Observation

It has been said that you shouldn't plant/build anything in your garden/plot before you have observed it for a year. Not before you've observed the way the sun travels throughout the year, where it rises and sets; where trees and buildings cast shadows, the direction of the prevailing wind, where the frost pockets are, where snow lies the longest, where the rainwater puddles or drains.............and so on.

I'm sure there are few of us who would have the patience to wait a year before doing anything but, at this time of year, when the sun is at its lowest in the sky and there's overnight frost and plenty of rainwater, its worth taking some time to evaluate your plot. 

After many years of living here, I thought I knew my garden but I was wrong.  There is a low point, in the south east corner, where the frost lingers all day. The frost is on the grass but its also on the beetroot and leeks which are the last of the overwintering crops in situ. When I planted them there it was a bright sunny spot, where I also grew beans and peas, but they, of course, are long gone and unaffected by the frost.

The higher, north-east corner is the opposite - its shaded by a couple of ash trees in summer, but, at this time of year, they've lost their leaves and cast no shade. Its quite open and sunny in January.

Solution!! This year, I'll plant the overwintering crops in the north east corner and the courgettes and summer stuff in the south east.

Sounds like a plan veggie!

I can just can't imagine the allotment committee agreeing with me  leaving my plot for a year to suss out the lie of the land!!!!!!!

I have learnt this year that no.1 GH is a lot darker at this time of year than new boy GH, the mere 3-4ft up the incline allows the winter sun to find new boy above neighbouring trees, where no.1 is still overshadowed. Hopefully this will translate into a warmer environment in spring. I also have to consider the orientation of CFB rows so as not to block the sun.

I have learnt this year that no.1 GH is a lot darker at this time of year than new boy GH, the mere 3-4ft up the incline allows the winter sun to find new boy  above neighbouring trees, where no.1 is still overshadowed.  Hopefully this will translate into a warmer environment in spring.  I also have to consider the orientation of CFB rows so as not to block the sun.

My greenhouse was fine until the numpty on the plot behind me built a flaming shed next to it.

Nice observations, VC.

I assumed that I didn't need to do this with my new garden. after all it was just a former rough pasture where about a third of the topsoil had been removed, and much of the rest was made up of piled up and redistributed subsoil and boulders. What could I have possibly have learned?

Where the springs appear during heavy rain, and where the water table is just below the surface, for two! A few trees and shrubs have been moved more than once!

Its all change in the garden - thanks to my "Observations". I'm playing musical beds.
The cold frosty bed is going to be left fallow, the warmer bed where I grow courgettes and beans will grow these again, a raspberry bed is going to be a summer veg bed and a larger fenced patch, currently doing nothing is going to be a Winter veg bed.
Sorted.

the warmer bed where I grow courgettes and beans will grow these again

Micro-climate definitely puts a damper on my crop rotation too - thankfully it's not really necessary in no-dig gardening, unless you encounter a persistent soil-based disease.

I do know from observing last year that the two beds nearest the fence get partially shaded in the afternoons (surprise, surprise!), so I'm now wondering if I should change my planting plan and put the outdoor tomatoes in a less shady spot. Hmm...

I don't do Crop rotation - just bung things into an available space!!

I don't do Crop rotation - just bung things into an available space!!

Same here! Something always fails to thrive, so spots open up for spare seedlings or a quick catch-crop of radishes or whatever. The German field marshal who came up with the saying "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy" was clearly a gardener

I find also that a lot of crops naturally rotate themselves, just because the place I planted them previously isn't empty when it's time to sow them again. For example I'll be following my broad beans with kale, so my Wizard field beans won't be able to go there in October. Instead I'll sow them where the outdoor tomatoes were, and the tomatoes will have to go somewhere else next May.