Ad hoc polycultures

If you have read this blog before you will know that this year I have started a new garden this year, up in the hills on the border between Wales and England.  The general plan is along the lines of a mini forest garden with fruit trees and bushes inter-planted with perennial vegetables, herbs and flowers.  All sorts of climbers both edible and ornamental ranging through the hedge and assorted beds developing over time for more perennial vegetables and some experimenting with beans and grains with plenty more flowers sprinkled in as well.

This year the main priority has been to make room to accommodate as many perennial vegetables as possible from the other garden as the Shropshire house was due to go up for sale.  There have been constraints on time as I have had only short slots of time to work in – a few hours a week here and there.  Additionally because of the setting of the garden in relation to the property and neighbouring properties there has been a consciousness that at any one time it would have to look reasonably tidy.  This has meant that I could only bring very small patches into use at any one time, plant them up and move on to another small patch.  This is not the way to do something if you have a plan to stick to!

Arising from these constraints are three distinct and different rather ad hoc polycultures:

• The ‘main patch’ housing a number of roots / tubers plus some other vegetables, herbs and flowers.
• The ‘hedgetable patch’ which is home to a miscellany of perennial vegetables and some annual beans and other things.
• The ‘flowery border’ which looks like it is mainly flowers, but is in fact another quite mixed up polyculture.

I can’t pretend that any of these patches are in any way orthodox but now I have the time to sit down and think about it, I can itemise what is where and see how many of the elements that I would want to include in a polyculture have actually arrived in each of these.  Off the top of my head here is a list of the plants in these patches, a note of their function in a polyculture and my reason for planting them.

The Main Patch

Name	Purpose	Notes
Oca	Edible tuber	From the other garden
Yacon	Edible tuber	From the other garden
Jerusalem artichoke	Edible tuber	From the other garden
Mashua	Edible tuber	From the other gardenPlus a named variety (Ken Aslett) purchased in garden centre
Skirret	Edible root, flowers on year two plant attract insects	1 x old one from the other garden, one new from seed
Edible dahlia	Edible tuber, may flower, but too small	From seed this year as a new experiment
Parsnip	Edible root, flowers on year two plant attract insects	Brought in its second year from the other garden to provide seed
Horseradish	Edible root	From garden centre
Potato	Edible tuber	From a tuber saved from the other garden
Burdock	Edible root	From seed this year
Salsify	Edible root	From seed this year
Carrot	Edible root, flowers on year two plant attract insects	Brought in its second year from the other garden to provide seed
Radishes	Edible root	To fill a small gap
Field beans	Edible beans, nitrogen fixer	From seed saved
Peas	Edible pods and peas, nitrogen fixer	Some from saved seed, some from supermarket pack of marrow fat peas
French beanTrail of Tears	Edible pods and beans, nitrogen fixer	From seed saved
Wild rocket	Salad leaf, flowers attract insects	From seed this year
Land cress	Salad leaf, flowers attract insects	Seed arrived with other plants
Asparagus	Edible shoots	From seed this year
Wild kale	Edible greens	From cuttings made in other garden
Daubenton’s kale	Edible greens	From cuttings made in other garden
Other kales	Edible greens	From seed this year, experiments
Lemon balm	Herb, flowers attract insects	Purchased to add this function to the patch
Wild marjoram	Herb, flowers attract insects	Brought from the other garden for this function
Thyme	Herb, flowers attract insects	Brought from the other garden for this function
Fennel	Herb, flowers attract insects	From saved seed, for this function
Flax	Flower, attracts insects	From saved seed, for this function
Gladioli and other flowering bulbs	Flower	Saved from bargain bin in shops
Buckwheat	Green manure, flowers attract insects	Using up spare seed

