Plotting and Planning


The festive season is over and the beginning of a new year is a wonderful time to look forward to Spring and the growing season. I love to look through the seed catalogues which plop through the letterbox and decide what new and exciting crops to try on the veg plot. To be fair, it’s usually just a different cultivar of something I’ve grown before – but it’s still new! This year I’ve decided to go multi-coloured with Radish “Rainbow Mixed” and Carrot F1 “Rainbow”. I will sow the radish next month in the polytunnel once it’s warmed up a bit. Carrots will go outside at the end of March.
Rainbow Carrots F1 from the HenSafe Smallholding
Rainbow Veg!

Planning the vegetable plot rotation is another essential winter job. It helps provide the best nutrients for your crops, avoids build-up of pests and diseases in the soil and can help with weed control. Typical problems that you may have if you don’t rotate are club root on your brassicas and white rot on your onions. Not nice!
There are heaps of plans available online, depending what you want to grow and how many beds you have, but I find this video from Monty Don at BBC Gardeners World a very helpful reminder:

Learnings:
*Remember your plot rotations to avoid a build-up pests and diseases.
*It’s always best to decide what you want to eat before you plan what to sow!
*Try something new and brighten up your plate