Allotment rotation
by Diane - April 16th, 2012.Filed under: allotment.
Think of your plot as four sections.
The greenhouse area is not in this rotation.
Group A is beans, peas and things that grow above ground.
Group B is roots including beetroots, parnsips, carrots.
Group C is Brassicas.
Group D is permenant planting such as fruit bushes, rhubarb, herbs.
| Bed 1 | Bed 2 | Bed 3 | Bed 4 | |
| Year 1 | Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| Year 2 | Group C | Group A | Group B | Group D |
| Year 3 | Group B | Group C | Group A | Group D |
| Fertilise the land with well rotted manure | |
| Fertilise the land (Chicken manure pellets or growmore) | |
| Lime the soil. Fertilise too but not manure. | |
| Fertilise and mulch |
So you can see that each year when you plant Group A vegetables you should
manure the land before hand.
Where you plant group B plants you just use low density fertilisers.
Where you plant group C you lime as brassicas need lime. You should check the
pH too.
You rotate round the crops to ensure that over 3 years the soil grows different
things each year and that it has a different treatment each year.
If you never rotated the crops around your plot then you would only be manuring
one section, and keep adding lime to another section. This would over time make
the soils very different and it also allows diseases to build up in the soil.
Whilst there’s not much area difference on an allotment you will find that it
is beneficial to treat the soil differently each year.
Your greenhouse is treated outside this rule. Greenhouse plants will do best
in enriched soil which is why growbags are grown and regular liquid feeding
of tomatoes is recommended.
If your greenhouse has soil in then you might consider doing a complete soil
swap or looking at sterilsing the soil to prevent soil problems. Greenhouse
soil (or old compost) can be used on other parts of the garden – perhaps even
the compost heap or under a fruit tree.