The ‘Hedgetable’ Patch

Name	Purpose	Notes
Burdock	Edible root	From seed this year
Skirret	Edible root	From the other garden
Lathyrus tuberosus	Edible root	From the other garden
Shallots	Edible onion	From the other garden
Babington leeks	Edible onion	From the other garden
Clumping spring onions	Edible onion	From the other garden
Wild garlic	Edible onion	From the other garden
Three cornered leek	Edible onion	From the other garden
Allium paradoxum	Edible onion	From the other garden
Wild rocket	Salad leaf, flowers attract insects	From seed this year
Land cress	Salad leaf, flowers attract insects	Seed arrived with other plants
Asparagus	Edible shoots	From seed this year
Wild kale	Edible greens	From cuttings made in other garden
Daubenton’s kale	Edible greens	From cuttings made in other garden
Other kales	Edible greens	From seed this year, experiments
Runner bean	Edible pods and beans, nitrogen fixer	From seed this year
Field beans	Edible beans, nitrogen fixer	From saved seed
Peas	Edible pods and peas, nitrogen fixer	From pack of marrow fat peas
Flax	Flower, attracts insects	From saved seed
Honesty	Flower, attracts insects	From saved seed
Vetch	Flower, attracts insects	From saved seed
Sweet cicely	Flower, culinary herb, attracts insects	From saved seed
Honeysuckle	Climbing flower	Purchased
Clematis	Climbing flower	Purchased
London pride	Flower, spreading plant to stabilise the edge	Transferred from elsewhere in garden
Bugle	Flower, spreading plant to stabilise the edge	Transferred from elsewhere in garden
Primrose	Flower	From the other garden
Wild violet	Flower	From the other garden
Wood sorrel	Flower	From the other garden
Creeping jenny	Flower	From the other garden
Foxglove	Flower	From the other garden
Herb Robert	Flower	Native to garden
Raspberry	Edible fruit	Some from the other garden, some purchased
Blackcurrant	Edible fruit	From cuttings
Blackberry	Edible fruit	Purchased
Honeysuckle	Climbing flower	Purchased

The ‘Flowery Border’

Name	Purpose	Notes
Jerusalem artichoke	Edible tuber	From the other garden
Skirret	Edible root	From seed this year
Carrot	Edible root	From seed saved last year
Lathyrus tuberosus	Edible root, nitrogen fixer, flowers attract insects	From the other garden
Runner bean	Edible beans, nitrogen fixer	From seed this year, left to sprawl along ground level
Chilli pepper	Edible pod	Donated by neighbour
Wild rocket	Salad leaf, flowers attract insects	From seed this year
Asparagus	Edible shoots	From seed this year
Fennel	Herb, flowers attract insects	From saved seed from other garden, for this function
Garlic	Edible bulbs	From supermarket
Flax	Flower, attracts insects	From saved seed
Camellia	Flowering shrub	Purchased because I love them
Love in a mist, Californian poppy, Welsh poppy, alyssum, cornflower, love in a mist, calendula, pansy	Flowers, attract insects	From seed this year
Sunflower	Flower, attracts insects	From purchased seed and inadvertently from birdseed
Blackcurrant	Edible fruit	From cuttings
Gooseberry	Edible fruit	From cuttings
Chokeberry	Edible fruit	Purchased
Gladioli and other flowering bulbs	Flower	Saved from bargain bin in shops
Buckwheat	Green manure, flowers attract insects	Using up spare seed
Coriander	Culinary herb, flowers attract insects	From seed this year

That’s quite a range of perennial vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs and other plants!  The various plants also fulfil a range of functions; in particular there is lots and lots of provision for insects, the garden has been humming and buzzing all the summer!  Mineral accumulating plants are missing and I will probably allow nettles and dandelions (I have just been told as long as they don’t show) in for that function in future.  There may be need for more nitrogen fixers and the placing of different elements could arguably be better done in the hedgetable patch and the flowery border.  However, given that it all just evolved as the summer progressed I am pleased.

The ‘main patch’ has been intensively mulched, mainly with lawn cuttings and hedge and tree prunings because that is what the garden generated.  I have a philosophy of not importing fertility to the garden and also not exporting potential fertility (to the council green bin or tip) and just re-use it as directly as possible.  For aesthetic reasons I don’t have a cmpost bin or heap in this garden and so the easiest thing to do with lawn cuttings was to put them on the vegetable patch. 

I don’t know if this mulch is the reason for the extraordinary amount of growth the plants in this patch have put on but here are some pictures to illustrate the change in a few short months.  Of course I have yet to harvest the main crops from below ground, and that will be the proof (or otherwise) of what I have been doing.

This is the main patch on 10 June  – oca, yacon, Jerusalem artichoke and mashua are small plants at the back.  Lots of grass cutting mulch all over, using sticks from hedge to form an edge.

With more mulch on 28 July – plants at back growing well, potato, beans, burdock, gladioli coming on at the front.  More mulch and more twigs and branches being incorporated.  Black plastic is next door.  

This week – on 6 September.  Yacon at left back growing very strongly, beans (front right) extraordinarily vigorous.  Everything very, very green and lush!

more detail of the front, yacon, oca, potato, beans, (small extra) mashua, buckwheat and burdock….

…. and back – more beans, mashua, Jerusalem artichoke

The progess of the hedgetable patch from June

to August…. quite full of smallish plants, but they are healthy and growing despite unimproved soil.

and finally the flowery edge this week