[Nozebleed]

hey there. i've started planning my veg garden for next year...its gona be my first large veg garden! i have 4 plots each 15X8ft approx...i want to get the crop rotation correct from the start..im currenlty making a list of what id like to grow. i dont fully understand the vegtable families. ie brassica,roots and others..are there any comprehensive lists for each veg family? should i add manure now to the brassica plot?


below is what i had in mind so far!

thanks

[dinahdabble]

I use a Star-Trek word for vegetable crop rotation. It isn't very scientific, naturally, but it helps my poor memory to keep this code ready:
BORG - OK it is sad but it works for me

Beans
Onions
Root Crops
Greens

So, after I have had a year planting onions, or any of the other Alliums in a certain bed, I know I can now plant root crops. When I pull up spent greens (sprouts or kale or whatever) I know it's time to start again, throw on lots of compost and in spring plant beans. I am still not sure where celery fits in. I have been planting Chinese leaf-celery in recent years and it seems to have become perpetual. I'm sure there's always something in a vegetable patch that refuses to be assimilated.

[Nozebleed]

ok...i went out this morning and bought 6X 60L bags of organic farmyard manure! it was buy 2 get third free in newlands garden centre! €24. Last night i was reading the (Things you should know) section in Michael Brenocks book..and i think i know what im doing regarding crop rotation and add manure! its such a helpful book. if you're new to gardening like me it's certainly the most informative & straight forward book. beginners dream it has to be said.

This is what i have in mind!

Plot 1. Garden Peas & Runner Beans. (should i add manure?)

Plot 2. Brassica's (I've add manure already!!)

Plot 3. Roots

Plot 4. Others. Im not sure what others are really..Im assuming its all the salad crops? Maybe you guys can tell me.

Im not going to grow any spuds.

[Nozebleed]

i added manure to my Pea/Bean and Brassica plots today...im just wondering if i have to dig/mix this in immedietly..or can i leave it raked across the surface until january and then dig it in?

[Nozebleed]

some photo's of my garden layout.

[Nozebleed]

Plot 1. greenhouse with pea/bean plot. added manure to the greenhouse too.

[Nozebleed]

Plot 1 rear of greenhouse.

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plot 1.

[Nozebleed]

can recommend a variety of pea and bean that really grow's well in our climate? thank you!

[Nozebleed]

Ok...i bought a whole load of seed for next year! i couldn't help myself..hopefully all seed will be ok with our climate..picked up some winter mix..green manure..which i'll sow next week!


Turnip "Snowball"
Turnip "Purple Top Milan"
Swede "Marian"
Kohl Rabi 'F1 Quickstar'
Cauliflower "All Year Round"
Cabbage "Wintergreen Offenham 3"
Beetroot "Boltardy"
Carrot 'Amsterdam Forcing 2'
Carrot 'F1 Flyaway'
Bean: French Bean Dwarf "Classic"
Bean: Runner Bean, Dwarf 'Hestia'
Pea, Mange tout "Oregon Sugar Pod"
Pea, Petit Pois "Waverex"
Cucumber "Marketmore"
Lettuce "All Year Round"
Pak Choi, Baby Bok Choi "Dwarf Canton White"
Leek "Gros Long d'Ete"
Onion, Spring Onion 'White Lisbon'
Tomato 'Roma VF'
Tomato 'Gardeners Delight' Organic
Broccoli "Early White Sprouting, White Eye"
Chilli Pepper "Habanero Orange"
Green Manure 'Winter Mix' 50 Grams

[Iskeraulin]

dont foget the most important of all squash.

especially butternut, sure buy a squash in store and harvest seeds.

regards

CH

[Blowin]

There's an element of 'deja vu' about your seed order. I was going to grow enough to stock Dunnes Stores until I realised that I didn't have space for all of them - and I've got a lot more than you.

Start preparing for your runner beans and peas now, side by side. Dig a trench for each, a good foot deep, line the bottom with 2ins of newspaper or old phone books, add grass mowings, food waste etc and manure but leave enough room for armfuls of stinging nettles on top when they grow again next year. If your ground is acid, add lime. Pile the soil back on top when the trench is more or less full, ready for your bean plants which are grown in seed trays.

For the beans you'll need 8ft sticks - find some roofers taking the battens off a roof and saw to length - placed in pairs down each side of the trench, a foot apart. Each pair should be crossed about 4ft above ground and a length of stick/batten placed horizontally in the crosses to keep the whole thing rigid. When the time comes, plant two plants per stick, one either side.

For peas, find some hazel or birch twigs about 6ft long ready for when the peas grow. If you leave it until the peas show, all the twigs will have leaves on.

With good preparation, virtually any runner bean variety will succeed and, if you like what you get, save the last of the crop for 2012 seed.

For peas, I've been absolutely staggered at the results I've had from Hurst Greenshaft, growing over 6ft and cropping like crazy.

To avoid onerous thinning, which tends to disturb what you intend to leave to grow, plant single seeds in yoghurt pots or similar and then plant them 1ft apart in their permanent home as soon as they show. That way you'll have a uniform row without wasted spaces.

[Blowin]

PS- The final para was intended to refer to swedes. I got carried away..