24 October 2007

Rotation, rotation, rotation!

Crop rotation is an easy idea to get your head around - in order to make the best use of what nutrients are in your soil and to avoid the build up of disease, move around what you grow where year on year. There are lots of possible crop rotation systems - 3-year, 4-year or even 5-year rotation. Mel even has a handy mnemonic for hers, complete with actions. If you spot someone down at your local allotments doing what appears to be the hokey-cokey then don’t worry. They’re probably just using Mel’s method to work out what to plant after their brassicas.

I always have very good intentions when it comes to crop rotation and like to plan what I will plant where and what this means for future plantings in the coming years, but I frequently come a cropper (no pun intended). Planning what can be put where and accounting for when the space will be free because a particular plant will have finished becomes a real pain. It’s all the more important now as I have so little space to play with and I want to make sure that the beds are used as efficiently as possible. The permutations seem infinite and trying to come up with something workable ends up feeling as though I am wrestling with the coloured blocks in one of those 3-D intelligence tests from the Krypton Factor. I wouldn’t mind, but everyone bangs on about how bloody easy it is, but I seem to be trying to put square pegs into round holes. And then Joy Larkcom tells me that in a small vegetable plot, rotation might not be of any use anyway!

So, I refuse to lose sleep over it. Certainly I will try not to grow the same crop in the same place twice, but other than that all I can do is fit things in where there is space available. It’s either that or lose my sanity trying to fit huge quantities of potatoes in beds where only small amounts of broccoli have been.

Filed under: Review & plan, Today's Bible — Clare @ 6:07 pm