My Personal Rotation: Summary

It is time now to summarize and evaluate my plan.

Bed 1:  First Early Potatoes – Leeks – Climbing French Beans/Squash – Calabrese – Autumn & Winter   Cabbages – Carrots & Parsnips  

Summary: 6 crops in 4 years

Bed 2: Second Early Potatoes – Assorted Greens – Peas – Field Beans – Kale – Cucumbers/Summer Squashes/Dill/Coriander.

Summary:  6 crops in 4 years

Bed 3:  Early Maincrop Potatoes – Onions – Dwarf French Beans – Broad Beans – Broccoli/Turnip Tops – Sweetcorn. 

Summary: 6 crops in 4 years

Bed 4:  Maincrop Potatoes – Onions – Broad Beans – Brussel Sprouts/Turnips – Beetroot/Celeriac/Chicory 

Summary: 5 crops in 4 years

Bed 5:   Maincrop Potatoes – Garlic/Shallots – Beans (for drying) – Summer Cabbage/Cauliflower – late Cauliflower/Swede/Kohlrabi/Spring Cabbage – Squash/Pumpkin

Summary:  6 crops in 4 years

(Bed 6: Runner Beans)  1 crop every year

Grand Total: 30 beds of vegetables per year out of 20 beds + 1 fence!

 (Plus a seedbed and a holding bed!)

Of course, as I have spent the last few weeks working out this system, I have realized that I am asking a lot of myself. Seeds need to be sown & planted out with almost military precision.  And I know my limitations. Planning and organizing mathematically is a strength. Unfortunately attention to detail day-to-day is a weakness.  So to help me achieve this ambitious scheme I need to buy myself a planning diary where I note in advance what needs to be done each week of the year, and then have the self-discipline to actually follow it!

Also, although I have the allotment just about ready to put this plan into practise, I wasn’t thinking far enough ahead earlier in the season. So the assorted greens that ought to have gone nto Bed 2 after the second early potatoes, I actually put into the miscellaneous break. The result is that now, late November, I am having to dig up perfectly good chard plants in order to prepare the bed with manure for next season’s potatoes, plants that will not now be shooting with tender young leaves next spring!

Comparing my plan with my wish list of vegetables that I drew up last month, I have mostly achieved what I wanted and in some cases exceeded it. For example, I didn’t include any herbs in my wish list, neither did I think about field beans. I did include celery, but have decided this first year to concentrate on celeriac instead. Apart from the odd tinkering here with what fraction of a bed a crop requires, I have done what I set out to do. Plus, of course, finding room for a seedbed and a holding bed, something I hadn't taken into account originally.

Now all that remains is to put it into practise!