This is the fifth diary in a series on ecological gardening that I am writing for the Practical Survivalism and Sustainable Living group here on Daily Kos.
The purpose of this diary series is to share my limited knowledge about a revolutionary mindset that is nothing short of a paradigm shift in our relationship to the natural world. What this diary will not be is a definitive, earth shattering work that claims to understand everything. What will be described here is not "Finchj's way" but rather my understanding of agroecology & permaculture and how I tried to internalize and apply it.
The first diary can be found here; the second, here; the third, here; and the fourth here. As this form of land stewardship is knowledge based, I highly recommend readers to follow the series through- at least reading the diaries with "Introduction" in their title.
I will include an introduction simliar to this one in each diary for sake of continuity and disclosure.
I want to stress that ecological gardening is possible without formal training and is a DIYer dream. Nature will teach you everything you need to know, but since we have limited time here on earth, my aim is to share what I know and where I learned things so the growth will be exponential.
Last time here...
In the last diary, we took a look at the layers that make up terrestrial ecosystems. Of course, there are biomes that do not include trees- but most places inhabited by humans have the possibility of including most of these layers. Our ability to alter microclimates, control water usage, nutrient regimes, and our incredible ingenuity make it possible to design systems which do a much better job catching and recycling these necessary elements than we currently do. Using layers, we can employ biomimicry to put nature's best patterns to more human oriented use.
I then shared a redefinition of yield to include all the ecosystem services in our gardens to more accurately reflect the use of energy. By redefining yield, we begin to appreciate a well designed and cared for system for all it provides us, the plants, the soil biota, and the all the other inhabitants in the garden. This is a crucial step in understanding how nature uses the real currency, energy, and why it is important for us to acknowledge the costs paid by taking "shortcuts" to fertility.
As this introduction progresses, we will be taking an ever wider perspective of the garden. The fundamental topic of this diary are polycultures- or plant communities. This will not be a "how to assemble polycultures and guild" diary, it is merely an introduction to the subject.
May 21, 2011: Our polycultures were very simple last year as it was my first garden. Clockwise from 12 o'clock: Sungold cherry tomato, unknown jalapeno cultivar, unknown jalapeno cultivar, lemon balm (6 o'clock), New Zealand spinach (its not spinach), garlic, and sweet Genovese basil. This is a very conservative and flawed polyculture with only 7 individuals within a square meter, resulting in 21 basic interactions. I'll talk about this polyculture later.1
1. Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier, Figure 4.3, Edible Forest Gardens vol. 1 (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2005), 141.
Basic Garden Ecology 4: Introduction to Polycultures
With our understanding of how ecosystems are structured from the soil through the canopy, we can now begin to examine how plants fit together in communities. A polyculture is simply the cultivation of more than one species in the same space at the same time. This is nature's modus operandi. Even a forest being smothered by kudzu has more than one species growing in the same location. From the oceans to the highest peaks, evolution has seen to it that all niches are filled. The energy that our planet receives is utilized by billions of different organisms.
In Edible Forest Gardens vol. 1, Dave Jacke explains: "diversity provides more niches, reduces competition, increases productivity and yield, generates more functional interconnections, generates stability and resilience, reduces herbivory, and creates beauty."2 Diversity can be exhibited in a number of ways, such as the different microclimates in a garden. Therefore we can consciously develop diversity in many respects, not just through increasing species.
Nature has already done most of the work for us. Successful plant communities have evolved to share limited resources over such a long period of time that we often do not recognize just how balanced these systems are as a whole. In early spring, the understory of a forest will burst with life well before the overstory begins to leaf out. This strategy by ephemerals allows them to survive in a location where only a few months later the amount of solar energy drops dramatically. Other species in the forest who may be connected by either direct root grafting or mycorrhizal fungi share signals allowing for synchronized blooming and maximum pollination. Through careful study we can utilize- appropriately- the vast genetic diversity that makes up the flora of this planet.
2. Summary of the subheading "What Diversity Does," at the end of the chapter "The Five Elements of Forest Architecture," Ibid, 107-108.
Aug. 27, 2011: Nuuksio National Park, Espoo, Finland. While this may look like an old growth forest, much of the park had been logged prior to preservation. It may appear that pines have the upper hand, but the understory abounds with diversity. Together they form a relatively stable community by growing in a polyculture.
