Permaculture is becoming an increasingly used and appreciated vegetable garden and garden design system. In this article we will see 8 plants that can increase the productivity and health of your vegetable garden, minimising the time to dedicate to its maintenance.
Plants help us create healthier ecosystems for our vegetable garden and allow us to have more time to sit and enjoy our garden! Plants fertilise, attract pollinating insects and beneficial insects, provide mulch and keep pests away. Below is a list of my 8 favourite plants for the permaculture vegetable garden.
1. Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Some of you will think: “What? You want me to plant this weed in my vegetable garden??” Incredible but true, dandelion brings numerous benefits to our vegetable garden, the most important of which is the fertilising action. Dandelion penetrates the soil deeply with its taproot bringing important nutrients to the surface and storing them in its own leaves. Dandelion is exceptional at accumulating potassium, phosphorus, calcium and other nutrients in its own leaves, substances that are important for healthy plant growth. When the leaves fall or are cut and left to decompose on the soil they help it to self-fertilise.
Personally I have let dandelion grow in my vegetable garden and it’s easy to favour its growth even under fruit trees in orchards. Dandelion increases the earthworm population which are important for healthy soil. Once a month I cut off the leaves and let them decompose on the ground, this prevents the dandelion from flowering and releasing seeds because let’s face it, dandelion is fabulous, but I don’t need to have a whole garden of it!
The nutrient-rich leaves are beneficial for my vegetable garden, but they are also for me. Indeed yes, because dandelion leaves are edible. I add the younger ones of bright green colour to my mixed salads. Some farmers specifically cultivate a particular variety of dandelion that has large leaves which, apparently, chickens are also very fond of. Consider adding some dandelion seeds to your seed mix for the vegetable garden.
As if that weren’t enough, dandelion also finds use as a natural remedy. The dried root is an excellent tonic for liver and kidneys. If left to flower dandelion attracts pollinating and beneficial insects. For all these reasons and many others, dandelion is one of my 5 favourite plants for the vegetable garden and garden.
2. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Yarrow is a fantastic flower that is loved by all types of beneficial insects: ladybirds, hoverflies, parasitic wasps and lacewings. I usually plant yarrow every two rows of the vegetable garden. Its scent confuses pests that try to concentrate on your crops! Yarrow is an excellent fertiliser, its leaves are rich in potassium and phosphorus. Once flowering is finished in autumn I mow it and let it decompose in the vegetable garden or in a compost heap. Yarrow performs its fertilising activity and attraction of beneficial insects even under fruit trees.
3. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Fennel is a wonderful plant characterised by a strong fragrance and lacy leaves. In garden-vegetable gardens it’s often combined with basil. The fennel flower is umbrella-shaped, like yarrow, and beneficial insects and pollinators love it. Fennel attracts ladybirds, hoverflies, parasitic wasps and lacewings and I really enjoyed seeing an increase in swallowtail butterflies in my vegetable garden. I keep fennel on the outermost part of my vegetable garden because it’s said that many cultivable plants don’t grow well in their presence, but at the end of the season, after having collected all the seeds, I also use it for mulching other plants because it’s a good accumulator of phosphorus.
A note: it’s important to collect fennel seeds at the end of summer so that the plants don’t spread seeds everywhere. Use the seeds for cooking or give them as a gift to plant to your gardener friend!
4. Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)
Chamomile flowers are not only pretty like many small decorative buttons, but work hard for us in our garden-vegetable garden. Chamomile has been defined as “the physician of plants” because it seems to support and heal almost every plant placed near it.
Chamomile is a fertilising plant, its roots bring potassium, phosphorus and calcium to the surface. Mulching with chamomile remains improves the soil. The flowers attract pollinating insects, whilst beneficial ones are attracted by the lacy leaves. It’s said to considerably improve lettuce and onion crops and performs its duty even under fruit trees. Everyone knows chamomile in the form of infusion for its calming properties, now your opportunity has come to grow it yourself!
5. Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum)
Comfrey is the emblem of permaculture vegetable gardens and planting it is almost a cliché, if it weren’t that it would really be a shame not to grow this beautiful plant in your garden-vegetable garden. Comfrey is perhaps the most important mulch plant. It’s at the top of the list of natural fertilisers and in its large leaves it accumulates potassium, phosphorus, calcium and other nutrients. Usually it’s planted under fruit trees and almost everywhere in vegetable gardens.
Comfrey’s wide leaves can be cut and dropped often during the season to feed the soil or to add to the compost heap. The beautiful purple bell-shaped flowers are sought after by pollinating insects and the large leaves attract many beneficial insects in search of a habitat. Personally I prefer to plant Russian comfrey because like fennel, it self-seeds very quickly although Russian comfrey seeds are sterile, so they don’t allow it to reproduce throughout the vegetable garden. Comfrey is also frequently used as feed for chickens and hens. Dried comfrey leaves and roots are one of the most useful medicinal herbs and are often used in tinctures and ointments.
6. Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
Chives are certainly a better-known herb and the reason is due to their use in cooking and ease of cultivation. I love going outside whilst I’m cooking to quickly cut a few leaves. Their flowers are wonderful and are an edible garnish for salads.
Chives are another plant that accumulates potassium and calcium. I like to plant them at the edge of my raised beds. Cutting them a couple of times a year, it’s easy to mulch the vegetable garden with the removed parts to add some free and natural fertiliser to the soil. Pollinating insects enjoy the splendid chive flowers between late spring and early summer. The strong smell of chives keeps pests away, so I plant them near strawberries to prevent them from being attracted by the sweet fragrance of ripening fruits and I fertilise the bed frequently with cuttings.
It’s said that chives repel fruit tree borers along with other pests/diseases, so I decided to plant them around every trunk of my cherry trees. It’s also said to be a good companion of carrots and tomatoes.
7. White clover (Trifolium repens)
One of the most renowned plants for having a truly productive vegetable garden: white clover is the only nitrogen-fixing grass on this list. All vegetables and fruit plants need nitrogen to produce healthy crops, however they can’t obtain it from the soil. So they need some nitrogen-fixing plants that manage to take nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form that is assimilable by the roots of cultivated plants. And here white clover comes into play.
There are many other types of nitrogen-fixing plants, but I think white clover is the easiest to grow in a vegetable garden. In addition to nitrogen clover accumulates phosphorus and is habitually used in orchards as “living” and perennial mulch that protects the soil and constantly provides fertiliser. White clover is also often used in the pathways of permanent vegetable gardens because it serves as perfect cover for a walkable path and the nitrogen filters through the raised beds.
They are one of the favourite flowers of honey bees and having a vegetable garden with more white clovers means attracting more pollinating and beneficial insects because the flower blooms throughout the season. It’s also an ingredient that is often added to feed mixes for chickens and hens.
8. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
My love story with lemon balm is quite recent, since I discovered the magic of this plant no more than a couple of years ago. As a phosphorus accumulator it’s a wonderful plant to grow in the vegetable garden or under fruit trees. Lemon balm grows in small bushes, so it doesn’t spread to other areas of the vegetable garden unless you want it to. However it’s a prolific plant that grows quickly, so it can be cut often to use as fertiliser.
Its fragrance confuses pests in search of your vegetables or your fruit. It’s often called “the bee herb” because the white flowers bloom throughout the season and are much loved by bees. For lacewings, beneficial insects, lemon balm leaves are the perfect place to lay eggs. With a lemon mint flavour lemon balm lends itself both to being used as an aromatic herb and as an infusion. The list of benefits as a medicinal herb is really long, so it’s not surprising that it’s much sought after for the preparation of natural remedies.
Managing a permaculture vegetable garden is a rewarding experience and I hope this non-exhaustive list of plants can provide you with some ideas to improve your ecosystem and the health of your vegetable garden and reduce the amount of work needed to fertilise, treat and keep pests away.
Article translated from: https://104homestead.com/8-herbs-permaculture/
