Permaculture Analysis, Main Garden

The main garden (which I have called the "market garden" in previous entries on this blog) currently produces a surplus of a wide variety of vegetables and herbs. It is split up into 9 distinct sections, of which 8 have been on an 8-year crop rotation and 1 has been used as an overflow space {see previous entry on crop rotation, the section with tomatoes this year and which was pepper last year has not actually been part of the rotation in the way I displayed on the posting; didn't check my facts properly...}

On top of the year to year "succession" that the rotation is an example of, the garden is also host to mid-season succession: when a specific crop is harvested to completion midway through the growing season (peas, garlic, onions, and some potatoes have already been uprooted, as have lettuce, spinach, and other greens), that space then has a second generation of plants seeded or transplanted. Where we pulled up garlic in late-June/early-July now has beans and squash; where we harvested potatoes in mid-July has since had extra/stunted tomato seedlings put in place.

Another way that space is utilized efficiently, nutrients balanced, and pest insects kept in check is with interplanting or companion planting. This is done in two ways: the main veggie beds might have two things grown beside or intermingled with eachother.

Here we are seeing okra and new zealand spinach interplanted because the former grows tall while the latter sprawls along at ground-level:



And also corn and beans, with the corn providing a stalk for the beans to climb up while, while beans give the corn nitrogen:



Another way that diversity is incorporated into the garden is through the planting of the "edge beds," the north-south ends of the main east-west beds. These spaces are usually planted with either herbs or flowers, some perennial some annual, sometimes planted for companion reasons other times just to be planted somewhere/anywhere; sometime these spaces are host to certain veggie crops that just needed somewhere to go; and in some instance these spaces have things like raspberries and strawberries rooted and producing. Here are some examples:

At the time of writing I don't know what this is actually, but chose the image because it clearly shows how this 'edge beds' fits into the wider picture, considering it has many main beds jutting off to it's right.


This image shows raspberries to the right and strawberries to the left; out of frame to the right are summer squashes and to the left are onions.



With the rasp- and strawberries I am starting to show that a rather important process is underway in the garden. Whereas in the past this space was pretty much only full of annuals, it is being converted into a permaculture-styled forest garden.

This spring well over 100 fruiting trees and shrubs were planted in the garden, everything from apples and cherries to serviceberries, mulberries and pawpaws and something called "honeyberry" which I have never heard of before. The idea is that as the trees grow up they will take space away from annual veggie and herb production, create a type of garden which still produces "food" but different kinds, with less work involved, and perhaps with more productivity per acre. On that last contentious point: it is argued that a forest-like farming systems are more productive than field-like systems because vertical space is used more efficiently; you can have shade-tolerant fruits growing right underneath nut trees, then berries, perennial herbs and tubers, vines, and ground-covers all in the same vicinity.

Here are images of some of the trees and shrubs that got to spread their roots out so far this season:


Here's a serviceberry already producing:


And here is a great example of some 'vertical stacking' (taller and shorter plants as companions) taking place already:


And another example of stacking: castor beans and nasturtiums on an edge bed, one a tall stalk the other a sprawling vine (planted close to mangle, beats, and chard).



One exciting sub-story in all of this is something I only discovered back in July sometime: one of the 8 main sections in the crop rotation is being taken out of the annual-veggie pattern this year, and being turned into a fully perennial zone. {The 9th "overflow" space will then become a proper member of the 8-season rotation, unlike in the past}.
The section of the garden which was pea-dominated earlier this year, and which did have a little bit of mid-season succession take place (two beds planted in sweet potatoes, as shown in a video in one previous blog entry), two weeks ago started to get perennial shrubs planted en mass in the main beds.






One detail about this renovation relates to a patch of currants, gooseberries, and some blackberries: amongst the three areas where chickens are rotated in and out of, a patch of berries is becoming dense and crowded, as seen below.



The plants in here are going to be transplanted and thus, very simply, have more room to spread out and propagate. Geographically this is how the arrangement will look:



So overall, there are some really exciting things going on in the main/"market" garden at Simpler Thyme. These changes will lead to the farm being inherently more sustainable and resilient, as perennial food systems tend to be more labor efficient, need lees watering, and give higher yields per unit of space.
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In the next section I will talk about Water at the farm, some problems and potential solutions in the main garden and also in the other annual and perennial food systems on the farm, and how Energy is an important but mildly overlooked element in this farm's present and future.