The ‘Triangle Bed’

This is the first of a number of reviews I am undertaking this year.  In previous years I have always made a note of the time spent working in the garden and the amount of produce I have harvested as an indicator of the effectiveness of this means of gardening.  Having done this for a number of years I am happy in my own mind that I get plentiful edible rewards for a small amount of labour.  So this year whilst I have continued to record the time I spend, I have not recorded the weight of the harvests.  Even if I were to record the weight of the harvest it would be much less than the maximum amount that has grown because in a multifunctional and largely perennial garden:

• Some plants are saved to make more for future years, eg many of the alliums (onion family plants)
• Some plants are shared with other people
• Some are more productive than I actually can use eg kales and other greens
• Some harvests I just don’t get round to – I haven’t yet tried eating cardoon leaves although I fully intend to each year.
• Some harvests I leave for other creatures such as some raspberries for birds.

I think it is important to assess what I am doing in some way and decided to review the garden bed by bed on the basis of what function(s) I had intended for each bed and the plants in it to perform.

This first review is of what I call ‘The Triangle Bed’ and until just now when I went out to measure it I was under the impression that it had three sides.  Actually it has five!  They measure approximately 6 x 4 x 3 x 2.5 x 2.5 metres.

Triangle Bed June 2016

It is the first bed you see on entering the property and lies alongside the house.  Therefore one of the main purposes is for it to look good.  However, that is not sufficient for me!  I want multifunctional beds as well as multifunctional plants.  To ensure that something is living / growing all year round which is important for fertility I have planted shrubby perennial bushes, small trees and herbaceous perennials.  They also provide some measure of structure.  Some herbaceous perennials are for flowers and others for their edible parts.  Importantly there are herbs for the kitchen.  I also use the bed for looking after plants that I want to watch over more closely when starting to grow them.  Altogether there are 57 different plants growing here.

Triangle Bed June 2016

I have prepared a table below to catalogue the plants and their intended purpose and where applicable whether that was achieved.  A few brief conclusions are given at the end.

For the table the purposes the plants can have are:

• Edible
• Flowering
• Medicinal properties
• For biomass – at the end of the season, or sooner if they are too large for their space I cut back plants and mulch the ground where they grew, feeding organic material to the soil.
• To supply nitrogen
• To help break up the soil which is dominated by clay and stones.

Marjoram in Triangle Bed August 2016

 

My observation is that every plant that flowered attracted a good deal of insect life and was also visually delightful so my notation of ‘flowers’ in the table is intended to reflect this dual purpose (unless noted otherwise the flowering period is summer).

