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Cultivating a Lively Mix in the 
Vegetable Garden

Articles: Cultivating a Lively Mix in the 
Vegetable Garden

A rambunctious planting of colorful zinnias and cherry tomatoes mixed together in the vegetable garden. Photo: Emily Murphy

There’s a certain lovely order within chaos. When a garden is designed as a slice of life, following nature’s lead, we discover a complex richness of diversity and all it has to offer. The initial sense of chaos falls away and patterns emerge to reveal a healthy, living system filled with different kinds of plants keeping company with a mix of bugs (good ones and bad ones); it’s a day in the life of a garden. You’ll also find a variety of birds and most likely a host of creatures you don’t recognize—they’re all a part of the puzzle and equally important, too.

Planting with diversity in mind reduces the need to fend off pests and rotate crops, naturally improving plants’ ability to work together. It doesn’t mean we have to give up a tidy garden, planting in rows, or even triangles (my preferred planting style), but simply consider how different crops can share space. Utilizing concepts from interplanting and companion planting builds diversity—and wildness—into the smallest of gardens...

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Voices of the West; New Science on Life in the Garden by Frederique Lavoipierre

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