(

[supersprout]

oh my poor head ;)
have you checked out http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,72/topic,22982.0/topicseen,topicseen
;D