Plant Communities: Stable, Resilient, & Productive
Ecological communities have benefited from the enormity of time in which they have developed. The huge number of relationships present in a polyculture allow for plants to simultaneously support one another through the ecosystem functions they provide and compete for resources without causing collapse. When we consciously design polycultures, we must have an understanding of the habits of each species we wish to include if the end result will be stable, resilient, and productive.
In a carefully designed garden we can foster these attributes in a number of ways. There are two fundamental keys that will help us get started. First, we must have an eye for identifying microclimates, aspects, and other characteristics of the physical space we wish to garden in. Depressions, hills, channels, warm spots, cool spots- areas of poor or good drainage- these all come together to create the tapestry of the landscape. They are all intimately connected to each other just as they are to the flora and fauna.
The second key is having a grasp of each species' environment of evolutionary adaptedness.3 EEA for short, this concept is based on the theory that in order for traits to develop, environmental stimuli must have been present to warrant the evolution of said trait. Derived from attachment theory, EEA tells us that each organism has an environment that it is particularly suited to- its niche.4
Once we know where an organism will thrive, it becomes easier to understand how to cooperate with its innate nature. We can then begin to ask what how an organism goes about its business. Dave Jacke lists some elements of species niches, or, what questions we should answer about each organism we wish to partner with: What is its core strategy? The context? What are its needs, products, characteristics, functions, behaviors, and influences?5 The amount of information adds up quickly and can become overwhelming at times. Hence why I am writing an entire diary series on this subject. Ecological gardening is about managing these questions in a way that benefits us and our environment. One size does not fit all if we wish to truly cooperate with nature.
The best way to come about this knowledge is through observation. While much good information can come from research, nothing beats time in the garden, field, or forest actively watching and learning. Every single site is different from the next and requires an investment of our time in order to gain a better understanding of it. Spend time in your local parks, natural areas, and even older neighborhoods. Getting to know your local landscape requires effort.
3. I first learned of this term while reading an essay called "Respecting Ourselves- Part 1" over at PRI Australia.
4. For a general answer to what is an EEA and why is it important, see this link.
5. Jacke, Edible Forest Gardens, Table 4.1, 123.
July 21, 2011: Northeast end of Salem Lake. At least five distinct edges are visible: the forest, forest edge, flood plain, stream bank, and the stream itself. These edges increase the diversity and number of niches that are available for organisms to take advantage of.
Why Polycultures
No human fertilizes the forest with industrial inputs. You won't find a monoculture in the natural world. Monocultures are wasteful of space, energy, water, and time. They do not take full advantage of the tremendous vitality that nature has to offer- which is why our meticulously manicured landscapes are constantly "invaded" by species we don't want. Instead of wasting our time trying to maintain an inefficient system, we can look to nature and copy her best patterns so that our gardens function.
Properly functioning systems are resilient against outside forces. When niches are filled and the system is healthy, invasion by unwanted species is avoided because the space is taken and the party is just fine without any newcomers. That isn't to say that there are never opportunistic plants or problems! But we reduce these chances through design.
By mimicking nature's forms and adapting them to serve our purposes, we can design polycultures that partition resources through space and time. By designing gardens that take care of their own mulching, resource production (through dynamic accumulation and nitrogen fixation), pollination, beneficial habitat provision- we begin to lessen the amount of work humans must do.
Just think about how much harder it is for herbivorous organisms to do damage to a functioning ecosystem. First, they must actually find their favorite meals! Many of these "pests" use a sense of smell to detect food. With a multitude of multifunctional species growing in a single area, their olfactory senses are fuddled by aromatic plants. Pests confronted with an ecosystem suddenly face a life of danger. They spend more time and energy in the pursuit of food which increases the threat from predators. If they finally find their prey, they are presented with a plant that is healthy: the micro biota and the plant have cooperated in such a way as to strengthen the plants defenses. Contrast this with the veritable "all you can eat, as long as its your favorite" cradle-to-grave EEA we present pests in monoculture gardens. It doesn't take long to discover the benefits of polycultures.
Begin to take advantage of our evolutionary skill set- cognitive function- and put it to use creating functional alliances. Very few people want to wage chemical warfare in their garden just to have a harvest. And lets be honest, those that enjoy destroying life aren't going to be convinced that something is wrong with them unless peaceful people end their war with nature.
