Mixed Vegetable Gardening

What is mixed vegetable gardening?Mixed vegetable gardening is an exampleof a polyculture. The word meansgrowing lots of different types of plantstogether. The growing mix in apolyculture can include vegetables, herbs,flowers and even fruit. People have usedthis approach all over the world forhundreds of years, often with greatsuccess. Examples include the EnglishCottage Garden, Caribbean kitchengardens or the allotments of Bangladeshicommunities in London.

Contents

Introduction & overview 2Table of plants in layers 3So how does a poly-culture work? 4Choosing your plants 4Preparing the ground 5Planting 5Tending the crops 6Harvesting! 9After the harvest 10Further information 11

Abundant garden by Garden Buzz

Mixed Vegetable Gardening2

How does it differ fromother forms of gardening?In a conventional vegetable garden,each type is planted in rows orpatches. Usually similar species aregrouped together, such as brassicas,beans and peas and so on. Plants ofthe same or similar species competefor the same nutrients, and are anattractive habitat for pests of thatplant. Usually, the patches arerotated every year to prevent thebuild-up of pests and diseases and soas not to deplete the soil ofnutrients. By contrast, in mixed cropping a largenumber of different vegetables are growntogether in the same space. A well-chosencombination can result in less competitionfor nutrients, and other beneficialrelationships between the different plantsmean that plants are healthier.

Some benefits of mixedvegetable cropping:• Better use of space - a lot of food is

produced and many types of vegetables canbe grown in the same space over a longertime.

• Fewer pests and diseases - the differentcolours, shapes, textures and scents of theleaves confuse pests, and diseases can'tspread as easily from one plant to the next.

• Less weeding - there is no space and no lighton the ground, so weeds can't germinate.

• Less need for watering - greater soilcoverage means less evaporation.

What does it look like?• Different layers above and below ground –

Similar to a woodland or a forest garden buton a much smaller scale, the mixedvegetable garden has a canopy, understorey,groundcover, roots and even climbers. Thisway, plants occupy different spaces orniches above and below ground.

• Development over time – Early groundcover plants give way to slower growing,later crops.

• Plants from different families – Geneticdiversity prevents build-up of pests andnutrient depletion.

• Diversity of leaf shape, colour, texture andscent – this is the traditional ayurvedicapproach to mixing vegetables for planthealth. Pests use their sense of sight andsmell to find their food plants. If there areno obvious large patches of similar lookingor smelling plants, they will find it harder tofind their favourite food.

A feast in the making!

Tabl

e 1:

Som

e pla

nts t

hat c

an b

e gro

wn in

diff

eren

t lay

ers o

f the

pol

ycul

ture

Laye

r

Cano

py

Clim

ber

Unde

rsto

rey

Grou

ndco

ver

(pla

nted

early

)

Root

crop

Bras

sicas

(cab

bage

fa

mily

)

Cabb

age

Caul

iflow

erBr

occo

liKa

le

Pak C

hoi

Kohl

rabi

Rock

etM

usta

rdLa

ndcr

ess

Orie

ntal

gr

eens

Radi

shTu

rnip

Legu

mes

(pea

fa

mily

)

Broa

d be

ans

Runn

er

bean

sPe

as

Runn

er

bean

s

Dwar

f be

ans

Chic

kpea

s

fenu

gree

k

Umbe

llife

rs

(car

rot

fam

ily)

Lova

ge

Coria

nder

Fenn

elDi

ll

Carro

tPa

rsni

p

Cucu

rbite

(s

quas

hfa

mily

)

Cucu

mbe

rSm

all s

quas

hes

Squa

sh(la

te cr

op)

Alliu

m(o

nion

fam

ily)

Leek

Chive

sOn

ions

Garli

c

Onio

nGa

rlic

Sprin

g oni

on Sp

inac

h

Amar

anth

Spin

ach

Char

d

Amar

anth

Beet

root

Com

posit

e(d

aisy

fa

mily

)

Sunf

lowe

rs

Lettu

ceM

arig

old

Youn

gle

ttuce

La

mbs

le

ttuce

Nigh

tsha

des

Tom

ato

Pota

to

Othe

rs

Swee

tcor

n

Nast

urtiu

m

Clay

toni

a(M

iner

'sle

ttuce

)

Buck

whea

t

Plan

ts sh

own

in it

alics

are g

ood

to pl

ant a

long

the e

dge a

s well

, to p

rotec

t the

patch

from

pests

.Ot

her c

rops

may

be po

ssibl

e too

– th

ese ar

e jus

t a fe

w ex

ampl

es.

