crop rotation

[plainleaf]

what crop rotation sequences do you follow.
the point crop rotation in small holdings(which is what all but very few of us really have ) is to prevent nutrient depletion. In a small holding  the disease and pest prevention  aspects of rotation  are not really a benefit to us.
A link to classic 4,5,8 year rotation one crop or series of  crop type per year.
http://www.designing-edible-gardens.com/PlanningaVegetableGarden.html
the secret rotation  block is to have an equal amount space for each block.

[plainleaf]

[:(]

Becuase of space limitatiosn I just try to have a two year gap beofre I plant any family in the same spot. Having equal blocks wouldnt work for me becuase I would have not enough of some things and too much of others. I use lots of compost manure and green manure to try to keep nutrient levels up. Seems to work OK for me.

[plainleaf]

weequinie no offense but you did not answer the question what sequence do you follow.
example

bed 1                   bed 2                 bed 3                 bed 4 
plant A year 1      plant  B year 1   plant C year 1     plant D year 1
plant B year 2      plant  C year 2   plant D year 2     plant A year 2
plant C year 3      plant  D year 3   plant A year 3     plant B year 3
plant D year 4      plant  A year 4   plant B year 4     plant C year 4

[:(]

There isnt really a sequance. I look at my diaries to check what was in each bed then depdning on how much of somehting I want to grow, I fit things in trying to leave the 2 year gap. Relative to other crops, I grow a lot of potaoes, tomatoes, peppers, chills and aubegines and small quantities of brassicas, alliums, roots etc. The imbalance betwen solanaceae and others I find makes roptation diffilcut in a small space.

[plainleaf]

weenie try spell checking your posts you you transposing a lot of letters in your words.

[:(]

Sorry dont want to derail your thread. Im probasbly being dim buit I cant see a spell checker in the Post Reply box. I thought it might be SP but thats a spolier  :(

[asj]

Spell Check is in the Post reply window, at the bottom, but it has been proven that if all or most of the letters are present in a word the brain will cope with the disorder  ;D.

[:(]

Thanks asj Ive just found it! I must have had a blind spot, I was looking above the box.

[plainleaf]

Flighty i would pay attention to you if posted about gardening instead about not related subjects.

[pigeonseed]

Play nicely please.  :)

Anyway people didn't used to have standardised spelling - that's a modern obsession. ahem anyway - back to crop rotation...

I have decided on

1. potatoes   2. alliums   3. brassicas and some extra stuff     4. cucurbits     5. legumes, roots and salads    

That's just because they add up to similar-sized beds (though I will struggle with the potatoes) and fit one after the other, at the right time of year. (When the shallots come out, kale goes in etc)

It makes no sense nutrient-wise, so I will just keep adding manure and compost when I can. I've got some lime, so I will give that a go on the brassicas, and see how we get on!

[Bugloss2009]

I came a right cropper end of last summer when I planted out a bed of oriental salads and treated them as salads. Of course they were all without exception brassicas, and that stuffed the rotation. Back on track now as all my winter cabbages and kale etc got cabbage root fly this year and had to be burned, so back to normal next year

[:(]

Flighty I didnt take offence at plainleafs comment so you dont need to take offence on my behalf. I learned something useful as a result so just let it be please?

[GrannieAnnie]

unrelated topic: I mashed up crabapples from our tree for wine today

semi-related topic : they have scald spots, rot and some worm pests

related topic: maybe because, for years now, the crabapple tree has not been rotated?



;D

[Bugloss2009]

simple answer is surely - leave everything where it is, and rotate the pests?

[GrannieAnnie]

simple answer is surely - leave everything where it is, and rotate the pests?

Now why didnt I think of that?

My way is like weequinine's since life has other more urgent things to agonize over= I just add more compost. Often the garden floods (like the Nile) and I figure nutrients and bugs move around in the flood anyway.

[AdeTheSpade]

I use the Pots, Roots, Legs, Bras rotation - which works for me pretty well.  Although we've got club root on our site, so I decided this year not to grow Bras for a number of years.  I've also got the permanent and semi permanent beds of course for things like rasps, strawbs, blackberries etc.  I find having a rotation schedule really helps me to organise myself better!