I've got a rather small and very weedy bed (that I didn't prepare properly - first bed marked out when I got my rotavated allotment last year) currently half full of leeks (and couch grass :-\). I'd like to get shot of both of them soon and use the bed for something else (it should be easyish to clear, being just 6ft by 4).
What do you lot think? It's difficult to place it in a rotation plan, because I don't exactly have one ::); it's got garlic on one side and possible potato onions on the other, so neither of them will be cleared till the summer.
Ideas?
Anything that's not an allium (onion, garlic, chives, shallots etc) could potentially go in there.
Some people follow root crops with brassicas, others with legumes.
Or are you looking for something that will be out by summer so you can clear the whole bed at the same time? In which case a catch crop - Lettuce or other salad, radish, beetroot, early carrots?
My leeks literally go in next years allium beds - the onions and garlice join the leeks when the time comes. Alliums follow brassicas in my rotation and are followed by legumes. Solanums fit in the gap.
My leeks were transplanted into a space that will form this years allium bed, but when cleared I may fill with a non allium, maybe some baby carrots.
Agree with that, non-brassica roots are also plated in the allium bed.
ditto here
ditto, I like to hope that there is enough oniony/leeky smell in the soil to help discourage carrot fly ::)
But like you bupster I don't practice STRICT rotation (except for brassica and spuds, where I leave a good gap of 3-4 years) - if there's a gap that could be filled with a different crop 'family' to last year's, in it goes ;D