Last year I had the brilliant idea of putting the brassica’s (cabbage family) on the north side of the corn. I thought that this way I could protect them from the heat during summer as our garden is south facing and in full sun. Good idea right?
Well.. no. The shade was fine for the plants but also for the slugs (and oh we have em). The cabbages attracted not only slugs but also caterpillars and basically everything that could eat a cabbage was there to party. I don’t think I’ve had that much trouble with pests before. We all make rookie mistakes at times.
This year I put the cabbages on the south side of the corn facing full sun. They look bigger and a lot healthier. We sprayed Neem oil twice this year and aside from a couple slug bites they seem fine. I don’t mind a bite or two on the outer leaves as long as not all of my cabbages are being devoured.
When plants are happy they generally are more resistant to pests. I usually don’t water anything except for when I’m planting young plants out in the garden that came from indoors. They need a little sip.
Aside from the cabbages we sprayed our broadbeans (with Neem oil) once against aphids, nothing else in our garden has been sprayed or watered and I did not amend the soil with bags of anything.
In fall I place a thin layer of rough compost (carbon+manure from our animals) on the soil and that’s it. If needed I let the pigs in first to clean up any missed veggies. A couple stakes, three rows electric fence and in they go.
It really is that easy to clean a garden space with pigs.
The most important thing why my garden looks like this is the marketplace where soil life trade their goodies. Beans are a large contributor to the market and root vegetables support the underground network. I view root vegetables as road workers. As the name suggests they have a large root and that means a large surface for microorganisms to live on. They pave the way for any trading and are often the first one on scene. Think of any extreme condition, what thrives? plants with taproots/root veggies for example dandelions.
If I hit hard clay then potatoes or a good (daikon) radish go in first.
If want a nice garden I need a place for the market to set up shop. No market works without customers so my job is to provide a home for the microorganisms (customers) and that means promoting soil life, chemicals are no part of that.
Needless to say I want to keep the stalls in the marketplace as full as possible to keep the customers happy so I plant the beans (large contributor) somewhere central between other vegetables. The largest vendor gets the best position right? So the beans are in the middle of the other veggies, for example this year they have potatoes, beets, corn and cabbage as neighbours.
Vegetables that are known to be on a bulk-sale-hunt like corn and wheat, are divided into several small patches around the garden.
Cucumbers, squash and pumpkins are always at the pub. They are happy as long as they have a drink in their hand.
Understanding the needs of the different plants is to some extend important however health does not come from a bag. Every plant gives and takes different nutrients, microorganisms make it accessible for the plants and the funghi distribute it over a large distance.
If you see a deficiency it is most likely a problem with the soil life. Maybe the earthworms can’t get up into your raised beds, maybe it is too dry and the soil life goes to sleep (either plant close together or add woodchips/cover).
I can’t spot all problems right away but I take pride in developing a feel for it.
You can play around with veggies in the garden. If something goes wrong just try it in a different spot next year.
A quick tip on pollination
If you encounter problems with pollination let a couple of radishes go to seed, the flowers attract all kinds of insects. Just make sure you pull it out and feed it to the goats/pigs/chickens before the seed pods are fully ripe. If your plant depends on wind for pollination consider where the wind is coming from predominantly and make sure to plant in blocks not rows.
