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  • #1

    Crop Rotation in the Same Year?

    So, I know you should rotate which crops go in which plots from one year to the next.

    But if I plant an early crop of - for example - onions and garlic in a bed, which get pulled up early enough that there's still time to get another crop grown in the same space, would you re-plant more onions and garlic in the same bed to finish off the year, or would you rotate that bed as you go now? Like, maybe transplant tomato plants into that space that you've had growing under cover until then?

    I'm trying to plot out my 2018 growing plans, and keep getting all kinds of tied up trying to figure out how to keep my beds productive year-round while also growing the right things in the right beds. I'm probably overthinking it?
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  • #2
    No doubt others have their own opinions, but my crop rotation simply means never following a crop with the same thing again, easy to remember

    My simple logic is that if you grow onions - the things that onions need to grow will have been depleted from that bit of soil, so why would I plant more onions there, without giving the soil time to recover?
    I usually follow onions either dwarf beans or spinach/chard depending what time of year it is

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    • #3
      Personally, I wouldn't replant onions after garlic and onions because the first lot of plants are in the ground for a long time and the allium family, especially onions, suffer from serious diseases.

      I have planted brassicas where I've had brassicas immediately beforehand, but only if the first crop was a fast grower, like radishes or even broccoli at a pinch. And I have in the past planted tomatoes in the same spot as tomatoes the previous year, but I will put something like an overwintering crop of peas or the like in after the first lot of tomatoes.

      Lots of people don't bother with a strict rotation plan but just try not to grow the same crop in the same patch without any intervening plant from another family.

      I had the same problem as you for a long time, trying to sort out what should go where. In the end, I just decided to leave some beds fallow at the end of the growing season. Although, as an aside, mothhawk posted an interesting comment on the thread Rary started on mycorrhizal fungi, and I'm now rethinking whether I should try a green manure instead, which the soil will love for many reasons. See: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ngi_92331.html

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      • #4
        Ask yourself whether you would have time to take a 2nd crop of onions and leeks from the same space twice in one year - because the following January you'd want to put something different there.
        You could put a follow-on crop of something that doesn't need to be part of a rotation - like salad things maybe.
        I'm not a structured gardener so I don't worry about rotation - just try not to plant the same thing in the same place 2 years running.

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        • #5
          Thank you all for your advice! It sounds like I don't need to be *quite* so anal in my crop planning so long as make sure to not follow one plant type with the same plant type after. Good to know!

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          • #6
            You're right, you probably are overthinking it

            Like people have said, it's probably best to just try not to follow like with like, but don't panic if you do. It's one of those 'best not to' things, not vital; your plot won't explode if you accidentally plant a cabbage where there was a radish a month earlier.

            Some people don't rotate at all, and don't seem to get problems. In some of the traditional onion growing regions of France they've been growing onions and only onions in the same fields, for hundreds of years. I mean, I wouldn't recommend it, but presumably there's something about the area or growing technique that means they can get away with it *Gallic shrug*
            My spiffy new lottie blog

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            • #7
              There is annual crop rotation and true crop rotation. Neither is right ot wrong but because of the reasons mentioned above most people opt for true crop rotation i.e. trying not to follow like with like,..................... but not being too anal about it.
              My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
              to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

              Diversify & prosper


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              • #8
                Oh no newt, you really need to make a formal crop rotation plan to follow to ensure pests and disease don't build up in the soil and to ensure nutrients aren't stripped from the soil. You must ensure that you don't plant the same group on the same land n any 4 year period.
                I have a 6x12 ft veg patch and follow a very strict rotation plan. I've had a discussion with the pests diseases and nutrients and we've come to an agreement. If I plant in strict 4 year rotation they promise not to move through the soil. It's working perfectly so far

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                • #9
                  I try to rotate my crops but sometimes I will plant the same thing twice and usually I get away with it. This year I made a mistake in one of my pots - the compost history looks like this:
                  potato 2014 > carrot 2015 > leek 2015-16 > courgette 2016 > turnip 2017 > courgette 2017 > turnip 2017.

                  The first crop of turnips grew well but did have a little cabbage root fly, always a problem in my garden. The courgette was a spare plant which I put in this pot as there was nowhere else suitable for it - it produced a couple of courgettes before succumbing to mildew, which I find courgettes in pots almost always do. With an unexpectedly empty pot in August I grabbed a packet of turnip seeds and sowed them before I remembered that I'd had turnips with a problem here earlier in the year. The turnips have grown (although they don't like the frost and are probably inedible anyway), but the one I have pulled so far was riddled with cabbage root fly despite being under a net.
                  A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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                  • #10
                    Like everyone else as said, just try and avoid planting like for like, and as VC pointed out, you wouldn't get two cops of onions from the same bed as they are a day length sensitive plant which actually tells them to stop growing and start to "Bulb Out"

                    For your said previous example, you will be lifting your onions come August, September and would then make a prime spot to plant up your over wintering brassicas raised from seed in July, the likes of spring green loose leafed cabbages n savoy cabbage which will happily sit the winter out, providing you veg for what they call the "Hungry Gap" at the beginning of the year!
                    "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"

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                    • #11
                      Doesn't rotating the crops tend to snap the roots?
                      Last edited by chris_m; 01-01-2018, 06:40 PM.

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                      • #12
                        Works perfectly with carrots and parsnips - like a pencil sharpener.

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                        • #13
                          I don't worry about formal rotation, but we have a very long growing season so I tend to plant different things in each bed throughout the year.

                          I don't worry about soil depletion because I'm amending the soil between lifting one thing and planting the next anyway.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by veggiechicken View Post
                            You could put a follow-on crop of something that doesn't need to be part of a rotation - like salad things maybe.
                            That is the model that I'm trying to follow.

                            I've gone for the 4 main groups +1/2 rotation - 2 x Beds of Potatoes, Legumes, Brassicas, Onions / Roots and 1 x Misc/Marrows/salad to give 9 beds total. And trying to plant up 10th bed (spare space from 1-8) with Misc/Marrows/Salad

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by veggiechicken View Post
                              Works perfectly with carrots and parsnips - like a pencil sharpener.
                              Got stones to fork the point

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