Inter-cropping

1,136 words, Copyright 2006 Harvest McCampbell
Published by the Hoopa People Newspaper, April 4, 2006
Posted here with permission

Inter-cropping

Once upon a time, a long, long time a go, I planted a half-acre vegetable garden as an act of revolt. This insurrection started right out with the seeds. I ignored my families long saved and hand selected seed. Oh no, that old seed would not do. I had to have the very latest modern hybrids. The plot was ploughed and tilled, and then raked by hand. My personal up rising did not stop there. I ignored my families’, my ancestors’, long tradition of planting corn in circles with melons and pumpkins sprawling out from their centers, of beans climbing corn stocks, and squash shading the ground between circles of corn. I was sure there was a better way. Heck, the instructions were right on the back of the seed packet.

I was armed with a pile of stakes, a tape measure, and loads of string. I carefully read the backs of packets for spacing of the rows and spacing the seeds in the rows. I laid out taut string and planted according to the directions. A week latter I was horrified. I had a field of weeds. Grandmothers’ gardens evolved a bit at a time. Each small section carefully tended before the next section was planted. I had never seen so many weeds in my life.

I spent that summer hoeing in the hot sun. I don’t think I had ever seen a hoe before that act of mindless revolution. That hoe taught me something. Turns out the old people knew a thing or two about gardening. And while that garden was productive, it was more work than I had ever imagined. And it was boring. Plants planted out in single rows lacked the lovely exuberance of my grandmother’s half-wild gardens. I never planted a garden out in those narrow rows again.

Inter-cropping is both an ancient tradition and a cutting edge organic concept. It not only benefits the gardener by keeping down weeds; it improves yield, discourages pests, and improves the fertility and life of the soil. A healthy garden emulates nature in many ways. Visit a neglected vacant lot, a long fallow field, or a mountain meadow. What you will find are a number of different plants that work together productively. Taller plants provide the shade and wind protection that tender plants and seedlings need. The vetches, clovers, and lupines fix nitrogen and improve the soil. Fast growing leafy plants such as wild radish, mustard, and mulleins produce copious organic matter that is necessary for the soil’s health. The roots of living, dying, and dead plants keep the soil loose and permeable.

If you pay attention to natural environments you will find that nature abhors bare ground. Except on the most wind swept sand, the most sun baked rocks, or the driest deserts you will find a community of plants spreading leaves and stems over the ground. The plants and their decaying plant matter shield the soil from the rays of the sun. Those rays, particularly in the heat of summer, are detrimental to the soil. Hot summer sunlight has a sterilizing effect. It can kill the beneficial organisms that live in the soil. It harms the bacteria, fungi, and minute creatures that are necessary to the soil nutrient cycle.

If that weren’t bad enough, sunlight also speeds the oxidation of the organic matter in the soil. Dirt long exposed to the sun’s baking effect loses tilth, porosity, and becomes dense infertile clods that are difficult for roots and worms to colonize. Inter-cropping and mulching lead us back towards healthy soils and healthy plant environments. Not only the soil is improved. Important benefits are accrued above ground also.

Single stands of any type of plant cry out to the pests that torment them – “Over here, over here, here I am!” Pest species clue in on the scent and colors of their favored food plants, a whole stand or row of those plants can be seen and smelled for miles. While inter-cropping will not eliminate pests from your garden, it can give you a bit of an edge. And it is an edge that you can learn to fine tune in more ways than one.

By using a technique called “companion planting” you can combine plants in ways that fool the pests. It has been found, for instance, that growing onions with carrots reduces infestation of carrot maggots in gardens. And inter-growing with garlic tends to reduce aphid infestations. Companion planting is a science and art all its own. You can find books on the subject, and many gardening books have chapters devoted to companion planting. (One good example is “Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape – Naturally,” by Robert Kourik, published by Metamorphic Press, Santa Rosa, 1986.)

In my garden inter-cropping is a fairly simple matter. In my beds you will find a mix of root crops, leafy greens, tall plants, and short plants. I throw a small handful of vetch seeds into most beds at the time of planting – to fix nitrogen. (You could use snap peas or bush beans instead.) I mix seeds of short-term crops, such as radish and cress, with medium term crops like lettuce and carrots, with longer-term crops like broccoli, cabbage, garlic, and parsnips. By inter-cropping each bed is productive for about 9 months. And it is only in the initial few weeks that there are any weeds to speak of.

There are folks who look at inter-cropping from an entirely different point of view. Crow Miller has an article titled “Inter-planting” in Countryside and Small Stock Journal, May / June 2005, pg. 61. (This may be available at your library.) He discusses how beets and kohlrabi have roots that feed at different levels, making them good partners in the garden. Robert Kourik also discusses roots in his sub-sections on inter-cropping in the book, “Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape – Naturally.” He provides charts that illustrate the root depth and spread of a number of food plants. Personally, I find that information almost useless. Plant roots can easily inter-grow with other plants with little or no detriment to yield. However, if you are up for an experiment or if you are designing a science fair project, you may find the information useful.

I do recommend reading Kourik’s comments on inter-cropping. He discusses inter-cropping as a good use of sunlight and a good use of space. He includes a useful list of shade tolerant vegetables. (His lists of fast and slow growing crops are not completely accurate for our area.) His information on companion planting is the best I have seen anywhere. I do find a tiny thing missing. What he, and most other writers fail to mention, is that the inter-cropped vegetable bed is exuberant, lovely, and a lot less work. What could be better than that?

Inter-cropping
1,136 words, Copyright 2006 Harvest McCampbell
Published by the Hoopa People Newspaper, April 4, 2006
Posted here with permission

Elecampane links

Dear Readers,

I am working on my article for next week, and this dang weather is hard on my bones. One minute clear, the next rain . . . LOL . . . Typical April showers, it is just we are over 20 inches over our average rainfall for the season, and we typically get plenty . . .

Anyway, here are some links to some info and pics on Elecampane:

Flowers and medicinal info:
http://herbalmusings.com/elecampane.htm

The dried leaf on this cuboard will give you some sense of scale:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/53138961/1056944172034013916dDWmkJ

I am pretty sure mine drowned this year. But I still have seeds . . . Now if I can just get them to grow . . .

Laters,

Harvest

Gardening and Eats

Dear Readers,

I planted one squash today. I dig a hole 18 inches deep and throw in the used Daily Mews, kitchen scraps, and I cut a bunch of bolting sow thistle and dock from the yard and threw that in too. I threw in about 12 inches of misc. organic matter. I topped that with alternating layers of garden soil and Ready grow with chicken manure. That is my standard planting hole. The extra dirt - is nearly pure worm castings, and I use it to top dress my other plantings, or to fill in low places in the garden, the raised beds, or the lawn. Rain chased me in the house. But about one planting hole is about all I am up for in a day. I usually pull some weeds and I also cut some veggies, and sometimes I bag some slugs . . .

For eats today I made a stir fry with a sea food mix - from Winco, with carrots, onions, garlic, garland chrysanthemum, parsnip, and red Japanese Mustard. The carrots and alliums were from the store. I also made a batch of mixed wilted greens - mostly bolting wild radish, kale, and Brussels sprouts - (the bolts from all of these.) I am now cooking a pot of black beans which will have garland chrysanthemum, red mustard, and green onions from the garden. And, we have garden fresh salad - left over from yesterday - 3 kinds of lettuce, garlic chives, little bolts from various mustards and kale, baby kale leaves, lemon balm, Greek oregano, and sweet cecily.

And this is about how we eat most days, all year long. The specifics change with the season - but lots of stuff fresh from the garden . . .

Harvest