Our community garden plot is starting to produce. Tomatoes are rampant on their wire cages; beans twine up corn stalks while squash grows beneath. Peppers hang from their plants, basil puts forth leaves waiting for pesto and other uses. Purslane spreads between the watermelon leaves, and the hollyhock leaves multiply in the warm summer sun. Two varieties of mint emerged from the soil in spring and now get harvested regularly both as an herb and for mint tea, keeping the otherwise rambunctious plants in check.
The plot’s soil is heavy clay, amended by as much organic material as we could get into it. We didn’t rototill anything in, preferring to break the clay into pieces and let the organic matter fill in between them. This method, according to a seminar I attended several years back, allows for better drainage. I can’t tell if it’s working better than if I’d used a rototiller, but I can certainly say that the plants are thriving.
We seem to be one of the few (if only) garden using polyculture techniques, where multiple crops overlap. Corn, beans and squash are called the Three Sisters in Native American folklore. The beans fix nitrogen that can be used by the other plants, and twine up the corn stalks for light. After the corn has been harvested, the stalks remain useful as supports for the beans. The squash plants grow at the base of the corn, although they seem to grow better at the edges where they get more sunlight.
Although many might consider purslane a weed, it’s actually a decent vegetable and full of healthy things. If nothing else, it’s the easiest thing to grow out of all the vegetables and herbs.
Soon the corn will be ready for harvest, the watermelons swelling on the vines, and the peppers deepening to red from green.