Prepping and Planting Fall Gardens – and Intercropping!

Yesterday I posted a new video on our fall garden preparation and planting:

In part of the video I talk about growing green manure for the garden and I scatter a lot of various seeds around, some of which are just planted for their future nitrogen and biomass production.

Not everyone likes this idea, however:

“Clover and beans that will die off aren’t food. I wanna see how much actual food can be produced in that space, not permaculture experiments.”

First of all, my gardens are always full of experiments. Second, clover and beans are food for the food. The ground needs organic matter and green manuring will create compost in place, rather than us having to make tons of it to feed the garden.

Mixing together seeds of edible and nitrogen-fixing varieties isn’t a new practice for me. Here’s a video from April of 2011:

And here’s a post  on intercropping from 2012.

Incidentally, these are shots from my 2011 garden:

Doesn’t it look great to have a lush abundance of species together in the garden? Look at all that biomass!

Today I should get my single-row crops planted: turnips, mustard, cabbages and daikons. I may get my other beds finished as well. It’s good to have a large space to work with – plenty of space for experiments!

Finally – I posted an outtakes video over at Unauthorized as an exclusive.

I think you’ll find it amusing.

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