9 Veg Polyculture
I experimented with Patrick Whitefield’s 9 veg polyculture (from the Earthcare Manual) in a client's garden Spring 2012
Method
In early spring, broadcast the following separately –
-all on same area of prepared soil.
As the radishes come up first you can harvest them and plant cabbage seed in the gaps left by them. Pick the lettuce when the plants are quite small, perhaps June, and plant french beans in their places.
Harvest the rest as they become ripe and parsnips and cabbages should take you through the winter.
Then in Autumn fill the gaps left by harvesting with broad beans or garlic or let the gaps be filled with seed fallen from stuff that bolted or flowered.
Garlic or Broad beans ready following summer.
(Whitefield doesn’t say but I presume you repeat the process yearly, perhaps experimenting with different crops and pest deterrents).
I experimented with Patrick Whitefield’s 9 veg polyculture (from the Earthcare Manual) in a client's garden Spring 2012
Method
In early spring, broadcast the following separately –
- Radishes
- Parsnip
- Variety of lettuces
-all on same area of prepared soil.
As the radishes come up first you can harvest them and plant cabbage seed in the gaps left by them. Pick the lettuce when the plants are quite small, perhaps June, and plant french beans in their places.
Harvest the rest as they become ripe and parsnips and cabbages should take you through the winter.
Then in Autumn fill the gaps left by harvesting with broad beans or garlic or let the gaps be filled with seed fallen from stuff that bolted or flowered.
Garlic or Broad beans ready following summer.
(Whitefield doesn’t say but I presume you repeat the process yearly, perhaps experimenting with different crops and pest deterrents).
Principles applied by above method:
1. Stacking in sand time (using vertical as well as horizontal space plus keeping something growing in the soil all year round)
2. Each element has many functions (fixing nitrogen, food source, shade provider, pest deterrent…)
3. Working with nature (self-seeding, deterring pests naturally with calendula/dill)
4. Least effort, maximum effect (broadcasting seed, again self-seeding, plants that shade and conserve moisture therefore less watering)
5. Everything gardens (elements are all there for a reason)
6. The problem is the solution (small growing area for example)
7. Yield is limitless (well, pretty good in any case!) (see ( 1) Stacking)
What did well?
As you can see in photos, the lettuce! Plus the fact there have been no pests as yet in that corner of garden, including slugs.
What I’d do differently…
The lettuce definitely dominated and the garden users didn’t really harvest it frequently enough for the beans to have space to grow through. Next Spring I’ll broadcast the lettuce more thinly and have pea sticks in place for beans to grow up. I have cut down most of the lettuce ( it bolted due to lack of watering and harvesting) and laid it across surface as a mulch, which is always beneficial.
I don’t know what happened to the parsnip seeds, dill and calendula! Maybe the lettuce was just too successful…
I will still plant garlic or broad beans in Autumn to give the soil some balance. Garlic is sometimes used to cleanse the soil as it’s a natural fungicide and broad beans are well known nitrogen-fixers. (However from companion planting received wisdom I know they don’t help each other to grow so it’s one or the other).
As you can see in photos, the lettuce! Plus the fact there have been no pests as yet in that corner of garden, including slugs.
What I’d do differently…
The lettuce definitely dominated and the garden users didn’t really harvest it frequently enough for the beans to have space to grow through. Next Spring I’ll broadcast the lettuce more thinly and have pea sticks in place for beans to grow up. I have cut down most of the lettuce ( it bolted due to lack of watering and harvesting) and laid it across surface as a mulch, which is always beneficial.
I don’t know what happened to the parsnip seeds, dill and calendula! Maybe the lettuce was just too successful…
I will still plant garlic or broad beans in Autumn to give the soil some balance. Garlic is sometimes used to cleanse the soil as it’s a natural fungicide and broad beans are well known nitrogen-fixers. (However from companion planting received wisdom I know they don’t help each other to grow so it’s one or the other).