Survival

Once plants have germinated, then the seedlings need to survive. Although Darwin's Galapogos Island finches are famous in terms of his theory of evolution, it was actually observations of agricultural weeds that led to the "survival of the fittest" part of the idea. He saw that of many seedlings that germinated, only a few developed into adult plants.

The seedlings compete for light, water and soil nutrients. I think rocket is an excellent competitor. I fully understand why it is called "rocket".

I'm sure I planted lettuce and marigold and coriander and radishes in my plot, but all I can see is the rocket. It's even threatened to overwhelm the kale! Unfortunately I was away doing some field research for 3 weeks, and although I persuaded a nice friend to come over and do some harvesting and weighing, it's a 60 mile return journey so it didn't happen perhaps as often as was needed in those important early stages.

Have you got other crops growing up? Did you pull out any rocket or have you just managed to keep on top of it by harvesting? How often have you been cutting it?

Rocket!

I'm overwhelmed by it!

Here's a recipe that helps (amounts approx; adjust to suit):

Rocket pesto

ingredients
rocket leaves for every 4 oz (125 g) of leaves add:
2 oz (50 g) pine nuts, chopped fine
2 oz (50g) hazelnuts (and/or cashews or walnuts if you prefer, or add more pine nuts..), chopped
a couple of cloves of garlic, crushed/chopped finely
salt and pepper to taste
100 ml olive oil (extra virgin)

and if you eat it,

50g parmesan (or other Italiany hard cheese, or cheese substitute), grated.
If you just stir this in when you want to use the pesto, it'll keep much longer. If you don't eat cheese it works fine without, just tastes a bit different.


method
1) harvest rocket, weigh and note it on your 12-plot sheet ;)
2) wash and cut out large stems
3) chop leaves finely
4) chop the other dry ingredients too and stir together
5) mix with olive oil
6) store in a sterile jar. Pour some olive oil as a layer over the top. I top this up when I use it so it keeps longer. Keep in fridge (about a month if you added the cheese, or up to 6 months if you didn't).

You can use a food processor if you prefer instead of chopping; just throw everything dry in and whizz and then add the oil a bit at a time.

If you've any other "glut" recipes, please share here.

:)
Enjoy!

Plot pictures

A huge thanks to everyone who has sent in pictures of their plots!
Please do keep them coming in. Email to mixedveg@permaculture.org.uk

Peter's very nice layout design with plenty of space between the plots!











Mark's plots:
They are on a no-dig experimental plot in its third season - the two plots are side by side and so have almost identical aspects. Here are some photos from the beginning.






large, 12 crop plot














Small, 3-crop plot













and a map of the planting as of April (O = onion, P = peas):















Emma's plot
The 3 veg plot is nearest the camera then a 20cm gap then the 12 veg plot marked out with blue twine

In April:











In July:

Germination - how did your seeds do?

It would be great to know how your seeds did with germinating. We gave out extra seeds anticipating less than 100% would take, but it seems there are some interesting differences between our experiences.

Thanks, Valerie for starting us off! Here's my summary of the ones planted indoors:
Sweetcorn - 2 of 12
[6 to go on larger plot - I'm 4 short]
Beans - 16 of 20
[12 to go on larger plot - I've given some away and kept a couple in reserve in case the ones planted out die through storm or slug]
Kale - 10 of 12
[6 to go on larger plot - others planted elsewhere in my allotment]

Germination

I am still waiting for my sweetcorn to germinate. My kale has done really well (10 of 12 seeds germinated, although one got chomped by a snail!), but my mum’s only had 4 germinate (yes, my mum is joining in the mixed veg trials too!). Why are there these differences?


Germination is one of the key stages in plant growth. Each seed is a tiny present. Hidden inside is all the complex genetic information that tells it what to grow into, plus a little reserve of nutritional resources to help see that it gets off to a good start in life. This may be a small reserve, as in radish and rocket that produce lots of tiny seeds to spread their bets, or a larger one, like beans and peas that invest more in ensuring that the seed has a reserve of nutrients to help initial growth.


Seeds need water to germinate. We plant our seeds and then we water them in. The seeds take in the water and this causes the embryo to swell and expand and break through the protective seed coat. They also need oxygen, the right temperature (no use growing if it’s too cold) and the right light levels. Some plants, like poppies, need light to germinate whereas others prefer darkness. These different light requirements are why we plant seeds at different depths. Some, however, are simply not going to germinate no matter what loving care and attention they get. If seeds are cracked or broken, then they won’t grow. Germination success rates (the proportion of seeds that germinate) are very important for growers of all kinds from veg gardeners to foresters.


So why haven’t my sweetcorn germinated? I planted them weeks ago! I’ve planted some other sweetcorn since and they are already poking through the soil. I think perhaps I drowned them. With all the hot dry weather I was afraid that they wouldn’t get enough moisture and over-compensated. It’s best to plant, water in, and then water again when the seedling emerges. Otherwise they might go mouldy, or not get enough oxygen. I’m going to excavate one tonight and see if the seed is still there and if it started to grow at all.


So what shall I do?


There will be no sweetcorn in my mixed veg plot… For this research, it doesn’t matter if something is missing from the plot – hopefully all the other plants will simply take advantage of the space and there will still be a good yield.


On the other hand, maybe my mum has some spare ones that she might swap for some kale… : )

Packets of seeds

All the little packets of seeds - kindly donated by some lovely seed companies, and lovingly sorted into little packet for us by Permaculture volunteers - have arrived.  It's so exciting to see all these little promises of growth and food.

First task - divide the peas, spinach, and radish seeds into two sets - one half for each trial plot.  If any look like they won't grow (tiny or damaged), split them equally into each pile (we'll give them a chance to grow).

• 22 peas in each. 
• 20 perpetual spinach in each
• 75 radish in each (or split equally if you have a few more/less)

Second task - plant out the onion sets in the lovely newly prepared bed (the bigger one - for 12 species)

I love the spring time!

Mixed Vegetable Gardening

Mixed vegetable trials have begun!
The packs of seeds and information have now been sent out to 50 participants of the mixed veg trials 2011.  













What is mixed vegetable gardening?
Mixed vegetable gardening is an example of a polyculture. The word means growing lots of different types of plants together. The growing mix in a polyculture can include vegetables, herbs, flowers and even fruit. People have used this approach all over the world for hundreds of years, often with great success. Examples include the English Cottage Garden, Caribbean kitchen gardens or the allotments of Bangladeshi communities in London.

How does it differ from other forms of gardening?
In a conventional vegetable garden, each type is planted in rows or patches. Usually similar species are grouped together, such as brassicas, beans and peas and so on. Plants of the same or similar species compete
for the same nutrients, and are an attractive habitat for pests of that plant. Usually, the patches are rotated every year to prevent the build-up of pests and diseases and so as not to deplete the soil of nutrients.
By contrast, in mixed cropping a large number of different vegetables are grown together in the same space. A well-chosen combination can result in less competition for nutrients, and other beneficial relationships between the different plants mean that plants are healthier.

Some benefits of mixed vegetable cropping:

• Better use of space - a lot of food is produced and many types of vegetables can be grown in the same space over a longer time.
• Fewer pests and diseases - the different colours, shapes, textures and scents of the leaves confuse pests, and diseases can't spread as easily from one plant to the next.
• Less weeding - there is no space and no light on the ground, so weeds can't germinate.
• Less need for watering - greater soil coverage means less evaporation. 

For more information go to the Mixed Vegetable page of the Permaculture Association site and have a look at the manual we have put together.

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