Mixed Vegetable Gardening - Permaculture

1. Mixed Vegetable Gardening
This booklet introduces the idea of
mixed vegetable gardening,
outlining its key benefits and
requirements. The original method Abundant garden by Garden Buzz
was developed in Nepal and has been
adapted to UK conditions. We hope What is mixed Contents
that future editions of this booklet vegetable gardening?
will include much more information
and useful ideas. If you have tried this Mixed vegetable gardening is an example Introduction & overview 2
approach in your own garden and of a polyculture. The word means Table of plants in layers 3
want to share your wisdom / top tips growing lots of different types of plants So how does a poly-culture work? 4
and photos please get in touch. together. The growing mix in a
Choosing your plants 4
Contact details are on the inside back polyculture can include vegetables, herbs,
Preparing the ground 5
cover. Find out more about this and flowers and even fruit. People have used
other related projects on our website: this approach all over the world for Planting 5
hundreds of years, often with great Tending the crops 6
www.permaculture.org.uk success. Examples include the English Harvesting! 9
/mixedveg Cottage Garden, Caribbean kitchen After the harvest 10
gardens or the allotments of Bangladeshi Further information
Photo above: Mixed vegetable salad by Nonelvis
Right: Allotments in East London by LoopZilla communities in London.

2. How does it differ from
Other crops may be possible too – these are just a few examples.
Feel free to experiment! Write successes on here - and please let us know.
Nasturtium
Buckwheat
Sweetcorn
Claytonia
other forms of gardening?
(Miner's
lettuce)
Others
In a conventional vegetable garden,
each type is planted in rows or
Nightshades
patches. Usually similar species are
grouped together, such as brassicas,
Tomato
Potato
beans and peas and so on. Plants of
the same or similar species compete
Small squashes
for the same nutrients, and are an
(late crop)
attractive habitat for pests of that
Cucumber
Umbellifers Cucurbite
Table 1: Some plants that can be grown in different layers of the polyculture
(squash
family)
plant. Usually, the patches are
Squash
rotated every year to prevent the
build-up of pests and diseases and so
as not to deplete the soil of
nutrients.
Coriander
(carrot
family)
Parsnip
A feast in the making!
Lovage
Fennel
Carrot
By contrast, in mixed cropping a large
Dill
number of different vegetables are grown
together in the same space. A well-chosen
What does it look like?
combination can result in less competition • Different layers above and below ground –
Sunflowers
Composite
Marigold
family)
for nutrients, and other beneficial
lettuce
lettuce
(daisy
Similar to a woodland or a forest garden but
Lettuce
Lambs
Young
relationships between the different plants on a much smaller scale, the mixed
mean that plants are healthier. vegetable garden has a canopy, understorey,
groundcover, roots and even climbers. This
Amaranth
Amaranth
Beetroot
Some benefits of mixed
Spinach
Spinach
way, plants occupy different spaces or
Chard
vegetable cropping: niches above and below ground.
Spring onion
• Development over time – Early ground
• Better use of space - a lot of food is cover plants give way to slower growing,
family)
Onions
Chives
(onion
Allium
Garlic
Garlic
Onion
produced and many types of vegetables can
Leek
later crops.
be grown in the same space over a longer
• Plants from different families – Genetic
time.
Plants shown in italics are good to plant along
the edge as well, to protect the patch from pests.
diversity prevents build-up of pests and
Chickpeas
fenugreek
Legumes
• Fewer pests and diseases - the different
family)
beans
beans
beans
beans
Runner
Runner
nutrient depletion.
(pea
Broad
Dwarf
Peas
colours, shapes, textures and scents of the
• Diversity of leaf shape, colour, texture and
leaves confuse pests, and diseases can't
scent – this is the traditional ayurvedic
spread as easily from one plant to the next.
Cauliflower
approach to mixing vegetables for plant
Landcress
Brassicas
(cabbage
Cabbage
Understorey Pak Choi
Mustard
family)
Kohlrabi
Broccoli
greens
Oriental
• Less weeding - there is no space and no light health. Pests use their sense of sight and
Rocket
Radish
Turnip
on the ground, so weeds can't germinate.
Kale
smell to find their food plants. If there are
• Less need for watering - greater soil no obvious large patches of similar looking
coverage means less evaporation. or smelling plants, they will find it harder to
Root crop
(planted
find their favourite food.
Climber
Canopy
Ground
early)
cover
Layer
2 Mixed Vegetable Gardening

