Anyone tried 'polyculture' growing...?

This weekend I planted out my first proper 'polyculture' veg bed. Polyculture growing just means mixing plants in together, rather than having each crop in separate rows. The weather has been so rainy, I ended up with a all sorts of different seedlings all ready to go out at once, so I dug over one part of the veg garden and put everything in! There was a bit of method to the madness - ie salads near the path where I can reach them, tall beans near the north side so they didn't shade everything else. Growing this way is meant to help the plants - different crops can grow nearer each other as they are not competing for the same things, companion plans can be tucked in together, and pests find it harder to reach the tasty bits that they like. Or that's the theory, anyway! Has anyone else tried growing like this? How did you get on? I'll try to update my progress here and at alderandash.wordpress.com

Last year in the veg garden: it's a jungle out there!

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Permalink Reply by Jan Willetts on June 18, 2012 at 12:36

I like this idea, can't bear to see bare soil in the garden!

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Permalink Reply by Alderandash on June 18, 2012 at 18:12

Hi Jan - I'm hoping that having everything pretty crowded in will help out-compete some of the weeds, too! When I plant in rows, I do often use mulches in between rows to cover the bare soil (grass cuttings seem to work well...). But hopefully the 'polyveg'/mixed veg method will mean there isn't much soil to cover - we'll see!

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Permalink Reply by Colin Robinson on June 18, 2012 at 21:31

Been doing it for a few years in combination with no-dig and it works fine for me. I have this thing about straight rows and, like Jan, I hate to see bare soil so as soon as one thing comes out another goes in its place. It does mean that you have to have a constant supply of module-grown plants ready to go out but it certainly maximizes what can be grown in a small space. It also means you have very little trouble with weeds.

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Permalink Reply by Alderandash on June 18, 2012 at 22:25

Hi - great to hear, that's really encouraging - thank you! I do like the idea of having 'little trouble with weeds...' Can I ask, do you do any sort of crop rotation each year? Or does everything just go in together - presumably, without too much of anything in one patch, that must help stop build-up of nasties? With the no-dig - do you dig at all? I'm on heavy clay, and if I didn't dig a little bit, I'm not sure I could get any sort of tilth at all to put seedlings into. That said, I did a no-dig potato bed last year - just heaps and heaps of muck and mulch, and planted into that, and it worked well (apart from the mice eating the spuds, anyway!) Sorry, lots of questions...

Colin Robinson said:

Been doing it for a few years in combination with no-dig and it works fine for me. I have this thing about straight rows and, like Jan, I hate to see bare soil so as soon as one thing comes out another goes in its place. It does mean that you have to have a constant supply of module-grown plants ready to go out but it certainly maximizes what can be grown in a small space. It also means you have very little trouble with weeds.

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Permalink Reply by Colin Robinson on June 18, 2012 at 22:57

I started this particular veg garden from a lawn six years ago so I had to dig initially but now I just apply heavy mulches of home-made compost and let the worms do the work. Most crops are module grown and planted out with a good root ball so I don't need to faff about outside with seedlings. Large seeds like peas and beans are often sown direct but they are big enough to take care of themselves. I do rotate as some staple crops like potatoes and onions are needed in large quantities so it's simpler just to bung em in the same bed. The block planted/polyculture beds move around as well but I wouldn't get hung up on rotation. I know people who've grown potatoes in the same place for five years with no build up of disease!

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Permalink Reply by Alderandash on June 18, 2012 at 23:09

thanks! Great tip about planting things out at a bigger size...I can see how littler seedlings would get swamped in amongst everything else.

Colin Robinson said:

I started this particular veg garden from a lawn six years ago so I had to dig initially but now I just apply heavy mulches of home-made compost and let the worms do the work. Most crops are module grown and planted out with a good root ball so I don't need to faff about outside with seedlings. Large seeds like peas and beans are often sown direct but they are big enough to take care of themselves. I do rotate as some staple crops like potatoes and onions are needed in large quantities so it's simpler just to bung em in the same bed. The block planted/polyculture beds move around as well but I wouldn't get hung up on rotation. I know people who've grown potatoes in the same place for five years with no build up of disease!

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Permalink Reply by Alderandash on June 20, 2012 at 23:46

I've just planted out my sweetcorn...I'm trying out another polyculture method - the '3 sisters', where you grow sweetcorn, beans and squash together. I think it was originally a Native American idea. In theory the corn provides support for the beans, the beans fix nitrogen, and the squash shade out the weeds. I only managed 2 'sisters' (corn and squash) this time - as I've read that in the UK climate, the beans just swamp the corn as the latter doesn't grow fast enough or high enough. Anyone else tried this? Does it work?!