Sowing a midsummer polyculture of annual vegetables 

Thank you :)

Ash Thanks so much for watching! There’s a follow up video on this experiment in the archives: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-teY7I29rtpQ.html And it’s also mentioned in some of the harvest videos from later in 2018. Actually: I’m still harvesting from this bed at the moment, mostly overwintered kale :)

@@GrownToCook I noticed it was a 2018 video after I posted my comment. And then found your harvest video. Would be fun to see you add more seeds to the already operational polyculture. It's very inspiring!

Thank you so much, Theresa! I'm happy to hear that!

I'm glad you liked the videos, I always try to make the videos as clear as possible and hopefully easy to follow if someone wants to try these ideas too :)

Thanks, we'll try to film a few updates. There are several videos on last year's polyculture in the archives, if you're interested: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ps8X10GpVeE.html It was sown even more densely (and was incredibly productive!),

Thank you! I'm always very interested in how the polyculture can be adapted to different climates, so please let me know if you try it later in the year for your cool season! Maybe this polyculture would be more relevant to your climate now: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zskA-B6PG8M.html

Thanks... that's actually the very first video of yours that I ever watched :-) I do have some of those plants growing... it's too late/hot in the season for cabbage but we have: Jerusalem Artichokes, Tomatoes, squash, zucchini, okra, French Sorrel, sweet and hot peppers.. in the shade I do still have some Swiss chard.. in and amongst the veggies I have comfrey, yarrow, garlic, hyssop, wormwood, mugwort, chives, vervain, rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, Majoram. Lemonbalm, mint, and boneset :-) once I harvest the Jerusalem Artichokes I'll do a similar polyculture to this midSummer video.. that will be mid September :-)

It seems like you already have quite a diverse garden :) Let me know how this polyculture works out if you try it in September!

Thank you! And great to hear you also do a lot of polycultures - they are such productive ways to grow food!

My beds are 1,2 x 2,8 (or 3) metres

Thank you! I'm happy to hear you're trying a polyculture this year! My other polyculture (spring sown: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Slkk1JhdV5c.html) has mustard greens in it instead of the kale here and those are harvested very early which means they do not stay in the ground very long. Maybe that's an idea for your mix if you're worried about including brassicas? And maybe also consider adding beets and carrots for a longer, more diverse harvest?

Yes, it is indeed very important to start harvesting early and use many of the plants at seedling stage. I have done similar polycultures many times over the years. If you'd like to see how it works, there is a series of videos about the developement of our last years polyculture in the archives (which by the way was sown even more thickly): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ps8X10GpVeE.html

Thank you... I will have a look.

Graag gedaan :)

Thank you, Isabelle! I source my seeds from different seed companies, but one of my favourites is the Belgian nursery De Nieuwe Tuin: denieuwetuin.be/ They have different seed mixes which are very convenient for my polycultures :)

Hi Madalina! One of my favourite sites is a Belgian nursery De Nieuwe Tuin: denieuwetuin.be/ They have interesting varities and also offer good mixes (most of the seeds in this polyculture are from there). Unfortunatelly, the site is in Dutch (but with pictures of all varieties ;)). Other than that, I sometimes order from Thompson&Morgan www.thompson-morgan.com/ or The Real Seed Catalogue: www.realseeds.co.uk/ I hope this helps, happy gardening!

GrownToCook thank you so much for the sites , I will take a look , I live in the Netherlands but my Dutch is not so good but I will manage with the sites. You forgot to mention about the slugs ...we also have a plot and slugs are really a big problems, they even ate our potatoes😯...i really love your videos and I learn a lot from you, keep them coming 😊 hugs

I'm glad it helps! Slugs: the main thing we did was creating a pond to attract frogs, toads and salamanders which all eat slugs. We do not do anything like beer traps or hunting for them at night. Many people say that mulch encourages slugs but it also encourages predators such as ground beetles that eat slug eggs. Other than that I sometimes protect susceptible plants with mulch like cocoa shells or coffeegrounds - that helps a bit too.