3. So how does a Is this companion planting?
Or you can design a polyculture around one
or two crops that you want a lot of, choosing
polyculture work? Companion planting has been used by gardeners for other plants that support your main crop or
a long while. Plants that are known to get on well at least don't set it back in its growth.
together are combined in the same bed. There are The polyculture introduced in this booklet
It’s this simple: some tried and tested combinations, such as onions, produces mainly leaf and root crops. You can
1. Choosing your plants carrots and lettuce, or spinach, onions and brassicas. also develop combinations around other crops
such as tomatoes, squashes or potatoes.
2. Preparing the ground Plants that are known not to get on are called
antagonists and planted in different beds. Alliums
3. Planting seeds
and seedlings
(onion and garlic) and legumes (beans and peas) are Materials needed:
a well-known example.
4. Tending the crops More examples of companions and antagonists Seeds
5. Harvesting! can be found on Seedlings - grown indoors
www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/ in advance of planting out
Starting a mixed Companion_Planting/ Compost
vegetable garden companiontables.asp Fine mulch - well rotted leaf mould is
If you have your own good method In literature the “three sisters” are often cited as a ideal; keeps moisture and adds fertility Planting the seedlings
of growing vegetables, don't stop it classic combination used in the Americas, but there
Wood ash, seaweed, rock dust - provide
all at once to try mixed vegetable are differing reports about their success in the UK
vital plant minerals 3) Planting
gardening. Try it out in a small and Europe, and even differing opinions on what
plants actually constitute the three sisters. Maybe The best time to plant your polyculture in the
area first and see how well it does. Liquid manures - another way to provide
this could be another experiment for the future! open is after the frost has passed, around mid-
If it works well, you can increase nutrients throughout the season May for most of Britain. Greenhouse
the area next year, or you can The kind of polyculture presented in this booklet is
different in that some antagonists can be grown in
Tools for digging, planting and polycultures can be started earlier, and some
spend further time adjusting your hardy plants like onions or broad beans could
methods and plant mixture. the same bed, as long as there are some other plants harvesting
be pre-sown in the same patch.
in between. Of course it makes sense to choose the
spots of antagonists so they don't clash with each 2) Preparing the ground Starting off seedlings
1) Choosing and other unnecessarily! Start off seedlings in the house, greenhouse or
Prepare the soil as you would for a normal
combining your plants vegetable patch. The more fertile the soil is,
a cold frame, from March onwards.
There are different approaches you can take You can also design your own plant the less preparation is needed. Dig the area Some vegetables such as garlic and onion sets
when developing a polyculture. You can start combination by going through the following over, unless you are working with no-dig beds can be planted in late autumn or early spring.
off with a tried and tested mix of plants like questions: of course! Add compost (ideally in late All other seedlings are best planted after the
the one in this booklet. Most likely you will autumn), then till the soil with a rake in frost has passed. In most of Britian this will
still find that you can improve on it as your • What do you like eating? spring. On a very acidic soil you can add some be in early to mid-May. Make sure you harden
understanding of the method deepens. • Are there any obvious incompatibilities? lime as well. It's beneficial to the soil to avoid them off for a few days before finally planting
Alternatively, you can start a mixed vegetable • Do you have a good mixture of layers and treading on it. If the width of the beds is less them out.
patch simply by planting everything you families? (See table 1 on page 3) than 1.5m the centre can be reached without If you are planting in a greenhouse or
like, observe what does well together and treading on the soil. polytunnel, you can extend the growing
what doesn't, then refine your mixes and • Do you have a good spread of early, mid-
season further by starting earlier and
methods over time. season and late crops? (Table 2 on page 9)
harvesting later.
4 Mixed Vegetable Gardening www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg 5

