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Ok, here's my dilemma!
I'd like to grow carrots in the same area each year! I know this goes against the tennet of crop rotation. Show leek and onion growers and even runner beans are sometimes grown in the same area year after year How come you can get away with certain veg but not others?
I am a great believer in crop rotation, and am aware of the pitfalls in monoculture, but............
I inherited an old leek trench about 2 foot wide and 18 foot long and 18 inches deep on my present allotment. It's been used for growing leeks for umpteen years so the soil is a nice screened loam. It is an ideal width for covering with a stock width of enviromesh, with enough room for a frame to grow carrots under all season.
This year I'm harvesting the best carrot crop I've ever had. Clean, with no carrot fly damage and very few forked roots.
The intention is, once I have finished with this years crop,to roughly dig to expose as much surface to the winter rains and frost as possible, to sterilise soil (don't ask!) to add sand and grow bag compost in spring deffo no fresh manure!
I will give a light dressing of blood fish and bone before sowing next year, and see what happens?
Ok, now I'll sit back and wait for the flack!
I'd like to grow carrots in the same area each year! I know this goes against the tennet of crop rotation. Show leek and onion growers and even runner beans are sometimes grown in the same area year after year How come you can get away with certain veg but not others?
I am a great believer in crop rotation, and am aware of the pitfalls in monoculture, but............
I inherited an old leek trench about 2 foot wide and 18 foot long and 18 inches deep on my present allotment. It's been used for growing leeks for umpteen years so the soil is a nice screened loam. It is an ideal width for covering with a stock width of enviromesh, with enough room for a frame to grow carrots under all season.
This year I'm harvesting the best carrot crop I've ever had. Clean, with no carrot fly damage and very few forked roots.
The intention is, once I have finished with this years crop,to roughly dig to expose as much surface to the winter rains and frost as possible, to sterilise soil (don't ask!) to add sand and grow bag compost in spring deffo no fresh manure!
I will give a light dressing of blood fish and bone before sowing next year, and see what happens?
Ok, now I'll sit back and wait for the flack!
I think in the end it's a matter of "you pays your money and takes your choice" and if you're careful and industrious - as you sound to be with your leek trench - then all should be well. Hope so.
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