With nature as our guide, establishing polycultures that meet our needs as well as the systems essential functions, will even further limit the attractiveness of our current paradigm of opposition, antagonism, and biological warfare.
July 7, 2011: The edge between our Green and Nightshade Guilds. Healthy plants setting with fruit, a fair number of flowers. Still light on diversity and young in age, the garden will only increase in productivity as we begin to build soil in the coming years
Sharing Flaws
The photograph, at the beginning of the diary, of the polyculture of tomatoes, peppers, and other plants was a patch within my "Nightshade Guild."6 I mentioned that this guild was both conservative and flawed. Conservative because seven species within a square meter is actually a low number. Flawed, well, because I chose to place species that competed for resources closely together. Peppers and tomatoes are strong feeders and they were placed too closely for our poor soils to handle.
To improve this polyculture, I would have decreased the number of nightshade plants and increased the numbers of flowering species (as well as thrown in nitrogen fixers). The amount of mulch visible should be reduced by integrating more ground covers, like oregano. Anyway, this year will be much different for a variety of reasons.7
In the photograph below, you can see how it turned out in September. Keep in mind this is a first year garden (for both the land and myself!), we had imported mulch and compost that may have held pathogens, and that even conventional chemical users have problems. Oh, and all those plants were started indoors and transplanted. Which further increases the probability of trouble.
6. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants are all closely related and are nightshades, therefore I chose plants that "got along" with all three of these garden favorites to create a "guild."
7. If you want to know more about the goings on in our garden, you can visit my "blog." I don't update it too regularly, and I am sharing a lot of my thoughts here instead of there, but you'll definitely get a better idea as to the evolution of our garden by reading about it.
Sep. 7, 2011: The same polyculture from May towards the end of summer. I had just returned from Finland to find most of the tomatoes succumbing to a disease, which allowed the peppers to begin to fruit with more intensity. Not exactly the type of resource partitioning we want to foster, but my family was tired of tomatoes (other plants did almost too well) and we enjoyed the flush of jalapenos. The lemon balm did exceptionally well (as almost all my plantings of it did), the basil plants have self seeded multiple generations within one summer, and the New Zealand spinach was overtaken by it all. The garlic went dormant for the summer and is chugging along this winter.
Conclusion
The use of polycultures by ecological gardeners traces its roots back to the simple observation that nature works. Nature works whether or not we intervene, it endures and often thrives. By questioning the idea of monocultures- with all their inherent flaws- we can to throw off the curse of Genesis 3:17-24 and return to the garden as it was meant to be: an ecosystem.
Honestly, I may have jumped the gun on this diary. It quite possibly should have come after the next...which will talk about integrating water into the landscape. "Planting the Rain" as Brad Lancaster says. Thanks for reading!
Note- If you found this diary to be a bit muddled, I must inform you that I've been feeling off. I wrote about half of this last night and I feel strange today as well. Not sick, but probably just too much time in front of this screen :) So I'm going to go outside and patch up part of our dog fence. Fresh air always helps.
May 21, 2011: Symphytum uplandicum x Bocking 14 flowering.
Additional Resources
[Updated a couple things from last week]
My favorite books:
Edible Forest Gardens, Vol I and II. David Jacke with Eric Toensmeier. Chelsea Green, 2006.
Sepp Holzer's Permaculture. Sepp Holzer, translated by Anna Sapsford-Francis. Chelsea Green, 2010. [UPDATED LINK] Realized what a fool I was not to point you to the website managed by Sepp and Veronika Holzer.
Gaia's Garden. Toby Hemenway. Chelsea Green, 2009 (2nd edition).
Let the Water Do the Work. Bill Zeedyk and Van Clother. The Quivira Coalition, 2009.
The One Straw Revolution. Masanobu Fukuoka. Link will point you to a decent review.
Akinori Kimura's Miracle Apples. By Takuji Ishikawa, translated by Yoko Ono. This is an absolutely fantastic story. My favorite part is towards the end, chapter 22, when Kimura is told of his family's first success. Give it a read!
For a much fuller list of books on the subject, see Toby Hemenway's Permaculture Reading List. The article I linked to up top is also a great read.
There are plenty of materials online as well. The Permaculture Institute of Australia is excellent.
Youtube has plenty of videos.