Feel

free t

o exp

erim

ent!

Writ

e suc

cesses

on h

ere -

and

plea

se let

us k

now.

So how does a polyculture work?

It’s this simple:1. Choosing your plants 2. Preparing the ground3. Planting seeds

and seedlings4. Tending the crops5. Harvesting!

Starting a mixed vegetable gardenIf you have your own good methodof growing vegetables, don't stop itall at once to try mixed vegetablegardening. Try it out in a smallarea first and see how well it does.If it works well, you can increasethe area next year, or you canspend further time adjusting yourmethods and plant mixture.

1) Choosing andcombining your plants There are different approaches you can takewhen developing a polyculture. You can startoff with a tried and tested mix of plants likethe one in this booklet. Most likely you willstill find that you can improve on it as yourunderstanding of the method deepens.Alternatively, you can start a mixed vegetablepatch simply by planting everything youlike, observe what does well together andwhat doesn't, then refine your mixes andmethods over time.

You can also design your own plantcombination by going through the followingquestions:

• What do you like eating?

• Are there any obvious incompatibilities?

• Do you have a good mixture of layers andfamilies? (See table 1 on page 3)

• Do you have a good spread of early, mid-season and late crops? (Table 2 on page 9)

Is this companion planting?Companion planting has been used by gardeners fora long while. Plants that are known to get on welltogether are combined in the same bed. There aresome tried and tested combinations, such as onions,carrots and lettuce, or spinach, onions and brassicas.Plants that are known not to get on are calledantagonists and planted in different beds. Alliums(onion and garlic) and legumes (beans and peas) area well-known example.More examples of companions and antagonistscan be found on

www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/Companion_Planting/companiontables.aspIn literature the “three sisters” are often cited as aclassic combination used in the Americas, but thereare differing reports about their success in the UKand Europe, and even differing opinions on whatplants actually constitute the three sisters. Maybethis could be another experiment for the future!The kind of polyculture presented in this booklet isdifferent in that some antagonists can be grown inthe same bed, as long as there are some other plantsin between. Of course it makes sense to choose thespots of antagonists so they don't clash with eachother unnecessarily!

Mixed Vegetable Gardening4

www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg 5

Or you can design a polyculture around oneor two crops that you want a lot of, choosingother plants that support your main crop orat least don't set it back in its growth.

The polyculture introduced in this bookletproduces mainly leaf and root crops. You canalso develop combinations around other cropssuch as tomatoes, squashes or potatoes.

Materials needed:

SeedsSeedlings - grown indoors

in advance of planting outCompost Fine mulch - well rotted leaf mould is

ideal; keeps moisture and adds fertilityWood ash, seaweed, rock dust - provide

vital plant mineralsLiquid manures - another way to provide

nutrients throughout the seasonTools for digging, planting and

harvesting

2) Preparing the groundPrepare the soil as you would for a normalvegetable patch. The more fertile the soil is,the less preparation is needed. Dig the areaover, unless you are working with no-dig bedsof course! Add compost (ideally in lateautumn), then till the soil with a rake inspring. On a very acidic soil you can add somelime as well. It's beneficial to the soil to avoidtreading on it. If the width of the beds is lessthan 1.5m the centre can be reached withouttreading on the soil.

Planting the seedlings

3) PlantingThe best time to plant your polyculture in theopen is after the frost has passed, around mid-May for most of Britain. Greenhousepolycultures can be started earlier, and somehardy plants like onions or broad beans couldbe pre-sown in the same patch.

Starting off seedlingsStart off seedlings in the house, greenhouse ora cold frame, from March onwards.Some vegetables such as garlic and onion setscan be planted in late autumn or early spring. All other seedlings are best planted after thefrost has passed. In most of Britian this willbe in early to mid-May. Make sure you hardenthem off for a few days before finally plantingthem out.If you are planting in a greenhouse orpolytunnel, you can extend the growingseason further by starting earlier andharvesting later.

Mixed Vegetable Gardening6

Planting seedlingsIn fertile and fine soil, plant strong, healthyseedlings of cabbages, beans etc. at theirnormal spacing. Onion sets and garlic bulbscan be planted along the edge of the beds, at4-6 inch intervals, and some scatteredthroughout the bed.

Sowing seedsAt the same time as planting out yourseedlings, plant all thecrops you are planningto grow from seed.

