how do plan your vegetable garden?

I plant in alphabetical polycultures.

Crop rotation.
Companion planting
Things I eat

How ever I feel at the time of planting and what space is available.

I have two veg patches, one mainly for summer crops and the other mainly for winter crops. However, the winter patch is more sheltered, so all climbing or tall plants go there, such as tomatoes, peas, climbing beans, sweetcorn, etc. I put my first early potatoes and maincrops that will stay late in the ground in the winter patch as well, as it is a few degrees warmer than the summer patch, so suffers less from frost.

All the beds run east-west.

I keep tall plants at the back (north) of the blocks of beds in the winter patch and shorter plants at the front (south).

I grow in rows, with blocks of beds being given over to a group of plants. I rotate each group. The exception to this is the cucurbit family, which I have decided not to include in a rotation plan. In fact, they could even be seen as being a third vegetable patch on their own, as they are isolated from everything else. This way they can ramble and roam to their hearts' content without causing a problem for other plants.

I am moving to a three-year rotation plan rather than four.

I'm adding a lot of flowers this year to the bed, some edible, some to attract pollinators and predators.

I grow things I like to eat. Mr Snoop doesn't like some of them, but I grow them anyway.

I start with what I like to eat and work out how much of each I have space to grow. I then have a list of containers/beds and what I grew in them in previous years to help with rotation. Usually it is the buckets or compost that rotate as my garden has a lot of shade, so I grow potatoes, carrots and brassicas in the same places each year. The plants that grow in soil (onions, peas, tomatoes and courgettes)rotate amongst themselves with the tomatoes getting priority in the sunniest areas.

I grow what we like to eat firstly.
I then decide what space I can give those things.
I don't have enough space for crop rotation so I just have to be careful.
I also grow in containers and in the greenhouse.

I’ll stay with the theme.
I grow veg that I and SHMBO like to eat. Well mostly.
Rotate the veg, ie don’t grow veg from the same group in the same place.
Experiment, try something new and have fun.

What matters to me most is growing what I like to eat
Next is fitting it all in, I have 3 beds that get rotated, plus a permanent bean row, then some recycling boxes and pots for anything else.

I'm supposed to have a plan?



I got given a £30 voucher for Sarah Raven for my birthday, so bought lots of seeds from there. Then I eyed up some more from Premier Seeds and wasn't going to actually buy them, but then had a horrible day in work and somehow they all fell into my shopping basket and got paid for. Bit of a mystery how that happened. Then I picked up a few random extras on a whim in Wilko (three potato varieties, raspberry canes, a honeyberry, a mushroom kit, various greens). Added all that lot to my leftover seeds from last year, and thought I would round my collection out with some oca tubers from the Real Seed Company.

Now I have all those seeds, I have started sowing some. My window-sills, airing cupboard and second settee are strewn with pots. As the year progresses, I will try to make sure I have enough containers for everything that is going outside to go outside, and that the things that need the most sun are getting the most sun.

Is that enough of a plan?

In terms of plant choices, I got on well with greens last year and they made up loads of my (more than) 10-a-day fruit and veg portions. So, this year I am growing lots more varieties of greens. I have bought seeds for things that do well in quite shady spots to extend my growing space, and thing that do well in cooler weather or that can overwinter to extend my growing season.

I also had success with my root veggies, especially beetroot and turnips, so I've added some more varieties and some new things, including potatoes (that I don't eat often, but fancy trying fresh from the earth).

My tomatoes took up a huge amount of the best growing space and needed lots of attention last year, so I'm not growing any this year. I found other things to be lower maintenance and ideally I need as many low maintenance crops as possible, given the huge amount of time that has to be devoted to watering a container garden in the summer (as a proportion of the daylight hours remaining after I get home from work, it is a big commitment).

Apart from the potatoes and button mushrooms, all of the things I am growing are either unobtainable in the supermarket, varieties that aren't otherwise available, or really expensive in the quantities I can easily grow them in.

I am reusing last year's compost, supplemented with bits of new compost when I can get it (non-driver) and handfuls of growmore. I'll try to mostly reuse my former tomato compost for things like lettuce and herbs, but otherwise there's not much rotation going on this year (might need to in the future, as I'm adding brassicas and potatoes into the equation this year).

Hmm, maybe I have more of a plan than I think I do.

My typical plan is a combination of thoughtful crop rotation, careful selection of varieties that I can't buy in the shops, and old faithful varieties that I know I like, liberally sprinkled with absolute chaos.

And for some reason I'm determined to grow beetroot every year, even though I don't actually like it.

self-contained, I bet you could get compost home delivery. Might cost you a bit extra, but you might think it worth it.

I've looked into it in the past, but it costs about double the cheapest stuff in the shops. My parents brought me a big bag of compost from B&Q and that'll keep me going for a bit. Hopefully I'll have my first vermicompost by the middle of summer

1. Plan to grow things kids like to eat, then things we like to eat (though there is some difference of opinion as to the value of leeks).
2. Spend a good couple of months on a scale drawing of the allotment, work out proper crop rotation and companion plants, compile several cross-referenced spreadsheets and lists
3. Once sowing/planting actually starts, throw the lot to the seven winds and stick plants in wherever I can manage, mainly because I've a) raised too many seedlings and can't throw/give them away, and b) got seduced by shiny seed packets/plant sales and bought too many things again.

My kids' favourite saying from last year's allotment adventures: "It's a jungle out here mummy!" All good fun

I grow vegetables that we eat and I like to try out new varieties, so I normally grow more than one variety of everything and I like to experiment but not to the extent of VC.

Alans Allotment: Crop Rotation shows the rotation since getting the plot and now that I've taken on the plot next door I'm going to have over twice and many beds so eventually I will have a green manure beds built into the arrangement that it will rotate with the vegetables.

My plan for the year for each plot can be found here Alans Allotment: Plans for Mill Green Plot 1A like Highlander now I have the plot next door ultimately there will be only One!

My catalogue of seeds is now held on my Blog / Dairy Alans Allotment: What's In My Seed Box

My sowing and planting plan can be found here Alans Allotment: Sowing & Planting Plan

The drawings I do in AutoCAD

My "To Do List" and plan for the month and a historical review from previous years is done monthly Alans Allotment: Review / To Do