I accidentally created polyculture in my veg garden when I had to unexpectedly travel, and I had open spaces from previously harvested lettuce. I had zinnia seedlings, so I popped them in just to cover the soil. They grew wonderfully, with the only disadvantage being they were too pretty to remove when I needed to plant new veg 😂. Thanks for the post, Hew.
1:35 to 4,15 = Huw saying what someone told him about polyculture. But in between explaining that, he diverted into what other visitors on tours say; all the pests he had in 2024; his upcoming book… Dude, this makes it hard work to keep track of what you're saying. It's exhausting. Best to say concisely what the person told you, and then, after a pause, say how it relates to your garden, your thoughts on it, your book, etc. Also, I think it could have been Joshua Sparkes from Regenerative Media (Natural Farming Pioneer – edible perennials) who told you.
For me Polyculture is is simply working with nature instead of fighting nature. Today's monoculture agriculture is fighting against everything nature has taught us. For nearly seven decades I've never done any gardening other than polyculture, and probably won't be changing any time soon.
It’s so fun to see you so happy about your garden. This video got me to thinking about how happy I have been to just come upon marigolds in different parts of my yard where I did not plant them. And, I get tickled every time I see some nasturtium in the background of your videos after you have commented about how they come up everywhere. This past spring I started nasturtium from seed and love them, and I’m still loving them in the garden because we haven’t really had a frost. And I cannot wait to see where they pop up next year.
Already preordered the new book! I embraced your message of polyculture when I re-started my garden adventure this last summer. It was a brutal summer for growing here in the eastern US, but I managed to produce a lot of food without really trying and making plenty of mistakes as well. The key I think was planting lots of flowers in with my veggies and mixing the veggies up in each raised bed. No one bed was 100% any one thing. I had pollinators galore and that was as satisfying as harvesting cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, peas and peppers. I plan even more variety in the coming year! I am thinking of a comment about worm composting as being a form of forest mimicry and I think polyculture gardening is a form of nature mimicry. We can learn from the best!
I don't have a definite plan for my allotment next year so I might try growing lots of different things in my beds and spreading things around a bit. Being neat and tidy is not my strong point and I love things to look a bit wild so it'll probably suit me. Having said that my sweetcorn is all going to be together because I just like it like that, I suppose I could interplant something between it, perhaps.
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Huw, can you please define permaculture and polyculture
I accidentally created polyculture in my veg garden when I had to unexpectedly travel, and I had open spaces from previously harvested lettuce. I had zinnia seedlings, so I popped them in just to cover the soil. They grew wonderfully, with the only disadvantage being they were too pretty to remove when I needed to plant new veg 😂. Thanks for the post, Hew.
There's more gratification from polyculture gardening than gardening just to feed yourself and family.
1:35 to 4,15 = Huw saying what someone told him about polyculture. But in between explaining that, he diverted into what other visitors on tours say; all the pests he had in 2024; his upcoming book… Dude, this makes it hard work to keep track of what you're saying. It's exhausting. Best to say concisely what the person told you, and then, after a pause, say how it relates to your garden, your thoughts on it, your book, etc.
Also, I think it could have been Joshua Sparkes from Regenerative Media (Natural Farming Pioneer – edible perennials) who told you.
I use oyster shells and perlite around my plants to deter slugs. These things also benefit the soil as they break down.
🍀
For me Polyculture is is simply working with nature instead of fighting nature. Today's monoculture agriculture is fighting against everything nature has taught us. For nearly seven decades I've never done any gardening other than polyculture, and probably won't be changing any time soon.
It wasn't me.
It’s so fun to see you so happy about your garden. This video got me to thinking about how happy I have been to just come upon marigolds in different parts of my yard where I did not plant them. And, I get tickled every time I see some nasturtium in the background of your videos after you have commented about how they come up everywhere. This past spring I started nasturtium from seed and love them, and I’m still loving them in the garden because we haven’t really had a frost. And I cannot wait to see where they pop up next year.
Already preordered the new book! I embraced your message of polyculture when I re-started my garden adventure this last summer. It was a brutal summer for growing here in the eastern US, but I managed to produce a lot of food without really trying and making plenty of mistakes as well. The key I think was planting lots of flowers in with my veggies and mixing the veggies up in each raised bed. No one bed was 100% any one thing. I had pollinators galore and that was as satisfying as harvesting cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, peas and peppers. I plan even more variety in the coming year! I am thinking of a comment about worm composting as being a form of forest mimicry and I think polyculture gardening is a form of nature mimicry. We can learn from the best!
Seen the Robin on the fence at 3:22? 😀
So are you saying to grow flowers and veg in the same bed. Interesting love your videos.
I don't have a definite plan for my allotment next year so I might try growing lots of different things in my beds and spreading things around a bit. Being neat and tidy is not my strong point and I love things to look a bit wild so it'll probably suit me.
Having said that my sweetcorn is all going to be together because I just like it like that, I suppose I could interplant something between it, perhaps.
5 min in and I still don't know what this key aspect is.
It also helps to confuse the pests by adding different scents from other plants so they can’t find their favourite food easily
Huw, now the big puzzle is to decode your secret message which is hinted at but still hidden.