4. Planting seedlings 4) Tending the crops Looking after the mixed
In fertile and fine soil, plant strong, healthy Covering the soil vegetable garden
seedlings of cabbages, beans etc. at their One week after sowing, mustard, radish,
normal spacing. Onion sets and garlic bulbs Once everything is planted, sprinkle ash, rock
fenugreek and onion bulbs have started to
can be planted along the edge of the beds, at dust or sea weed powder on top as fertiliser.
germinate. The pre-grown seedlings have also
4-6 inch intervals, and some scattered Cover with enough topsoil or compost to
established themselves.
throughout the bed. cover all seeds and fertiliser. Then add a thin
cover of mulch, taking care not to cover the
Sowing seeds seedlings. The mulch prevents both the
drying out of the soil and compaction in
At the same time as planting out your
heavy rainfall.
seedlings, plant all the
crops you are planning
to grow from seed.
If you have achieved a very dense ground cover
• Large seeds first: you can be quite drastic with your thinning,
even using garden shears!
peas and beans
planted at their Six weeks after sowing, production is
usual spacing. increasing and there is no bare soil. Broad
Day 7: A first flush of growth is starting leaf mustard, coriander and lettuce can be
• Medium-sized seeds: to cover the ground harvested, along with the first radishes. The
beet, spinach, chard,
After 3 weeks all vegetables have germinated. faster growing leaf crops can be picked to
radish scattered or
A dense cover will have spread over the make space for the slower, longer living ones.
planted in clumps.
ground and you can start picking leaves for
You can do the same salad.
with carrots and
other root crops.
• Small seeds: Sow
lettuce, onion,
A mulch of leaves is applied on top of the broadcast seeds,
carrot, coriander and between the planted seedlings
so on, each of them
individually and thinly spread over the bed. Water well, and stand back to admire your
• Ground cover: Sow mustard or rocket, work. Your mixed vegetable bed is complete –
all you have to do from now on is harvest!
buckwheat, fenugreek (at least two different
families) thickly at the end
What about slugs? Lettuces and other greens ready for thinning
Companion plants In Britain, this is the cry of every gardener. Day 21: All the ground is now covered.
Unfortunately this method is not slug-proof, After a few months, a lot of the ground cover
Marigolds, basil, comfrey, wormwood or All the ground cover plants (mustard,
so we recommend you take the same measures will have been harvested and eaten. You will
other aromatic plants and flowers can be fenugreek, buckwheat) are good salad crops.
against the slimy blighters as in the rest of now have fewer but larger plants. You can
sown or planted around the edge of the bed. They can all be picked over the space of 2-3
your garden. Crushed egg-shell defences or keep the cropping going all the way to late
table-legs in pots of water for example. weeks, except for a few plants to save your October or November, and even have some
own seed from. overwintering crops.
6 Mixed Vegetable Gardening www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg 7

5. 5) Harvest!
So all you have to really do is
harvest. If you don't harvest, the
plants will grow too densely, go
“leggy” with tall, thin stalks and
small leaves. This means that they
will loose productivity and run to
seed early. So you have to make
sure that you always pick enough
to give other plants a chance to
come through. The space left by a
harvested plant will be quickly
taken up by its neighbours. This
way, there is never any empty space
or bare soil.
Photo: Mark Forman
The mixed vegetable plot should be easy to
Gaps in groundcover can be filled with mulch,
in this case with straw Table 2: Harvesting calendar
maintain. The dense planting and the layer These timescales are approximate - times vary depending on local conditions
of mulch help conserve moisture and keep
down weeds, so the need for watering and Likely Season Time after sowing Plants that can be harvested (examples)
weeding is minimised.
Spring 2-3 weeks Mustard greens
The maintenance of the mixed vegetable bed
can be compared to that of a woodland or a 1 month Mustard greens, Fenugreek, Buckwheat greens,
forest garden. Always thin the ground cover Chinese mustard
and early crops when the later crops need more
space, and always try to maintain a “canopy” of 2 months Radish, Broadleaf mustard, Lettuce, Chinese
leaves to give no chance to the weeds. mustard
Summer 3 months Radish, Broadleaf mustard, Lettuce, Chard,
Coriander leaves, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Beetroot
4 months Broadleaf mustard, Lettuce, Chard, Coriander
leaves, Kohlrabi, Turnip, Beetroot, Carrot,
Coriander, Peas, Chinese Cabbage, Kale
5 months Chard, Carrots, Peas, Beans Broad beans, Kale,
Autumn Cabbage, Coriander seed etc.
6 months Chard, Cauliflower, Carrots, Parsnips, Peas, Beans,
Broad beans, kale, Cabbage, Onions, Garlic etc.
4 months: The initial groundcover has gone and Understorey of ruby chard and onions 7 months + Cabbage, Sprouts, Garlic, Leek, Broccoli
longer lasting crops have closed the canopy under a "canopy" of broad beans
Mixed Vegetable Gardening www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg 9
8

