For the last 10,000 to 12,000 years, humans have relied on agriculture for most of their food cultivation and consumption. Starting off with small homebound gardens, this process eventually evolved into estate-driven farming and then feudal/serf farming. In the modern era, we have vast fields that stretch to the horizon in all directions. Much of the work and planning has been automated and is GPS-assisted. According to the Department of Agriculture, 53% of all US land is used in agriculture (crops, pastures, forestry), with 390 million acres used for cropland.
In recent years, especially following the beginning of the pandemic, many took to their land and cultivated their own food. There have always been home gardens, but now, people seem to have become more infatuated with experimenting and growing at least some of their own harvest every year. Even with no yard, many grow herbs in window boxes or even use small hydroponics systems in their apartments. With the prevalence of home gardens and the democratization of crop growing, different people are experimenting with their own ways of growing. No farmer is the same. A key difference in the home garden versus the large-scale commercialized farm is: variety. In the large American field, monoculture is king.
Monoculture (mono=one) is the growing of one plant to yield a single crop whereas polyculture (poly=many) is the growing of many different plants in one area or plot. Typically, for home gardens, no one dedicates their entire garden to just green beans. While we diversify primarily to increase the number of different goods in our harvest, there is also an immense benefit to doing so, if done right. Enter the title of this article, “Companion Plants and Permaculture.”
Companion plants are fairly self-explanatory. They are plants that do well when planted next to one another. Whether it be for warding away pests, soil nitrogenization, and pollination or attracting good bugs, thoughtfully choosing your plant’s neighbors can lead to better harvests! In pre-colonial North America, the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica developed the “Three Sisters” method for farming. Corn, beans, and squash were planted together. The corn is at the center of each sister-unit, acting as a trellis for the beans to climb up. The beans, in turn, better anchor the corn while the large, low leaves of the squash shade the soil, keeping it damp, preventing weeds, and maintaining steady nitrogen levels. This ingenious method was perfected over thousands of years of trial and error and spread across the continent.
Other examples of companion plants would be basil and tomatoes, where the smell of basil detracts aphids and other harmful insects from attacking tomato vines. Carrots and most onions have this same bond. My kale and lettuce would get eviscerated every year, but its proximity to marigold flowers now allows me to eat these veggies without fear of worms getting there first. There are countless examples like this, and it can be done in a checkered pattern across a garden with plants neighboring others in a beneficial network. There has been a lot of research and experiments done on this, so I highly recommend you look around the numerous guides and examples before planting.
Away from small-scale gardens and back to endless farm fields, permaculture is this process but on a huge scale. Rather than extracting value and nutrients from the soil, “permanent agriculture” allows for a balanced system of give and take. By planting crops that grow naturally in the area in a co-habitation manor, as they would in the wild, the soil is protected and strengthened as well as yields greatly improving. If one watched last year’s Season 3 of Amazon Prime’s “Clarkson’s Farm,” you’d have seen Jeremy dedicate one field to both beans and wheat and withheld himself from using any pesticides. Nearby, marigolds and other smelly flowers are often in the area around cranberry bogs.
With the ever-changing climate and unpredictable weather, farmers of land both large and small are looking for better ways to preserve the nutrients they have and increase harvest yields without detriment. Permaculture and companion plants could be a way of the future. As far as I know, at least it is a fun and interesting experiment to do in your own garden.
By Sam Bishop