• Large seeds first:peas and beansplanted at theirusual spacing.

• Medium-sized seeds:beet, spinach, chard,radish scattered orplanted in clumps.You can do the samewith carrots andother root crops.

• Small seeds: Sowlettuce, onion,carrot, coriander andso on, each of themindividually and thinly spread over the bed.

• Ground cover: Sow mustard or rocket,buckwheat, fenugreek (at least two differentfamilies) thickly at the end

Companion plantsMarigolds, basil, comfrey, wormwood orother aromatic plants and flowers can besown or planted around the edge of the bed.

4) Tending the cropsCovering the soilOnce everything is planted, sprinkle ash, rockdust or sea weed powder on top as fertiliser.Cover with enough topsoil or compost tocover all seeds and fertiliser. Then add a thincover of mulch, taking care not to cover theseedlings. The mulch prevents both thedrying out of the soil and compaction inheavy rainfall.

A mulch of leaves is applied on top of the broadcast seeds, between the planted seedlings

Water well, and stand back to admire yourwork. Your mixed vegetable bed is complete –all you have to do from now on is harvest!

What about slugs?In Britain, this is the cry of every gardener.Unfortunately this method is not slug-proof,so we recommend you take the same measuresagainst the slimy blighters as in the rest ofyour garden. Crushed egg-shell defences ortable-legs in pots of water for example.

www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg 7

Looking after the mixed vegetable gardenOne week after sowing, mustard, radish,fenugreek and onion bulbs have started togerminate. The pre-grown seedlings have alsoestablished themselves.

Six weeks after sowing, production isincreasing and there is no bare soil. Broadleaf mustard, coriander and lettuce can beharvested, along with the first radishes. Thefaster growing leaf crops can be picked tomake space for the slower, longer living ones.

After 3 weeks all vegetables have germinated.A dense cover will have spread over theground and you can start picking leaves forsalad.

All the ground cover plants (mustard,fenugreek, buckwheat) are good salad crops.They can all be picked over the space of 2-3weeks, except for a few plants to save yourown seed from.

After a few months, a lot of the ground coverwill have been harvested and eaten. You willnow have fewer but larger plants. You cankeep the cropping going all the way to lateOctober or November, and even have someoverwintering crops.

Day 7: A first flush of growth is starting to cover the ground

Day 21: All the ground is now covered.

If you have achieved a very dense ground coveryou can be quite drastic with your thinning,

even using garden shears!

Lettuces and other greens ready for thinning

Mixed Vegetable Gardening8

The mixed vegetable plot should be easy tomaintain. The dense planting and the layerof mulch help conserve moisture and keepdown weeds, so the need for watering andweeding is minimised.

The maintenance of the mixed vegetable bedcan be compared to that of a woodland or aforest garden. Always thin the ground coverand early crops when the later crops need morespace, and always try to maintain a “canopy” ofleaves to give no chance to the weeds.

Gaps in groundcover can be filled with mulch, in this case with straw

Understorey of ruby chard and onions under a "canopy" of broad beans

4 months: The initial groundcover has gone andlonger lasting crops have closed the canopy

www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg 9

5) Harvest!So all you have to really do isharvest. If you don't harvest, theplants will grow too densely, go“leggy” with tall, thin stalks andsmall leaves. This means that theywill loose productivity and run toseed early. So you have to makesure that you always pick enoughto give other plants a chance tocome through. The space left by aharvested plant will be quicklytaken up by its neighbours. Thisway, there is never any empty spaceor bare soil.

Table 2: Harvesting calendar These timescales are approximate - times vary depending on local conditions

Time after sowing

2-3 weeks

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months +

Plants that can be harvested (examples)

Mustard greens

Mustard greens, Fenugreek, Buckwheat greens,Chinese mustard

Radish, Broadleaf mustard, Lettuce, Chinesemustard

Radish, Broadleaf mustard, Lettuce, Chard,Coriander leaves, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Beetroot

Broadleaf mustard, Lettuce, Chard, Corianderleaves, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Beetroot, Carrot,Coriander, Peas, Chinese Cabbage, Kale

Chard, Carrots, Peas, Beans Broad beans, Kale,Cabbage, Coriander seed etc.

Chard, Cauliflower, Carrots, Parsnips, Peas, Beans,Broad beans, kale, Cabbage, Onions, Garlic etc.

