Empty bed
What to plant after potatoes
The short answer
After early potatoes in July there is still time for quick crops such as radish, rocket, lettuce, spinach, pak choi and turnips, and for spring cabbage to stand through winter. After maincrop in September it is winter salads, overwintering onions, or a green manure.
Don't follow potatoes with potatoes or tomatoes. That is where the problems that build up come from.
Early potatoes leave a bed in high summer with weeks of growing time left. Maincrop leaves it in autumn. The answer is different for each, and in both cases the one thing to avoid is more potatoes or tomatoes.
Early potatoes lifted in July
What Vercro's catalogue has in its sowing window when the bed clears in mid July, checked against potatoes with the same code as the Vercro app. No frost date is applied here; “ready about” counts the catalogue's growing time from mid July.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potatoes in the bedMarch to July | January: no | February: no | March: yes | April: yes | May: yes | June: yes | July: yes | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Then radishJuly to August | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: yes | August: yes | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Or spring cabbageJuly to March | January: yes | February: yes | March: yes | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: yes | December: yes |
Quick crops (2)
Ready in about eight weeks or less.
- RadishSow outside. Ready about August.
- RocketSow outside. Ready about August.
Need longer (18)
Worth it only if your first frost is late enough. The tool below checks that for your area.
- MizunaSow outside. Ready about August to September.
- Oriental MustardSow outside. Ready about August to September.
- SpinachSow outside. Ready about August to September.
- LettuceSow outside. Ready about August to September.
- Pak choiSow outside. Ready about August to September.
- ChardSow outside. Ready about September.
- French BeanSow outside. Ready about September.
- Kohlrabi (Autumn)Sow outside. Ready about September.
- KohlrabiSow outside. Ready about September.
- TurnipSow outside. Ready about September.
- BeetrootSow outside. Ready about September to October.
- Chinese CabbageSow outside. Ready about September to October.
- Lamb's LettuceSow outside. Ready about September to October.
- Pointed CabbageSow outside. Ready about September to October.
- Spring OnionSow outside. Ready about September.
- Turnip (Autumn)Sow outside. Ready about September to October.
- CarrotSow outside. Ready about September to October.
- Kale (Autumn)Raise indoors, then plant. Ready about November to December.
Stand through winter (1)
Not racing this year's frost: they stand over winter and crop next year.
- Spring cabbageSow. Ready about February to March.
Green manures (1)
To cover and feed the soil rather than to eat.
- Green ManureSow outside. Ready about August to September.
Nothing in its window this month is flagged to wait because of potatoes.
Maincrop lifted in September
What Vercro's catalogue has in its sowing window when the bed clears in mid September, checked against potatoes with the same code as the Vercro app. No frost date is applied here; “ready about” counts the catalogue's growing time from mid September.
By September the choice narrows to quick salads, crops that stand through winter, and green manures.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potatoes in the bedMarch to September | January: no | February: no | March: yes | April: yes | May: yes | June: yes | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Then radishSeptember to October | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: yes | October: yes | November: no | December: no |
| Or winter lettuceSeptember to December | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: yes | October: yes | November: yes | December: yes |
Quick crops (2)
Ready in about eight weeks or less.
- RadishSow outside. Ready about October.
- RocketSow outside. Ready about October.
Need longer (11)
Worth it only if your first frost is late enough. The tool below checks that for your area.
- MizunaSow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Oriental MustardSow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Pak Choi (Autumn)Sow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Rocket (Winter)Sow outside. Ready about October to November.
- SpinachSow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Spinach (Autumn)Sow outside. Ready about October to November.
- LettuceSow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Pak choiSow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Lamb's LettuceSow outside. Ready about November to December.
- Perpetual SpinachSow outside. Ready about November to December.
- Spring OnionSow outside. Ready about November.
Stand through winter (3)
Not racing this year's frost: they stand over winter and crop next year.
- Winter LettuceRaise indoors, then plant. Ready about November to December.
- Winter SpinachSow outside. Ready about November to December.
- Overwintering OnionsSow outside. Ready about June to July.
Green manures (3)
To cover and feed the soil rather than to eat.
- Green ManureSow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Mustard (Green Manure)Sow outside. Ready about October to November.
- Phacelia (Green Manure)Sow outside. Ready about October to November.
Nothing in its window this month is flagged to wait because of potatoes.
Why the family matters
Potatoes are in the potato and tomato family (Solanaceae). The problem that really persists is potato cyst nematode (eelworm): the RHS says its eggs can survive up to ten years in some soils, and that populations build up where potatoes or tomatoes are grown often. For infested ground it suggests at least five to six years.
Blight is different. The RHS says it overwinters mainly in infected potatoes left in the ground, and most garden infections arrive on the wind. It still advises rotating potatoes over at least four years, with no tomatoes in that soil either.
Worth knowing about potatoes beds
Lift every tuber
Potatoes left behind come up next year as volunteers and can carry blight over. Dig thoroughly.No tomatoes next
The RHS says not to use old potato soil for tomatoes, including greenhouse tomatoes.Early or maincrop decides it
A July bed has a summer ahead of it; a September bed has an autumn. See both lists above.A green manure is a fair choice
If nothing will get going in time, a green manure covers the soil. The RHS lists several for late summer; see which family each is in.
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
In the Vercro Garden plan, when a bed that held potatoes clears, “What could go here” lists what is in its sowing window and uses your location's frost date to say whether each will finish. The bed keeps a record that potatoes grew there, so when you later plan potatoes or tomatoes for it, Vercro can say so and 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 potatoes; 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.
- Potato cyst nematodes, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Potato and tomato blight, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Potatoes: grow your own, 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.