Empty bed
What to plant after brassicas
The short answer
After summer brassicas in August: spinach, chard, lettuce, winter lettuce, overwintering onions, or a green manure that isn't mustard. After winter brassicas in March: peas, broad beans, carrots, lettuce, spinach, onions, leeks and parsnips, then tender crops later in spring.
Cabbages, sprouts and kale can occupy a bed for most of a year. When they finally clear, the rule is simple and wider than most people expect: no brassicas, and that includes turnips, swede, radish, rocket and mustard.
Summer cabbage or calabrese cleared in August
What Vercro's catalogue has in its sowing window when the bed clears in mid August, checked against brassicas with the same code as the Vercro app. No frost date is applied here; “ready about” counts the catalogue's growing time from mid August.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brassicas in the bedMay to August | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: yes | June: yes | July: yes | August: yes | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Then spinachAugust to October | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: no | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: no | December: no |
| Or winter lettuceAugust to November | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: no | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: yes | December: no |
Need longer (7)
Worth it only if your first frost is late enough. The tool below checks that for your area.
- SpinachSow outside. Ready about September to October.
- Spinach (Autumn)Sow outside. Ready about September to October.
- LettuceSow outside. Ready about September to October.
- ChardSow outside. Ready about October.
- Lamb's LettuceSow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Perpetual SpinachSow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Spring OnionSow outside. Ready about October.
Stand through winter (2)
Not racing this year's frost: they stand over winter and crop next year.
- Winter LettuceRaise indoors, then plant. Ready about October to November.
- Overwintering OnionsSow outside. Ready about May to June.
Green manures (2)
To cover and feed the soil rather than to eat.
- Green ManureSow outside. Ready about September to October.
- Phacelia (Green Manure)Sow outside. Ready about September to October.
Best to wait (15)
In their sowing window, but the same family as brassicas. Put them in a different bed.
Radish, Mizuna, Mustard (Green Manure), Oriental Mustard, Rocket, Pak Choi (Autumn), Rocket (Winter), Pak choi, Kohlrabi (Autumn), Kohlrabi, Turnip, Chinese Cabbage, Turnip (Autumn), Kale (Autumn), Spring cabbage
Winter brassicas cleared in March
What Vercro's catalogue has in its sowing window when the bed clears in mid March, checked against brassicas with the same code as the Vercro app. No frost date is applied here; “ready about” counts the catalogue's growing time from mid March.
Sprouts, winter cabbage and kale often hold the bed until spring. Clearing in March opens the whole new season.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brassicas in the bedMay to March | January: yes | February: yes | March: yes | April: no | May: yes | June: yes | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: yes | December: yes |
| Then spinachMarch to May | January: no | February: no | March: yes | April: yes | May: yes | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
Need longer (11)
Worth it only if your first frost is late enough. The tool below checks that for your area.
- SpinachSow outside. Ready about April to May.
- LettuceSow outside. Ready about April to May.
- Lamb's LettuceSow outside. Ready about May to June.
- PeaSow outside. Ready about May to June.
- Spring OnionSow outside. Ready about May.
- CarrotSow outside. Ready about May to June.
- Broad BeanSow outside. Ready about June to September.
- LeekSow outside. Ready about June to September.
- Garlic (Spring)Sow outside. Ready about July to October.
- OnionSow outside. Ready about July.
- ParsnipSow outside. Ready about July to September.
Green manures (1)
To cover and feed the soil rather than to eat.
- Green ManureSow outside. Ready about April to May.
Best to wait (8)
In their sowing window, but the same family as brassicas. Put them in a different bed.
Radish, Mizuna, Oriental Mustard, Rocket, Turnip, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprout
Why the family matters
The cabbage family (Brassicaceae) is the one where rotation matters most in Vercro. The RHS says clubroot's resting spores can contaminate soil for up to 20 years and affect sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, swedes and radishes.
The RHS rotation plans put brassicas after peas and beans. After brassicas, the plans move on to another group: in the RHS three-year plan, potatoes follow.
Worth knowing about brassicas beds
Mustard is a brassica
As a green manure it should not be followed by other brassicas, because it could encourage clubroot (RHS).Rotation is not a cure
If clubroot is already in the bed, rotation alone won’t clear it. The RHS lists liming acid soil, drainage and resistant varieties.Don’t move soil around
Soil on boots and tools spreads clubroot (RHS).A long occupancy
Winter brassicas hold the bed until spring, so plan the next crop for the new season, not the autumn.
Check it for your bed and your frost date
Pick when it came out and add your usual first frost (or your postcode). The tool opens with your answer.
How Vercro handles this in a real garden
Vercro files turnips, radish, rocket and mustard as brassicas because its taxonomy is botanical, not by use. When a brassica bed clears, the rotation check marks every one of them to go elsewhere, and can name a free bed where the family hasn't grown.
What this page can't tell you
The honest limits
Sowing months are a national calendar, not your garden's. We can't see your soil, how much room is left, or what else is still growing in the bed. The rotation check looks only at brassicas; your bed's earlier history matters too.
Keep going
Where this comes from
Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- Club root, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Crop rotation, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Green manures, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
Let each empty bed tell you what could go in
In the Vercro Garden plan, a bed that has come free shows what could go there next, using your location's frost date and what that bed has grown before.