"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Ed" wrote
I have just taken over an allotment and am in the process of clearing all
(well most?) of the nasty weeds etc by the end of the summer. I plan to
divide the allotment into 6 parts. One part is for permanent crops like
fruit and the remaining five would rotate in the following order:

Legumes, followed by
Brassicas, followed by
Fallow, followed by
Potatoes, followed by
Onions/Roots

I have read a number of articles on google and they all seem to offer
different rotations. For example some suggest following Brassicas by
Legumes; others suggest the reverse.

Does the plan, that I outlined above , seem OK? Or is it flawed.?

(The fallow bed is to allow me a chance to do deep deep cleaning of weeds
and will also provide a space for me to bed out some plants like
Wallflowers that I grow from seed before I transfer then to their final
positions in the autumn in the flower garden at home.)


We use a 4 year rotation ...

1. Good layer of rotted manure dug in, then Potatoes
2. Lime rotovated in, then Brassicas
3. Legumes
4. Onions etc. and roots (chicken manure pellets used)

Works for us.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

Mine for the offering

Double dig and compost/manure, Potatoes, overwinter with leeks.
Onions, over wintered with green manure dug in about February.
Brassicas, followed by winter brassicas.
Beans, some broad, some dwarf, lots of runner.
Carrots, beetroot and the other odds and sods.

This was decided because the soil had been abused by the previous occupants
of the house as a football pitch, but it was a market garden before that, it
is sandy loam.

It isn't an allotment, just a respectable size back garden, and we are in
Wallasey at the north end of the Wirral Peninsular, less than half a mile
from the sea. We don't get as cold as some places only a few miles away,
which is why we can dig in February generally.

The main thing is to change the pests around, and encourage your friends,
not your enemies! The RHS vegetable book has some good advice.

Good luck

John