Carrots & Garlic - not rotating these crops?

I have found the perfect spots in my garden for growing garlic and carrots and I've got the soil right so I'm thinking of not rotating these two crops.

In the case of the carrots I have a raised bed enclosed with a curtain of fine nylon mesh. Inside this enclosure I first diag all the soil over, removing any weeds and then dig wide and deep trenches - about 8" (20cms) wide x 10" (25cms) deep. I fill these trenches with a good compost into which I sow the seed and add fertiliser ("Growmore", generally) and water. So, the soil is, virtually, replaced every year. Is there anything I have fogotten? Any little bugs or anything I should do to the soil, in spite of my using compost?

The same goes for my garlic - it's not in an enclosure but the soil is good and, similarly, replaced each year )or will be!) and it's in a sunny and warm area, which is just the in the right place and of the right size for the amount of garlic I want to grow.

I'd be grateful for any ideas, suggestions or comments.

Regards,

 

It's worth a shot, I reckon, since you're growing your carrots and garlic in fresh compost in the ground. But I wouldn't want to try this with the brassica family. You'll just have to keep a close watch on your veggies and if they don't thrive, you'll know you have to revert to crop rotation.

Mind you, I've always had some doubts about how effective crop rotation in very small gardens can be, especially if you compost everything, making your garden into a closed system.

Some old gardening books say you can grow onions in the same place each year. I've never done it, though.

 

I am in a rush to go out, so I haven't got time to check. but I seem to remember that the carrot root fly stays in the soil and that is a good reason for moving them If I am wrong I apologise. You could try mixing the garlic with the carrots, it puts off most pests.

 

Hi Flinty,

I'm only thinking of doing it with the carrots and garlic. At least that reduces the amount of rotation I have to do. I did it this year and got the best carrots and straightest carrosts I've ever grown. The garlic was no better than before but that's always been good. Crop rotation is, I think probably a good idea, for all the reasons given in books but, because my carrots are inside a 2 1/2 ft high very fine nylon mesh (left in place all the year round) around a raised bed (about 10" high I feel that the carrot fly doesn't stand a chance and, indeed, I didn't have any problems, of any sort, with any of my carrots this year - hence my question.

 

Oh by the way, Flinty, you must be on the same allotment as I am! I'm sure it's on a flint mine! One job everyone has to do, at least, once a month is to collect all the flint stones that have come to the surface in the intervening time. That's why most people have flint paths around and across their allotments - it gives them somewhere to throw the stones!

 

Hi Quaedor36

Crop rotation is a sensible policy but it'll be interesting to see what happens if you just change the growing medium, rather than the location, each year. You seem to have got good defences against carrot fly but probably the greater risk is from viral diseases attacking the garlic so watch out for early signs of it going manky.

Good to hear you're a "Flint Farmer" too. I've also made flint paths and spread flints at the side of the house where I can't grow anything. Even my house is faced with flint...

 

Hi Bovey,

The nylon curtain (it's about 3 1/2 ft high) stops the carrot fly getting to the carrots and it's never emoved - should last about ten years but whatever, it's be long enough for me! Mixing the garlic with the carrots isn't really on because of the planting distances and the size of my raised bed.