The Farmers' Handbook - "Near The House 2", Chapter 3 - Mixed VEgetable Gardening What is Mixed Vegetable Gardening ? Mixed vegetable gardening means planting lots of different types of plants to- gether. In conventional gardening, different varieties of vegetable are usually planted in different areas of the garden. So cabbage, onion, lettuce, radish, pea, etc. are all in their separate places. However, there are benefi- cial relationships between many types of vegetable and herb plants, which help them to grow. When plants grow sepa- rately, these benefits are lost to the system. This is one reason why various problems can start to affect the vegetables. To solve these problems farmers must then work harder at weed- ing, pest control, irrigation, etc. Without this extra work, production can be lost. Mixing different species together helps the different crops. So in this chapter information is provided on how to plant and maintain a mixed vegetable garden. A mixed vegetable garden, Begnas, Nepal Mixed Vegetable Gardening ?
9
Embed
What is Mixed Vegetable Gardening · 4 The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Chapter 3 - Mixed Vegetable Gardening Materials Needed to plant a Mixed Vegetable Garden 5 Preparing
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Th
e F
arm
ers'
Han
db
ook
- "
Nea
r T
he
Hou
se 2
", C
hap
ter
3 -
Mix
ed V
Eget
ab
le G
ard
enin
g
What isMixed Vegetable
Gardening ?
Mixedvegetablegardeningmeansplanting lotsof differenttypes ofplants to-gether. Inconventionalgardening,different varieties of vegetable are usually planted in differentareas of the garden. So cabbage, onion, lettuce, radish, pea,etc. are all in their separate places. However, there are benefi-cial relationships between many types of vegetable and herbplants, which help them to grow. When plants grow sepa-rately, these benefits are lost to the system. This is one reasonwhy various problems can start to affect the vegetables. Tosolve these problems farmers must then work harder at weed-ing, pest control, irrigation, etc. Without this extra work,production can be lost.
Mixing different species together helps the differentcrops. So in this chapter information is provided on how toplant and maintain a mixed vegetable garden.
A mixed vegetable garden, Begnas, Nepal
Mixed VegetableGardening ?
The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Chapter 3 - Mixed Vegetable Gardening
WhyWhy HowHowplant a MixedVegetable Garden ?
to plant a MixedVegetable Garden ?
2 3
• lack of seed & seedlings • lack of water • lack of time• lack of knowledge • lack of fertility • lack of space• pests & disease or being eaten by livestock
Many problems can affect the success of vegetablegardening. For example :-
These problems can make vegetable production seemvery difficult. They can cause the garden to fail, or productiv-ity to be less, even with high inputs.
Benefits of Mixed Vegetable Gardening
• less pest and disease• less weeding• less need to irrigate• many types of vegetable in the same place• no space is wasted• vegetables can be harvested over a longer time• high production in a small area
leek
If you have your own good method of growing vegeta-bles, don't stop all at once to try mixed vegetable gardening.Try it out on a small area of your vegetable garden and see. Ifit works well, you can increase it next year.
Time to plant• low-lying tropical or sub tropical - after the monsoon (Au-
tumn)• high altitude or temperate areas - in the early spring
beetroot
This Booklet's Author :Chris Evans, advisor,Himalayan Permaculture Group, Nepalwww.designedvisions.com
The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Chapter 3 - Mixed Vegetable Gardening4
Materials Needed to plant aMixed Vegetable Garden
5
Preparing the gardenThe more fertile the soil is, the less preparation is
needed. Dig the area, mix in compost and make the soil fine.Make garden beds according to your needs and the shape andslope of the land. If the width of the beds is 4 feet then thecentre of the bed can be reached without treading on the soil.
kale lettuce cabbage
various typesof seedling
various typesof seed
mulchmaterial
well rottedcompost
diggingtools
Planting SeedlingsThe soil should be fertile and fine to plant seedlings.
Plant cabbages, cauliflower, etc. at their normal dis-tance of 12-18 inches. In between and on theedges of the beds plant onion seedlingsor starts, and garlic bulbs at 4 - 6inch intervals.
Different typesof vegetablesare good forour health
Sowing SeedsFirst sow the large seeds :- pea, radish, broad (fava)
bean, climbing or dwarf beans, etc. are planted at intervals of6 inches. Make a smale hole with your finger, plant the seed,and cover. Then, thinly sow all other vegetable or herb seedexcept the mustard, buckwheat or fenugreek. Lastly, afterplanting the seedlings and sowing the seed, thickly sow themustard, buckwheat and/or fenugreek. If you don't have all ofthese 3, any one or two of them will do. On the edge of thebeds it's good to plant or sow companion plants, such aslemongrass,marigold,basil,worm-wood,comfrey,etc
The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Chapter 3 - Mixed Vegetable Gardening6 7
Let's SeeLet's See How to make a MixedVegetable GardenHow to make a MixedVegetable Garden
2
1
Covering the soilAfter planting everything, sprinkle
ash on top. Then cover with fine, fertilesoil - enough to cover all the seed andash. Finally, taking care not to cover theseedlings, add a thin mulch to cover all thesoil, and water well. Now your mixedvegetable bed is complete, and all you haveto do is harvest !
sprout
cauliflowerbroadleafmustard
onion
radish
This vegetablegarden looks
good, but all thespecies are sepa-rate, so it takes
more work.
