Allotment plot planner
Give the size of your plot and how many beds you want, and the planner shares it out and sets a crop rotation for the next three or four years. Print it for the shed wall or send the link to whoever shares the plot.
Plan your plot
Measure your plot, choose three or four beds, and the planner shares it out and shows what goes where for the next few years.
Your 4-year plan
Your plot is 25 m by 10 m: 250 m², 2,691 ft², or 9.9 square rods.
- 1Bed 1, Legumes in year 1
4.64 m by 10 m, 46.4 m² - 2Bed 2, Brassicas in year 1
4.64 m by 10 m, 46.4 m² - 3Bed 3, Potatoes in year 1
4.64 m by 10 m, 46.4 m² - 4Bed 4, Onions & roots in year 1
4.64 m by 10 m, 46.4 m² - PPermanent crops, Permanent
4.64 m by 10 m, 46.4 m²
The rotation
| Year | Bed 1 | Bed 2 | Bed 3 | Bed 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Legumes | Brassicas | Potatoes | Onions & roots |
| Year 2 | Brassicas | Potatoes | Onions & roots | Legumes |
| Year 3 | Potatoes | Onions & roots | Legumes | Brassicas |
| Year 4 | Onions & roots | Legumes | Brassicas | Potatoes |
- Peas and beans
- Peas, broad beans, French beans and runner beans. Legumes is the name for the pea and bean family. They take up a lot of room, so a four-bed plan gives them a bed of their own.
- Cabbage family
- Cabbages, Brussels sprouts, cauliflowers, kale, kohl rabi, oriental greens, radishes, swedes and turnips. Brassicas is the cabbage family. Moving them every year helps keep clubroot, a soil disease, from building up.
- Potatoes
- Potatoes and tomatoes. Peppers and aubergines are in the same family but can go anywhere. They share blight and other troubles, and the big leafy tops smother weeds for the next crop.
- Onions and roots
- Onions, garlic, shallots and leeks; beetroot, carrots, celeriac, celery, Florence fennel, parsley and parsnips. Moving the onion family helps against onion white rot. Swedes and turnips are roots to eat but belong with the cabbages.
Each bed moves one step a year: Legumes, then Brassicas, then Potatoes, then Onions & roots, then back to the start.
Keep out of the rotation: Rhubarb; Asparagus; Globe and Jerusalem artichokes; Fruit bushes and canes (currants, gooseberries, raspberries); Strawberries; Perennial herbs.
Can go anywhere there is room: Courgettes, marrows, pumpkins, squashes and cucumbers; lettuce, endive and chicory; sweetcorn. Put them where there is room, but not in the same spot year after year.
Your plan is also kept in this browser, on this device only, so it is here when you come back. Nothing is sent to us.
How to use it
Measure the two sides of your plot in metres, feet or yards. If your site gives plots in rods, poles or perches, choose that instead and give the long side: the planner works out the short one. Pick three or four beds and the width of the paths between them. Add a strip for permanent crops if you grow rhubarb, asparagus or fruit.
Open "Name the beds" to call them what you call them on the plot ("Shed end", "By the tap"), set which group each bed starts on, and keep notes. If you grew potatoes in a bed last year, start it on the next group. The plan stays in your browser on this device, so it's there next time. Nothing is sent to us.
How to read the plan
The drawing shows your plot to proportion, with the long side across and the beds as strips. Under it, the table runs down the years and across the beds. Each bed moves on one group a year, so each group comes back to the same ground only once every three or four years. That gap helps keep soil troubles such as clubroot, a disease of the cabbage family, and onion white rot from building up.
Crop rotation means moving each group of related vegetables to a fresh bed each year. The groups are potatoes (with tomatoes); peas and beans, which gardeners call legumes; the cabbage family, or brassicas, which also takes in swedes, turnips and radishes; and onions with root crops such as carrots, beetroot and parsnips. On a three-bed plan, peas, beans, onions and roots share one bed.
How it is worked out
The groups and the order they move in follow the RHS guide to crop rotation: on four beds, peas and beans, then cabbages, then potatoes, then onions and roots; on three beds, potatoes, then peas, beans, onions and roots together, then cabbages. The RHS also keeps perennials such as rhubarb and asparagus out of the rotation, and says squashes, salads and sweetcorn can go wherever there's room.
The beds are equal strips across the long side, after taking off the paths. A rod (also called a pole or a perch) is 5.5 yards, or 5.0292 metres, so a square rod is about 25.3 m². The National Allotment Society gives a traditional full plot as 10 poles, roughly 250 square metres; worked out exactly it is 252.9 m². The area converter under the planner uses the same figures.
More for the plot
For when to sow each crop, see the vegetable planting calendar. Before you plant out anything tender, check the average frost dates for a weather station near you.
Garden art prints to go with it
Questions people ask
How big is a 10 pole allotment?
About 253 square metres. A pole (also called a rod or perch) is 5.0292 metres, so a square pole is about 25.3 m² and ten of them make 252.9 m². The National Allotment Society calls it roughly 250 m²: for example, a plot 10 metres by 25.
Is a three or four year rotation better?
Four beds give peas, beans and the onion family more room and a longer gap between cabbage crops. Three beds suit a plot where potatoes and cabbages are the main crops. Both follow the RHS orders.
Where do courgettes, squashes and sweetcorn go?
Anywhere there is room. The RHS says squashes, salads and sweetcorn can go wherever suits, as long as they are not in the same spot year after year.
What about rhubarb, asparagus and fruit?
Keep them out of the rotation. They stay put for years, so the planner can give them their own strip at the far end of the plot.
Is my plan saved?
Yes, in your own browser on this device, and in the link if you copy it. Nothing is sent to us. Clear the saved plan with the button under the planner.