Productive Polycultures

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by permaship, Jan 12, 2016.

  1. permaship

    permaship Junior Member

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    Here are the results from the second year of our home garden polyculture study where we're looking at the inputs and outputs of annual herb and vegetable polycultures and how we can grow nutrient dense food whilst enhancing biodiversity.Our market garden polyculture study results are coming soon.

    For original post see link below
    https://balkanecologyproject.blogspot.bg/2015/11/how-productive-can-polycultures-be.html


    Results in Summary

    From a 9.5 m x 7 m piece of land we harvested 218 kg of vegetables including Tomatoes, Basil, Beans, Garlic and Winter & Summer Squash, a 57 kg increase on last year.The time spent in this garden, including propagating all the plants from seed, preparing the beds, tending the plants, irrigating and harvesting amounted to 52 hrs and 51 mins or approx 14.5 minutes a day from April - October. I'm pretty sure it takes me longer than that to write it all up :)

    218 kg works out at just over 6 kg of food produced per m² with an estimated local market value of just over 700 BGN, that's 10.63 BGN per m2 with an hourly rate of pay at 13.59 BGN (€6.95). Not exactly going to pay for lunch at the Restaurant Le Meurice, Paris, but when you consider the food is as good as you would get there, that the soil and general garden ecosystem is in better condition than it was this time last year, and that the garden provides habitat to all of the below organisms (to highlight but a few) it all starts to look pretty encouraging!


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    Our goal is to create garden ecosystems that are productive for man and for nature.Photographs taken from the garden.by Paul Alfrey and Peter Alfrey.

    Here's some details on where and how we do it.

    You can find the full spreadsheet that includes all of the data entries here

    For an overview of the cultivation methods we use see here and for last year's results see here


    Garden Overview

    Climate: Continental Temperate
    Latitude: 42°
    Elevation: 580 m
    Average Annual Rainfall: 588.5 mm
    Co-ordinates:42°42′N 25°23′E


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    The Polyculture beds on a mid spring morning

    Garden Layout

    Garden area: 66.5m2
    Cultivated beds area: 36m2
    Paths: 30.5m2

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    Path and Bed Layout
    Crop and Cultivar List

    11 x Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum 'Black Krim'
    11 x Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum 'Tigerealla'11 x Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum 'Mixed Saved Seed'
    11 x Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum 'Rozova Magia'
    11 x Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum 'Paulina F1'
    11 x Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum 'Citrina'
    66 x Basil - Ocimum basilcium 'Sweet Genovese'
    24 x Runner Beans - Phaseolus coccineus
    24 x French Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris 'Cobra'
    24 x French Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris 'Blue Bean'
    2 x Courgette - Cucurbita pepo 'Black Beauty'
    4 x Bush Scallops - Cucurbita pepo
    6 x Butternut Squash - Cucurbita pepo 'Waltham Butternut'
    12 x African Marigold - Tagetes erecta
    12 x French Marigold - Tagetes patula
    12 x Pot Marigold - Calendula officinalis

    The table below shows the floral species composition of each bed including the different cultivars and the dates that the plants were sown or planted. Beans, courgettes and winter squash were sown, tomatoes, basil, marigolds and pot marigolds were planted.Other crops such as volunteer sunflowers and nasturtiums were also allowed to grow within the beds. The yield of these plants are not considered in these records. Also not included are the native wild plants that are encouraged to grow around the perimeter of each bed. Many of these plants provide a harvest of salad greens and tea ingredients as well as mulch material when chop and dropped on the beds.

    SEE ORIGINAL POST FOR TABLE
    Planting Scheme


    Below is a typical representation of the planting scheme within a bed.


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    Vegetable Guild/Polyculture
    Soil Analysis

    Mineral Analysis - Soil samples were taken in early spring before fertility inputs and sent to the NAAS of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

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    Soil Microbiology Analysis -
    We had a lovely response after publishing last year's results from Vitalia Baranyai and Birgit Albertsmeier who volunteered to study the microbiology of the soil samples from the gardens. Below are Vitalia's results from samples taken in the spring and high summer. We thank them both for their input and support.


