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Planning the Allotment Crop Rotation Plan – Finished!

Having decided what we’re potatoes and beans we’re growing, all that remains is to fit the rest of the crop families into the available space.

Everything in its place – except for the weeds!

What to Grow?

Onions

The onion family are the easiest to sort now. It’s logical that they should go onto the half of Bed 1, Plot 29 that is next to the autumn planted onions and garlic.

This year I intend to try some Red Barron from seed started in modules as well as planting some sets in the spring.

Root Crops

My root crops suffered from the sheer weight of the soil – heavy clay does not encourage them. This year I shall use Bed 1 & 2 on Plot5. The soil has been well dug over and has a lot of leafmould as well as some of the turkey litter waiting to be rotavated in.

Hopefully this will ‘lighten’ the soil for a more successful crop.

I also want to grow a little perpetual spinach which can go on the same patch.

Rather than long rows, I may try sowing in patches. One bit of good news is that the site does not seem to suffer from carrot root fly.

Sweetcorn and Squash

I doubt I will need the whole of the combined Beds 1 & 2 so the sweetcorn and squashes can go on the rest.

Brassicas

Bed 3 on Plot 29 is assigned to brassicas but they tend to take a little more space than I have there so the extra will move on to Plot 5 .

This leaves the plans looking like this

Plot 29 Final Plan

Plot 5 Final Plan

This appears to leave me with a spare bed on plot 5 but I’m sure there will be overspill from somewhere to use it up.

The deep beds will be used as below:

Deep Bed Plan
Bed 1	Nursery Bed followed by salad crops
Bed 2	Nursery Bed followed by possibly some carrots
Bed 3	Strawberries
Bed 4	Salad Crops
Bed 5	Japanese special crops (Daikon, Blue Shiso)

Well that’s the theory of what’s going where.. I doubt the plan will survive the season.. there’s always change.

Practical Example Crop Rotation

Planning the Allotment Plot Crop Rotation Plan - New Plot

The big problem, that only became apparent shortly after I took the plot over , was the horsetail or marestail that infested the area in red on the plan above. Because of this, I only actually utilised Deep Bed 3 of the deep beds because I had already...

Planning the Allotment Plot Crop Rotation Plan - Previous Year

This article is part of a series to show some of the considerations and the process when developing your own crop rotation plan in the real world. Although over 10 years old, they remain valid today. When you start planning your crop rotation, you...

Planning the Allotment Crop Rotation Plan - What Potatoes to Grow

There are quite a few things to factor in on a crop rotation plan. For example, how much room will each crop need, how long it will be in the ground for etc. Potatoes are a major crop and working out their requirements is what this article explains. ...

Planning the Allotment Plot Crop Rotation Plan - Interim Legumes

By this stage of the crop rotation planning process, I've decided where the potatoes are going and now I'm working out where the legumes are going and how much room I'm going to need for them What to Grow? - Legumes Peas were one of the earliest...