6. After harvesting Photographs
Growers’ experience:
After everything has been picked, you can Unless otherwise
Roz Brown, Mid-Wales Permaculture Network: stated all the photos
prepare the bed for the next season, using
your usual dig or no-dig method. You can I am now in my third year of working this way, in this booklet are
and I can recommend it as low input, high yield, by Chris Evans.
follow up with a different crop or plant
and often surprising. For the first time in four
mixture. Alternatively you can sow a crop of
seasons, I was able to grow squash in abundance,
green manure, or leave the area fallow with a plus my first decent crop of Cherokee beans. The
Resources
big mulch. only thing I did differently was to grow them and inspiration
together with maize. These ‘3 sisters’ were very The Farmer’s
How does your garden grow? happy together. Handbook,
There is still much to learn about mixed My other favourite addition to a mixed bed is Permaculture
vegetable gardens, and we would like to rocket as an alternative to white mustard – does Research Institute of
gather and share your experiences. We want the same job, but unlike mustard makes great Australia
to learn from both success and failure. If you pesto! My other discovery this year was Chinese Gaia's Garden, Toby
have found a plant combination or technique celery in a polyculture – Celery Leaf as a herb is Hemmenway
that really works for you, we would love to also good in this situation. For me the main The One-straw
benefits of mixed plantings are their low Revolution, Masanubo Fukuoka
hear about it. We plan to update this booklet
maintenance and a huge variety of produce from Thanks
with new ideas and plant combinations, so a small area to make meals more interesting! ...to all the people who have helped put this booklet
send us your findings, top-tips and photos. More copies of this booklet together. This booklet is an adaptation of the “Polyveg”
Download a free PDF in colour (or in chapter of the Farmers Handbook by Chris Evans. The text
B&W for cheaper printing) from: was revised by Tomas Remiarz, and designed with Stig.
Author’s note: When we were writing
www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg Thanks for helpful suggestions from Roz Brown, Sally
the chapter on polyveg for
Please share this booklet with friends. Cunningham, Ian Fitzpatrick, and Naomi van der Velden.
We started using the Farmers' Handbook
polycultures in Nepal in Jakob, the book's designer,
had taken a photo from
around 1992, just after
right inside a polyveg at
Permaculture Permaculture Association
I'd seen Masanubo
Fukuoka's farm in Japan ground level, and it Mixed vegetable planting and other forms of This booklet is part of the ongoing work of the
and Ianto Evans' lovely looked just like a natural polyculture are good examples of permaculture, Research Working Group of the Permaculture
polyculture beds in forest, or like a Forest which seeks to maximise multiple yields while Association. For more information on this
Oregon, USA. Garden. That was minimising effort and environmental costs - research please visit:
It made sense, and made another crucial point, to working with nature, www.permaculture.org.uk/
see the parallel with rather than fighting
more sense when I tried it whats-going-on/
much larger systems but against it. For a great
on another farm in association-work/research
Jajarkot, and then at with the same pattern, a introduction to the
Sunrise Farm in template. Within that principles and practice
Permaculture Association UK
Kathmandu. pattern, all we have to of permaculture see the
work out are the details - ‘knowledge base’ of the BCM Permaculture Association
No-till, mulch, green
manures; diversity in leaf shape, texture, colour what plant associations work best according to our Permaculture London WC1N 3XX
and plant scent; diversity in root depth and width, local climate/microclimate and site conditions. Association website,
Tel: 0845 4581805
plant height - so much diversity! The villagers This will depend on the collection of many people's available here:
experience and some focussed research. Email: office@permacuture.org.uk
loved it - so many vegetables to choose from, and www.permaculture.org.uk/
high output but low input. Chris Evans, Nepal & South Wales knowledge-base www.permaculture.org.uk
10 Mixed Vegetable Gardening www.permaculture.org.uk/mixedveg 11

7. This booklet introduces the idea of
mixed vegetable gardening,
outlining its key benefits and
requirements. The original method
was developed in Nepal and has been
adapted to UK conditions. We hope
that future editions of this booklet
will include much more information
and useful ideas. If you have tried this
approach in your own garden and
want to share your wisdom / top tips
and photos please get in touch.
Contact details are on the inside back
cover. Find out more about this and
other related projects on our website:
www.permaculture.org.uk
/mixedveg
Photo above: Mixed vegetable salad by Nonelvis
Right: Allotments in East London by LoopZilla