Name	Purpose	When sown and notes
Root vegetables
Burdock	Edible root Flowers	Self set 2016 Not harvested, one has seeded from plants elsewhere this summer
Chinese artichoke	Edible root	Planted 2016 Some shared and will harvest some later in year
Evening primrose	Edible root Flowers	Planted 2015 Roots not tried yet, seeds harvested for next year
Jerusalem artichoke	Edible root	Probably planted 2014 Will harvest later in year
Mashua	Edible root, but planted as ground cover	Planted 2016 After a slow start, did cover ground.
Oca	Edible root, but planted as ground cover	Planted 2016 After a slow start, did cover ground.
Parsnip	Edible root, plant left to flower for the seed	2 self set 2016 and 1 planted previous year New plants, not harvested, the other set seed which has been harvested and sown.
Salsify	Edible root Flowers	Self set 2016 Not harvested, will leave to flower, tap root is helping to loosen compacted soil
Skirret	Edible root Flowers	Planted 2014 Not harvested yet, will be digging up and possibly moving later in the year.
Yacon	Edible root	A small plant that has only just reappeared in November.  Discovered in summer 2015 when I thought I had lost my crop (in someone else’s care over the winter).  This plant had overwintered in 2014/5 and again in 2015/6.
Onions (alliums)
Allium hookeri Zorami	Edible	Planted 2016 Not harvested, allowing to grow larger.
Allium nutans (blue chives)	Edible Flowers	Planted 2016 Not harvested, allowing to grow larger.
Allium senescens ssp senescens	Edible	Planted 2016 Not harvested, allowing to grow larger.
Allium walichii	Edible Flowers	Planted 2016 Not harvested, allowing to grow larger.
Day lily	Edible flowers	Planted 2014 Not harvested
Garlic	Edible	Planted 2015 All bulbs harvested and some replanted
Three cornered leek	Edible Flowers	Self set and just appeared for first time in this border
Fruit
Blackcurrant	Edible	Planted 2014 Young plant, did not fruit.
Cherry, Cariad	Edible	Planted 2013? Young tree, had a few cherries.
Jostaberry	Edible	Planted 2014 First year of berry production, not harvested as away and birds had them.
June berry	Edible berries	Planted 2015 Still a young plant, no fruits yet
Quince (type)	Edible	Planted 2015 Did not fruit
Edible greens and herbs
Bay	Culinary herb	Planted 2015 as small cuttings, still very small but growing now.
Elecampane	Herb Flowers	Planted 2015 Attracted insects, attractive flowers
Fennel	Culinary and medicinal herb Flowers	Planted 2014 Attracted insects, harvested for seeds, blue tits also eat seeds.
Hyssop	Insect plant Flowers	Planted 2014 Has attracted insects and looked lovely
Lamb’s lettuce	Edible greens Flowers	Self set 2016 Not harvested, only just appeared, currently tiny
Lemon balm	Culinary and medicinal herb Flowers	Planted 2014 Harvested for herbal tea
Marjoram	Culinary herb Flowers	Planted 2014 Not harvested, has attracted insects and looked lovely.
Parsley	Culinary herb Flowers	Self set 2016 Leaves harvested, not yet flowered (next year).
Savoury	Culinary herb Flowers	Planted 2014 Attractive flowers
Sweet cicely	Culinary herb Flowers	Planted 2014 Attractive flowers
Thymes	Culinary herb Flowers	Planted 2014 Not harvested, has attracted insects and looked lovely.
Wall germander and hedge germander	Culinary herb Flowers	Planted 2014 Attractive flowers
Wild rocket	Edible greens Flowers	Probably self set one or two years ago. Not harvested, more in the garden than we need.
Flowering plants
Alchemilla mollis	Attractive plant	In the garden originally, self set in this bed
Annual flax	Flowers Seeds	Sown in 2016
Aquilegia	Flowers	Self set from neighbour’s garden plants
Bird’s foot trefoil	Nitrogen fixer Flowers	Self set in 2014
Bugle	Flowers	transplanted from elsewhere in garden 2014
Calendula	Flowers	Self set 2016
Californian poppy	Late spring and summer flowers	Self set 2016
Cowslip	Spring flowers	Self set 2014
Daffodil	Spring flowers	Planted 2014 Attractive flowers
Dandelion	Wild flower	Here already
Forget me nots	Spring flowers	Self set 2015 Attractive flowers
Honesty	Spring flowers	Self set 2016
Lungwort	Early spring flowers	Planted in 2015
Mallow	Flowers	Self set from neighbour’s garden plants
Nigella (love in a mist)	Flowers Edible spice	Self sown from previous years
Perennial flax (one white, one blue)	Flowers Seeds	Planted 2016
Rose x 3	Flowers	2 plants brought from previous garden planted 2014, another added the same year
Scabious	Flowers	Self set in 2015
Sweet William	Flowers	Self set from neighbour’s garden plants
Toadflax	Flowers	Probably brought from previous garden 2014 Attractive flowers
White clover	Flowers Nitrogen fixer	Present in garden before I arrived.
Others
Acer	Small decorative tree relocated from previous garden	Planted 2013 Growing very slowly, looks attractive
Dock	Wild plant Tap root to break up stony soil Leaves for accumulating nutrients	Here already Leaves pulled when too large / encroaching on other plants and mulched on bed

 

My conclusions

Where there is room for tweaking or a different approach:

• I could grow some larger plants to supply more biomass and also to raise the height of some of the flowers for aesthetic effect.
• I tried sunflowers but they didn’t grow, couldn’t get established amongst the existing plants.
• I tried to grow a celeriac bulb bought in the local market to hopefully get flowers and then seeds, but it rotted!
• I need to include more nitrogen fixers.

 

Triangle Bed June 2016

However overall I am very pleased with this bed.

• It has had masses flowers from early spring throughout the summer and still has some in early November.
• Almost all of these have attracted LOADS of insects, especially fennel and marjoram.
• I have harvested a good quantity of garlic bulbs and some herbs for the kitchen.
• There has been life all year round.
• The plants with deep roots such as dock, burdock, dandelion, parsnip and fennel have helped to improve the soil structure by breaking it up a bit.
• It has been very easy to maintain and I probably spent less time on this bed than any other.
• The plants that I wanted to keep an eye on such as the new alliums were just by where I walk every time I come and go, so I could make sure they were safe.

 

Alchmilla Mollis (Lady’s Mantle) in Triangle Bed June 2016

End of Triangle Bed June 2016

Perennial flax and Californian poppy