Create a polyculture bed

Polyculture is rising in popularity. Its having different crops growing together in the same bed. In this post I look at the benefits of the Three Sisters method and give suggestions for what to sow

As a new gardener many years ago, all the books I read described growing vegetables in a rotation with neat, weed-free rows.  But over the years, I have moved to a polyculture approach in which I grow a number of different crops in the same bed, rather than have whole beds of one crop which are rotated each year.  When you mix up the crops, it’s more difficult for pests to locate their host plants and disease to spread. I like to grow flowers amongst my veg to create a vegetable growing area that has a cottage garden look. There is more biodiversity too which is great for your garden ecosystem.

Its easy to start a polyculture bed.  I am going to adapt the Three Sisters method used by Native Americans to grow corn, beans and squash (see in the photo above). Mostly the seeds are sown into modules first and the young plants transplanted into position in late spring, once risk of frost has past.

The sweet corn are planted as a block in the centre of the bed because they are cross pollinated…