    Spring Sample

    Number of Bacteria per ml Micrograms bact./ ml Length in cm of fungal strands / ml Micrograms of fungi per ml F:B Biomass ratio
    3573656000.00 7147.31 445.19 270.84 0.04
    Summer Sample


    Number of Bacteria per ml Micrograms bact./ ml Length in cm of fungal strands / ml Micrograms of fungi per ml F:B Biomass ratio
    4675584000 9351 274 177 0.019
    Results: Inputs

    Input:Time Spent in Garden
    Tasks Minutes Hours
    Set up/Pack up 470 7 hrs
    50 mins
    Propagation 104 1 hr
    44 mins
    Fertility 235 3 hrs
    55 mins
    Planting out 611 10 hrs
    11 mins
    Mowing Paths 60
    1 hr
    Irrigation 540
    9 hrs
    Garden Care and Harvesting 1091 18 hrs
    11 mins

    Total minutes 3111



    Input: Fertility Inputs Over One Season
    Fertility Inputs Fertility Inputs
    Fresh Comfrey Material 96 kg Wood Ash 20 L - 5.6 kg
    Chicken manure 5.76 kg Autumn Compost for Garlic 120 L
    Spring Compost 480 L
    Kitchen scraps 18 kg Compost for planting out toms 22 L
    Straw bales 9 (standard bales) Seedling Mix for Squash 9 L
    Lawn Mower Box of Clippings 128 kg Seedling mix for Beans 18 L


    Results: Outputs

    Output: The Harvest

    The total produce from each of the main crops in the polyculture were as follows;Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum : 89.84 kg

    Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum : (Blemished with cracks or blotches but suitable for processing) 40.58 kg

    Basil - Ocimum basilcium : 1.62 kg
    Fresh Runner Beans - Phaseolus coccineus

    French Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris : 24.33 kg
    Courgette - Cucurbita pepo : 33.25 kg
    Winter Squash - Cucurbita pepo :21.7 kg
    Fresh Garlic - Allium sativum :6.74 kg
    Chicken Eggs - 54

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    Garden Produce



    All produce was weighed directly after harvest and unless otherwise stated, all of the produce recorded was in excellent condition and fit for market. Produce not fit for market was composted or fed to our animals and is not included in these records.


    Table summarising input and outputs from October 31st 2014 - October 31st 2015

    You can find the full spreadsheet that includes all of the data entries here




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  2. mullerjannie

    mullerjannie Junior Member

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    Thanks for sharing in such detail. incl spreadsheets. I suspect that your micro climate is much different that the surrounding "Continental Temperate". Do you have stats on sunshine hours and actual hi\lo for months or days. It would be really interesting.
     
  3. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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    Excellent documentation (and design!) work Permaship! Thanks for posting this.
    As your work is so thoroughly scientific, have you give any thought to sharing with the Permaculture International Research Network (PIRN)?
     
  4. permaship

    permaship Junior Member

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    Hi mullerjannie,

    You should be able to find this info from the below site using co-ordinates posted in the article
    https://www.samsamwater.com/climate/?gclid=CNj70vqauMsCFVYo0wodeNgKig

    cheers
     
  5. permaship

    permaship Junior Member

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    Hi Bill, thanks for your support, yes we're in touch with PIRN.
     
  6. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    USDA zone 7b,8a.
    Great work and wonderful results thus far with your project. Thank you for such a complete, detailed report of your methods and results. I am sure others here can benefit greatly from your sharing this information.

    I am always happy when polyculture results show what a great method it is for food production and wild life.
    Wolf, my wife, has declared a portion of our land to be where she wants to put in a polyculture food forest.
    I have been showing her just how well the old ways work for growing food and she is noticing that many of the current ideas are off shoots of our native planting ways.
    With her current illness taking the front seat for the next six weeks, I am getting to do all the work that gets done on Asnikiye Heca (Buzzard's Roost) so our progress currently has slowed quite a bit.

    I look forward to seeing more of your research as you continue to improve your soils. Great results so far by the way, it looks like you will increase productivity next year too. Thanks again for this post.
     

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