No
matter how many fascists scream and holler about having state that is
what they call “genetically pure,” any look at nature tells a
prudent observer that diversity is the key to a healthy organization,
be it a club, a nation state or your garden. The natural world runs
on diversity which is one of the reasons that classification of
species is oftentimes very contentious and bitter.
The alternate to diversity is a pathway to death and stagnation. We
all know about problems caused by inbreeding – look at the long
lineage of English kings if you need a nudge to see what can happen
over generations – and it's true for all living beings, including plants in our gardens. Nature deals
in diversification and we should follow that lead.
You
may not have a big garden, but still, every attempt should be made to
increase diversity. In our year round gardens, we have the climate to
grow crops that do well in summer and a whole other palette for
winter. This is good as it interrupts the some of the life in the
soil that is after your vegetables. Usually you'll find that one
species will work in hot weather and a different one in cooler
weather, requiring different regimens to survive – and, of course
you are planting different crops in the different seasons. So you'll
disrupt food sources, or habitation choices, as you switch from
season to season, the climate urging you to change as we warm and
cool in our annual cycle.
If
you plant tomatoes in one spot in Spring, and then use that same plot
for lettuce and other greens in Fall, you have disrupted the disease
and insects preying on tomatoes. You can plant tomatoes in the same
spot next year. Now, I know you can plant tomatoes every year in the
same spot. I'd rather you didn't. You might get along for two, three
or more years with a good tomato crop, but sooner or later your luck
will run out and then you're in a pickle! To get rid of the diseases
your tomatoes have attracted, might prove daunting. Certainly, you'll
have to leave that plot fallow and NOT grow any of the nightshades,
like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and some others, because they will
attract the same species that are ruining your tomatoes. I would
probably put some alfalfa seeds down, and when they are about knee
high, chop them down and dig them into the bed – in that soil plant
winter crops like chard or kale – whatever you like in winter. That
following summer, again do not plant tomatoes. Maybe plant a summer
cover crop from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply
(https://www.groworganic.com/cover-crop-seeds/soil-building/summer-soil-building.html
). Finally, in the third year of this ordeal, give yourself one
tomato to try. If it exhibits the same affliction, do the whole thing
over again hoping that a cure has been found in the interim.
But
garden diversity is not confined by species – for yourself, plant multiple varieties! Have a hot pepper and a not so hot pepper; a red tomato
and gold tomatoes; an early bean and a late bean! Mix up what you
plant.
I'll
plant some carrots with the intent to have them raw – others I'll
plant specifically to pickle. For pickling
I prefer the blunted ends of Nantes carrots, which will turn into
pickled carrot sticks with less waste that you would find with the
tapered Chantenay carrots.
 |
| Scarlet Runner Beans are a favorite for the multiplicity of ways to eat them! And their bright flowers. |
While
I like almost all beans, when I grow Pencil Pod, I'm growing them for
pickles as well. The beans come quickly and, if well-picked, are
quite straight, making canning them much more pleasant with less waste
than, say, Royalty Purple Pod, which is planted as an early bean, being one of the few that will germinate in cold weather when others would just rot.
On
the other hand, for a longer, more diverse crop of beans, Scarlet
Runner beans outshine almost anything else you can plant. First off,
you have these wonderful, very bright, red flowers that are worth a
bouquet, but don't do that because in few weeks those flowers will
become beans. They will be big! The pods about 1 ½” wide and 8
inches long and, though intimidating, they are tender and as
delicious as any other snap bean you can get your hands on! After a
time, the pods begin to shrink, outlining the beans. The bright
purple beans can be cooked as a “shelly bean.” Finally as the
bean dry, they can be stored like any other dried bean and cooked
over night for a hearty soup or stew. And it didn't mention that they
climb. Plant them with something to climb on and you will enjoy a
good supply of green beans and be blessed by the flowers. Besides
red, there is a red/white 'edition' and I have been gifted with a
variety, completely unknown to me, of a brown seeded runner bean –
I'll let you know what I learn in the coming year with these beans.
This
kind of diversity is repeated through out nature. The more diversity
in your garden, the more resilient it will be in all kinds of
climates. The ascent of global climate upheaval will demand that we
be as diverse and as resilient as possible in order to contend with
the changes that cannot be anticipated - we must employ diverse food
production to allow ourselves redundancy in our food supply.
Gardeners
and farmers have, until now, been able to predict with some
certainty, what the coming six months of weather will bring. This is
no longer true. We will soon have common forecasts that will predict
weather on that scale, but even then, there will be errors and we
will have to survive until the next crop comes in. That will be our
biggest challenge. The only way to overcome this is a diversity of
crops and a diversity of humans in different locations growing those
crops.
So
shoot for diversity in your garden, no matter how small it may be,
you still have room to plant a variety of species and I urge you to
take advantage of that.
david
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