Tons of Vegetables Planted in Tiny Garden – Food Forest

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Do polycultures really work? I planted many vegetables in one garden bed to see what would happen. What I learned was surprising. Can you mimic a forest with annual vegetables? Are food forests the best kept secrets or just utopia? I also share a delicious stirfry. Suburban Homestead S1EP1 Created by Siloé Oliveira
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I always end up starting too many seeds in spring for my relatively limited growing space hearing that more than half might not make it well 99% ends up surviving leaving me with a Sophie's choice of which to discard and I can't bear the thought of throwing away perfectly good seedlings so I plant them too close to each other I decided to get all the extra seedlings I had and plant them together in a small space see what would happen let the strongest survive I had Brazilian bitter eggplant tomato a cha-cha baby corn marigolds yard long beans amaranth well everything but the kitchen sink all growing in less than 10 square feet this unorthodox method of planting has a name it's called poly culture ever since I heard about the concept of poly culture I was intrigued copying nature's plant communities made sense recreating a forest a primeval Garden of Eden enthralled me of course a forest seemed more productive than a field planted with a single crop I wanted to believe this it was taller and more varied producing more biomass but the nagging argument for monoculture kept creeping up after all monoculture has been hailed as the gold standard since at least a dawn of modern agriculture it cemented its place as sacred premise with the chemical base Green Revolution of the 60s indeed the world had marveled over the miracle of multiplication of yield seen in chemical farming with the introduction of machinery and new high-yield varieties questioning this was an ax Thema to The Times mantra of progress of better living through chemistry a skeptic would be accused of promoting famine in a world with exploding population growth better way of life for the children of tomorrow but as the world worship the image of progress and feasted upon its products some noticed the statue had feet of clay that were quickly eroding away soil loss has been an ever-present condition in agriculture it is estimated that half of topsoil has been lost in the last 150 years reparative strategies such as no-till agriculture and prava crops have helped stanched a loss but degraded soils are still commonplace thankfully my soil has been increasing I have been practicing poly culture for some years now also trying to minimize soil disturbances when I can I have seen my soil improving texture and have decided to focus more on chop and drop taking away external store-bought fertilizers after a few weeks from planting my experimental plot the plants were zooming up each seeking its place in the Sun the beam in a cha-cha vines were starting to dominate taking advantage the fast-growing tall amarant plants as support the squash was snaking its way through the crevices pumping out flowers and fruit the marigold had found a niche and took advantage of it with the corn growing beside it I knew my soul had to be fertile we may see soil as a resource that is used up to grow plants it is natural to wrongly and naively conclude the nutrients and soil become depleted as they are used to build up our food how many times have we heard that we must amend our soils with fertilizers that soil is spent after a crop in fact when I hear about soil degradation the image of slash-and-burn agriculture in tropical jungles come to mind a primitive process of burning woodland to grow food for a few years until the soil becomes infertile and fresh woods are then burned and old fields left behind we're house model of Agriculture of miny nutrients from soil is inherently unsustainable soils should be seen more as a factory that is able to synthesize nutrition without depleting stock the warehouse model in my view exposes a deep flaw when a simple question is asked how come a soil retain stable fertility with tall trees growing in it but then loses nutrients quickly when short garden crops are grown some claim that natural systems like forests recycle a hundred percent of its nutrients with no product extracted while agriculture exports a product losing nutrients well this is not without grounds but how much actual ground is transformed into food when you look at what makes a plant tissue more than 99 percent is hydrogen carbon and oxygen that is from water and air nitrogen the other very important plant nutrient can also be found in air so the minerals needed for plants to grow represent a minuscule part but there is a reason why farmers add fertilizers these nutrients that are abundantly found in soil like minerals are often found in forms that plants cannot use in this way a tiny amount of needed ingredients can become scarce and limit production almost as if you want to make vanilla cake but you are out of vanilla extract even though you only need a tiny amount it will limit your ability to make vanilla cake period no matter how much of the other ingredients you have at hand but what has all of this to do with monocultures it turns out that some researchers have been proposing that plant diversity is the key to soil fertility and that is why a forest does not need to be fertilized while monocultures need routine fertilization in fact microbes and mycorrhizal fungi in soil are the factory workers that synthesize fertility for plants from the raw minerals found in the soil but they don't do this for free they get in turn sugary exudates from the plants what has been nicknamed liquid carbon thus they live in perpetual and sustainable harmony that is if they're not disturbed tilling soil kills and disturbed these complex networks for a while chemical fertilizers pesticides fungicides herbicides can also disrupt the balance monoculture disregards the role of these communities and because we have been able to synthesize chemical compounds that deliver the main nutrients plants want through synthetic fertilizers we make plants more dependent on our inputs weakening natural systems each time more and more monoculture has advantages but it is ultimately a destructive system for the soil and is dependent on industry making it inherently less sustainable another key aspect of natural microbial communities is that they secrete substances that aggregate soil improving soil structure increasing biodiversity in a virtuous cycle I have seen my soil improved texture through the seasons having diverse communities of plants minimizing soil disturbances and keeping the soil mulch tore