Being a primary school teacher means i get more extended holidays than most people. This enables me to spend lots of time out in the garden during the main planting time of Easter, but also to get on top of things during the Winter season. The last day or so has been spent looking at the successes, failures and ‘missing parts!’ of last year’s veg planting plan and doing lots of scribbling and crossing out to improve it.
The main changes are:
1. The plot will be a lot fuller (i forgot to plant many ‘leaves’ this year and hardly any winter veg that grew.)
2. There will be no flowers growing in the beds (they will have their own pots…somewhere as they seemed to take over, particularly the sunflowers, as the beneficial insects are only good if there is space to grow!)
3. Potatoes will be added into the rotation (i’ve decided that First Earlies can go in before the leeks need the space.)
4. The colours have been changed to make the plan easier to read.
I have included the ‘winter veg planner’ below. Click it or print to make it easier to read. This is the best quality i could get it before it became too large for the page! Things like tomatoes, sweetcorn, lettuces etc and herbs will all be grown in pots, hanging baskets or in the beds where there is space (!?). I will add a section for these later next week. I know a few people have been following some parts of the plan. I hope that things have worked, and would love to hear about any successes, failures, questions or recommendations!
I know the plan may look a bit ‘much’ but i know that this way, we are more likely, via the 4 year rotation, to have less diseases in each veg family, to know exactly what and where we can grow and to grow plants in an order so that the previous years plants prepare the soil for the next years!
Happy planning!
Vegmonkey and the Mrs. 
Very nice! I should be so organized, especially grouping similar families together. (I admit I’ll be more motivated to do so when I know I’ll be in my house for more than a year and a half.)
You’ve been a busy bee.
I wish I would of done half the things I said I would do.
looking good , well planed and i would love to do japanese onions next year .
This is completely unrelated to your post, but you mentioned in a reply on my blog that you’ve been asking about an allotment in Cheltenham and are now stuck on a huge waiting list.
I was thinking, if you don’t mind a 15 min to get to your plot drive you should think about putting your name down for the one in Upton St Leonards (cute little villiage on the Cheltenham edge of Gloucester) that I’ve got my name down for. The list is much shorter than the 100+ you’re on although it doesn’t seem to move very fast. I’ve been 2nd since last April and someone else I know joined around August time and was told they were 7th…
Just a though, it’s managed by Stroud district council and I can pass on the name and phone number of the guy I spoke to if you like… 🙂
hi veg monkey – i have visited you before and wonder if you can help with 3 questions:-
What should I put it my dug soil now that I have lifted my swedes? some were good some had flea beetle – ground needs cleaning??
do you know any informative sites for polytunnel cultivation?
what shall I do about my mole infestation?
many thanks in anticipation – even if you cant help
Rita (big digger on grow your own,grapevine)
Hi Rita, roots need to follow brassicas so maybe some onions in a couple of months, or carrots/parsnips. Check out my planting plan if it helps! Where polytunnels are concerned, i am sadly not that fortunate. On the mole front, the best i can suggest is a large spade / shotgun and a lot of patience…
What is the square footage / meter-age (is that even a word) of your garden?
Heya, each bed is 1.2m by 2.4m and there are four, plus we use pots all around, and hanging baskets.
So bed size is 2.8 each, so 11.2m, give or take.
Hope that is useful? Is yours something similar?