posted 6 hours ago
What are some good, tried-and-true annual vegetable polycultures for zone 1 garden beds? Zone 7a, southeast Pennsylvania.
I have read about a few of the more standard successional and companion crops people have tried, and it's an intriguing approach, definitely more interesting and I can believe it's both more productive and self-sustaining than the usual annual beds with just a few companion plantings apiece. I've also used rotation for the standard 4 annual veggie categories (legumes, roots, brassicas, nightshades, with a little companion overlapping) around some beds on an annual basis. But figuring out polycultures for each bed and in rotation sounds more complicated!
That said, I will have six 4x8 garden beds to work with, and I'm currently building deer cages and trellises for them. I might set aside a couple of them for propagating perennials for the forest garden, but I can see reserving ~4 for the annuals for the next few years, and I can also easily rotate those beds year-to-year for pest control/confusion. I do also plan to add some perennials throughout for herbs, additional vegetables, and insectary support. So, maybe ~4 within-bed successions would be good? Open to suggestions!