Comments on: Polyculture Garden Introduction

By: J Merritt

J Merritt — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

polyculture manipulation of time and space to achieve at least 3 harvests from the same space per year. I would argue yield for same space. trellis systems add space also for peas, beans. as does the corn. onions mixed with the cabbage repell moths. beneficial and 2 crops. I like using mounds of buried compost, and plant in between rows. at the same time hand broadcasting greens flowers and mixed seeds, and letting some volunteers grow. a plot with a transition from rows to poly to perma with chickens and rabbits, with fish ponds. rows to keep seeds stable, poly for new f1s. interesting to say the least. buy last years seed rack and till it in an area let it grow.

By: Raymond Aten

Raymond Aten — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

I feel polyculture works better when you have perineils in the beds to help maintain the microbiology in the ground throughout the year.

By: Raymond Aten

Raymond Aten — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

In my knowledge polyculture works so much better over time when you keep a living room in the ground all year rather then just the growing season. Perineil plants are the ideal plants to grow and mix in your annuals during the growing season as the perennials will keep arobic bacteria and fungi in the soil. Nature is your best example of this in the forest trees are the perennials while the many of the other plants are the annuals that seed themselves every year. If you can't grow perennials where your at then cover crops during the winter will work as well. Over time the soil will build up and then your gardens will thrive without the use of any outside fertilizer source.

By: Kay Dickerson

Kay Dickerson — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

Do not worry about corn. I dont eat it !

By: saul gold

saul gold — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

It would be interesting to see what would happen if you just let plants self seed. On my plot chard and potatoes grow like weeds every year, which is a complete meal in itself! And as Bob Flowerdew always says 'if you cant get parsnips to germinate, stick a parsnip in the ground and let it go to seed and you wont get rid of them!'

By: Jane Smith

Jane Smith — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

My 2c on Polyculture:
Polyculture is not efficient for commercial endeavors, but for personal consumption only.
Polyculture is more of a let it be approach, letting go perfectionism and being satisfied of imperfections.
Polyculture is for the really lazy gardener >>> its not for trimming, weeding, pruning, organizing, etc... on a daily basis, but rather whenever you feel like it basis.
Polyculture is about letting the normal cycle of plants to run through the course of their life... from bearing fruit to seeding themselves. You only pick what you are going to eat. If the zucchini has fruit, you don't pick it unless you are going to eat it. You don't pick all the beans and peas in one harvest. You only pick what you eat. The rest should be left alone to ripe, dry up and seed themselves.

Polyculture is not high bio-intensive farming. It is not about packing a whole bunch of diverse plant in a tight space. And the goal is not to reap as much as you can get from the land.
Polyculture is not Square-foot gardening where you pack everything in a square-foot space.
Polyculture is more of an easter egg hunt. If you pick a carrot here, you need to look for the other carrot somewhere else.

Here is the kicker and where common sense flew out the window:
In nature, you will never see 10different plants compacted in a tight space. Corn, sunflower, grains, all vegetables, even trees etc... they have quite a good spacing. The wind will blow the seed at least 1m away, some insect and animals will move/carry it at least 1m away. But our intelligence is trying to compact as much in 1m2... You can only get away with so much. And guess what? the result is never good and we get disappointed.

In polyculture let nature do the work. People complain of competing plants... it's nature telling us it doesn't belong there. Grab a bunch of seed and throw/scatter them all over the place. DO NOT meticulously with mathematically precision plant the seed. Plants will grow, they will compete, other plants will die, other plants will thrive... do not intervene... do not cry a river for the weak and sickly plant... let mother nature run its course... You do not need a book on companion planting, mother nature will sort it for you. Mother nature will sort the proper spacing for each plant for you.

If I can only upload pictures here but I can, you just have to take my word for it: I have the most ridiculous companion plants growing >>> rock melon with taro... kang kong with bitter melon... chayote with bananas... potatoes and jap pumkins... pumkins with bitter melon... tomato with thai chilli and sage... blueberries with green beans... pumkins with asparagus... spinach with jerusalem artichoke... Orange tree and a capsicum/bell peppers... corn and kang kong... egg plants and snake beans... snake beans and cherry tomato... apple tree and spring onion... asparagus with sweet potato... Bananas with taro... corn with chayote... chayote with lemon... garlic and some unknown weed crawlies... dandelion and spring onions.

By: Heckasuperduper

Heckasuperduper — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

You put your words together well and your videos are very enjoyable and informative
Thank you

By: Jermaine Edwards

Jermaine Edwards — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

This video is great thank you

By: Dimora

Dimora — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

I'm so glad you're tackling this topic. You're the right man for the task! In my mind there is a marked distinction between companion planting and intercropping and even guilds. Last year I REALLY struggled trying to understand / memorize companion plant pairing based off of what I was reading and ended up despairing and just planting whatever, whatever so I didn't miss my window for sowing. My issue is that (and please correct me if I'm wrong) they're is little scientific evidence for common companion plants pairings outside of the collected wisdom of ages and if it's known that a plant is alleleopathic. This year I ended up deciding to take a similar approach to One Yard Revolution and practice controlled intercropping by deliberately (not broadcasting) planting flowers and herbs next to annuals without much consideration for any purported interactions between the plants with the hope that the planned diversity will deterr pests. We'll see. Looking forward to your next video!

By: Happy John

Happy John — Sat, 19 May 2018 04:45:36 +0000

I was also intrigued and tried seed polyculture it was a disaster. I started covering a 6 by 4 foot bed with my home made compost. Big mistake weeds came up faster than the crops. It was hard work thinning and weeding and weeds got the better of me. I also got a lot of lettuce which went straight to the compost heap. Seems also to use a lot of seed which cost too much. I wont be trying this again. Maybe square foot gardening would be the answer. That is a polyculture system uses only the seeds you need and. Can be accurately recorded. The harvests i got were difficult as with carrots i could not tell which were earlies to be harvested and which were maincrop to be left to mature. Good luck with your project i shall be watching with interest.