Cabbage, Sprouts, Garlic, Leek, Broccoli

Likely Season

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Photo: Mark Forman

Mixed Vegetable Gardening10

After harvestingAfter everything has been picked, you canprepare the bed for the next season, usingyour usual dig or no-dig method. You canfollow up with a different crop or plantmixture. Alternatively you can sow a crop ofgreen manure, or leave the area fallow with abig mulch.

How does your garden grow?There is still much to learn about mixedvegetable gardens, and we would like togather and share your experiences. We wantto learn from both success and failure. If youhave found a plant combination or techniquethat really works for you, we would love tohear about it. We plan to update this bookletwith new ideas and plant combinations, sosend us your findings, top-tips and photos.

Author’s note:We started using

polycultures in Nepal inaround 1992, just afterI'd seen MasanuboFukuoka's farm in Japanand Ianto Evans' lovelypolyculture beds inOregon, USA. It made sense, and mademore sense when I tried iton another farm inJajarkot, and then atSunrise Farm inKathmandu. No-till, mulch, greenmanures; diversity in leaf shape, texture, colourand plant scent; diversity in root depth and width,plant height - so much diversity! The villagersloved it - so many vegetables to choose from, andhigh output but low input.

When we were writingthe chapter on polyveg forthe Farmers' HandbookJakob, the book's designer,had taken a photo fromright inside a polyveg atground level, and itlooked just like a naturalforest, or like a ForestGarden. That wasanother crucial point, tosee the parallel withmuch larger systems butwith the same pattern, atemplate. Within thatpattern, all we have towork out are the details -

what plant associations work best according to ourlocal climate/microclimate and site conditions.This will depend on the collection of many people'sexperience and some focussed research.Chris Evans, Nepal & South Wales

Growers’ experience:Roz Brown, Mid-Wales Permaculture Network:

I am now in my third year of working this way,and I can recommend it as low input, high yield,and often surprising. For the first time in fourseasons, I was able to grow squash in abundance,plus my first decent crop of Cherokee beans. Theonly thing I did differently was to grow themtogether with maize. These ‘3 sisters’ were veryhappy together.

My other favourite addition to a mixed bed isrocket as an alternative to white mustard – doesthe same job, but unlike mustard makes greatpesto! My other discovery this year was Chinesecelery in a polyculture – Celery Leaf as a herb isalso good in this situation. For me the mainbenefits of mixed plantings are their lowmaintenance and a huge variety of produce froma small area to make meals more interesting!

www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg 11

PhotographsUnless otherwisestated all the photosin this booklet areby Chris Evans.

Resources and inspirationThe Farmer’sHandbook,PermacultureResearch Institute ofAustraliaGaia's Garden, TobyHemmenwayThe One-strawRevolution, Masanubo Fukuoka

More copies of this bookletDownload a free PDF in colour (or inB&W for cheaper printing) from:www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedvegPlease share this booklet with friends.

PermacultureMixed vegetable planting and other forms ofpolyculture are good examples of permaculture,which seeks to maximise multiple yields whileminimising effort and environmental costs -working with nature,rather than fightingagainst it. For a greatintroduction to theprinciples and practiceof permaculture see the‘knowledge base’ of thePermacultureAssociation website,available here:

www.permaculture.org.uk/ knowledge-base

Permaculture AssociationThis booklet is part of the ongoing work of theResearch Working Group of the PermacultureAssociation. For more information on thisresearch please visit:

www.permaculture.org.uk/whats-going-on/association-work/research

Permaculture Association UK

BCM Permaculture Association

London WC1N 3XX

Tel: 0845 4581805

Email: office@permacuture.org.uk

www.permaculture.org.uk

Thanks...to all the people who have helped put this booklettogether. This booklet is an adaptation of the “Polyveg”chapter of the Farmers Handbook by Chris Evans. The textwas revised by Tomas Remiarz, and designed with Stig.Thanks for helpful suggestions from Roz Brown, SallyCunningham, Ian Fitzpatrick, and Naomi van der Velden.

This booklet introduces the idea ofmixed vegetable gardening,outlining its key benefits andrequirements. The original methodwas developed in Nepal and has beenadapted to UK conditions. We hopethat future editions of this bookletwill include much more informationand useful ideas. If you have tried thisapproach in your own garden andwant to share your wisdom / top tipsand photos please get in touch.Contact details are on the inside backcover. Find out more about this andother related projects on our website:

www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg

Photo above: Mixed vegetable salad by NonelvisRight: Allotments in East London by LoopZilla