cover as much as I can a couple of weeks later the garden was bursting with flowers and green growth it looked like a bonafide cottage garden I know this aesthetic may not be to everyone's liking but I quite enjoy it I also have a small Sun exposed area so I try to cram as many plants as possible I started harvesting my first squash from this experimental plot while the amaranth set flower and the Atocha pods created fruit the squash continued to give out fruit despite having to compete for light and water but once again why diversify planting why not try to copy a forest system if monoculture has been the dominant strategy for raising human food efficiently is it not the only way to go while planting polycultures according to the prevalent hypothesis increases biodiversity of soil life because with many complementary plants a more rich in varied soil community is built resulting in better fertility and you space think of it this way certain bacteria specialize in synthesizing a specific nutrient and prefer a specific planet having diverse plants increases the possibilities of microbe communities providing more diverse nutrients different plants reach different soil profiles with different root structures some plants like grass have shallow fibrous roots that dominate the tops inches of soil while plants like dandelion with long tap roots go deep into subsoil and mine nutrients and available to grass some plants also help to increase nitrogen in the soil legumes host nitrogen fixing bacteria effectively making soil more fertile for subsequent generations the best thing about having a variety of vegetables growing is that you can come up with recipes according to what you get the baby corn helped some years this variety is supposed to be picked when immature to be eaten in surprise or to be pickled I forgot to harvest the baby corn in time and some of the years we're getting too big baby corn needs to be harvested when the silk is young and green if it gets brown like when the sweet corn is harvested the cob will be too fibrous to be eaten I decided to go around the garden harvesting what I had carrots young radish seed pods eggplants to turn into a dish but do polycultures work can they sustain us I dare to look into the scientific literature I must confess I became more confused at this point it is hard for me to give a definitive scientific answer that is part of the reason why I want to test out for myself to see its benefits and shortfalls I searched for studies that could answer this but found mixed conclusions Paulo cultures are by definition more complex and certainly not all plants have beneficial effects on each other the lapa thie is a known negative effect some plants have on others they secrete substances that are toxic to other plants to stunt the other's growth ensure their hegemony nature is not always about cooperation and kumbaya circles competition for resources is a constant force in fact I found online a deep discussion on the topic a sustainable agriculture professor claims that there was no clear benefits of mixed cover crops compared to monocultures based on the current scientific trials on the other hand we have farmers like gay brown who has demonstrated in his farms incredible regeneration of soil using mixed cover crops in forage as well as other researchers looking at soil fertility through biodiversity he has been able to wean off of chemical farming in the meantime the pictures he shows speak for themselves while yes there is competition in nature symbiosis is also very present perhaps the key may be to find the right combinations that make sense most of the studies I saw were studying grass communities for forage and cover crops perhaps growing vegetables and fruits worked differently and the management of crops especially in harvesting makes it hard to cultivate large-scale poly cultures there is still a lot to know and a lot to experiment I can see I'm only scratching the surface I plan to keep looking and trying with harvest at hand I went into the kitchen with an idea in mind a fresh veggie stir-fry this was my first time growing baby corn I wanted to Center the dish around that I unhusked the small cobs and removed the tender green soap the smaller tender cob I cut into segments it was completely edible as for the bigger older cob I cut the more tender parts also in segments but had to cut away the seed from the fibrous cob to discard the center portion next I carefully washed a tender yellow carrot and cut it into thin disks so that it would cook quickly as it is sauteed a patty pan squash came next I love the flavor and texture of this squash it also produces a lot when it decides to get going I chopped it into small pieces and reserved it a small eggplant was next who would add sweetness with a touch of bitterness that I enjoy when making stir-fry it is always a good idea to cut everything beforehand evenly this makes cooking easier and less hectic young radish seed pods would add a bit of spice and zest to the dish this is a great way of increasing the usefulness of a plant I always end up letting radish flower as summer approaches this provides food for bees and other pollinators the pods serve as a new form of radish flavor it is best to use them when they are young and immature as they age they get starchy in ultra spicy than 50 and edible with everything cut and ready to stir-fry I added into the skillet some olive oil as well as a bit of sesame oil the sesame oil will add a nice Asian flair to the dish I sprinkled fennel seeds slightly toasting them in the oil giving another dimension of flavor to the stir-fry after that I added all the other vegetables except the radish pods I reserved them to add later since I don't want them to cook fully and lose their spice the key to a good stir-fry is to constantly stir it so that the vegetables Brown evenly I also use a larger pan that allows the moisture to evaporate easily you don't want soggy stir-fry which happened in a crowded pan when the vegetables cook and sweat without letting the moisture evaporate fast suppose wait speaking of rises summer sneaks up without the trade when the pieces were browned I added salt to taste dropping in the radish pots to finish you can also use soy sauce instead of salt adding a stronger dimension of taste I also only add salt towards the end because salt draws out moisture by searing the sides I lock in moisture inside the veggie while caramelizing the outside this way I end up with crunchy on the outside moist inside vegetables vegetables cooked this way are absolutely mouth-watering it is almost as if they were meant to be together not only as a final dish but throughout their growing life you you
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