Now lets see howmuch work it takes to
look after a mixedvegetable garden
One week aftersowing, mus-
tard, fenu-greek, radish
and onionbulbs have
started to ger-minate. Cauli-flower seed-
lings have alsobeen plantedAfter 3 weeks all
types have germi-nated. Broad bean,buckwheat, Swiss
chard and kohl rabican also be seen.
The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Chapter 3 - Mixed Vegetable Gardening8 9
4
3
6
5
redmustard
broadleafmustard
garlic
radish
lettuce
corianderSeen close, vari-ous types of veg-
etable
radishbroadleafmustard
broadbean
Chinesemustard
redmustard
6 weeks aftersowing, pro-
duction isgood andbare soil
can't be seen
Because of dif-ferent types ofleaf shape, leaf
texture andcolour, there areless pest prob-
lemsHow many types ofvegetable can you
count ?
The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Chapter 3 - Mixed Vegetable Gardening
7
8
10 11
How tomaintain a MixedVegetable Garden
MaintenanceMaintenance
After eating from thegarden for 4 monthsthere are still lots of
vegetables, and still nobare soil.
This farmer hassown 9 types of veg-etable together on
his large field.
By making the bed in this way, less maintenance isneeded later on. Weeding and watering may still be neededaccording to site, but the mulch, and the density of plants helpto conserve moisture and keep weeds down.
In a bed planted like this, first the mustard will germi-nate. It will be followed by broad leaf mustard, radish, fenu-greek, buckwheat, and so on. The mustard, fenugreek andbuckwheat will grow very densely, and help prevent weedsfrom growing to leave minimum weeding. From 2-3weeks, production starts with mustard leavesbeing picked as a greenleaf vegetable.Shortly after, buckwheat and fenugreekcan be picked for the same use. Pickingof these can continue over the next 2-3weeks, until they are all gone (except forseed plants).
By this time, other vegeables willstart to be ready. Broadleaf mustard, radish leaves, smallradishes, lettuce, etc. can be harvested from 1 month aftersowing. Fast growing leaf vegetables are picked to makespace for slower, longer living species.
So maintenance of the mixed vegetable bed is really justharvesting. If this doesn't happen, the vegetables will growtoo thick and the system will lose productivity. The space leftby a harvested plant is quickly taken up by another. In thisway, the bed never has any empty spaces or bare soil.
The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Chapter 3 - Mixed Vegetable Gardening12 13
mustard greens
When can you harvest thefruits of your labour ?
Before 3 weeks
cabbage, sprout, onion, garlic, corianderseed, fennel seed, leek, brocolli, etc.
chard, cauliflower, carrot, peas, broadbeans, cabbage, onions, garlic, etc.
chard, carrot, peas, broad bean, kale, cab-bage, etc.
broadleaf mustard, chard, turnip, radish,carrot, coriander, peas, chinese cabbage,kohl rabi, beetroot, kale, etc.
After all plants are harvestedUsing this method, vegetables can be easily har-
vested and eaten for up to 7 months. Finally, after every-thing has been eaten, add compost and dig the bed readyfor the next season. If the monsoon or summer is next,maize, beans, squash, chillies, etc. can be sown. Or acrop of green manures can be grown, or the gardenmulched thickly and left fallow. It's up to you, your sea-sons, your crops and your needs. When the right seasonstarts again, the cycle is complete and the process ofmixed vegetable growing can be repeated.
5 months after sowing,radish, broad bean, cori-ander, etc. produce seed.
The soil is still com-pletely covered.
The Farmers' Handbook, "Near The House - 2" Chapter 3 - Mixed Vegetable Gardening
Integrated Pest Management chapter :-how to use local resources and knowledge in manydifferent methods of controlling pests and diseases
Mulching chapter
Integrated PestManagement
chapter
GreenManures chapter
Kitchen Gardenchapter
æ
Æ
Farmers'ExperienceFarmers'Experience
From Nepal, Surkhet district,Gumi - 5, Ratadada village,and a member of "Haryali"women's group, Mrs EkmayaShris has planted her ownmixed vegetable garden. Nowlet's hear about her experience.
Mrs Ekmaya Shris
Mrs Ekmaya Shris
I learnt about mixed vegeta-ble gardening from the homesteadprogramme (JPP) so I could growvegetables better. I planted greens,radish, garlic, broad beans, cabbage, coriander and others allat the same time. The beans were good young, and used forlentils when they were older. It's a good method to protectagainst pests as well, and by planting lots of types, if onedoesn't do well the others will still produce food. After plant-ing, there was always food to harvest, but no work for awhole 5 months. We start in September after the monsoon,and there's enough to eat continuously until April. Weedingisn't needed either even though we only put a light mulcharound the plants. This is a great method. Now I can teachwhat I've learned to others, and I'm still learning more aboutwhat I don't know.