Interested in participating in future experiments? Join the Garden Variety Research facebook group. A place for all who are curious about their food-growing spaces. A three sisters polyculture experiment 2019 This was the 2nd year of collective polyculture research. The aims were to: 1. Evaluate the productivity of another 3-crop polyculture compared to its constituent monocultures 2. Gain a second year of insights into how polycultures and monocultures compared in real-world small-scale growing conditions 3. Engage more people in active research in their own growing spaces and contribute to individual knowledge and our collective wisdom Experimenters planted the same three crops (green beans, rhubarb chard, radish) in two different ways; together as a polyculture and each crop separately in a monoculture. They weighed and recorded each harvest of each crop. Overall yields between the polyculture and monoclture plots were almost the same. The beans yielded more highly in the polyculture, but the chard had lower yield. The Great GROW Experiment 2018 This was a citizen research comparison of the productivity of three crops grown together in polyculture and separately in monoculture. The crops were climbing beans, spinach and radish. Thirty two experimenters from nine European countries completed the experiment and submitted full harvest data. Results showed that overall polycultures were significantly more productive. This was true for over 70% of individual participants. On average the polycultures yielded an additional 800 grams per sq metre in crop weight (+37%). Full project description and results can be found here. This experiment was designed by scientists from the Permaculture Association (Britain), James Hutton Institute and IIASA as part of the GROW Observatory. This project received research funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Soy growing trials 2014 Between May and October 2014 the Permaculture Association ran a trial to establish whether or not it is possible to grow soya on a small scale in Britain. 18 growers planted soy seeds on 22 sites, ranging from the the South Coast to the Scottish Borders. Every grower planted a minimum of one square metre of seed which the Association supplied. Results were very disappointing, with half of the growers having no germination at all and only one producing anything approaching a reasonable harvest. The likely reason is that the UK climate is not warm enough for soy beans, even in the relatively warm and sunny summer of 2014. We therefore recommend that small growers avoid this difficult crop. Future research could investigate whether growing soy under glass is more successful. For the full results, click the link below. Soil test trials 2013 In the autumn of 2013 we asked UK growers to trial our soil tests. All of the feedback they sent in was incorporated in the latest version of the soil tests or the accompanying handbook. See https://www.permaculture.org.uk/research/soil-yield-and-biodiversity-tests-project for these documents. Polyculture trials 2011 Nearly fifty Association members took part in a trial comparng a seven vegetable polyculture with a three vegetable polyculture. Results suggested that the seven veg polyculture beds were a little more productive but that this was not really justified by the extra work spent maintaining them. The full results can be downloaded from: https://www.permaculture.org.uk/sites/default/files/association_work/2012/june/mixed_veg_results-web.pdf The 10 year Forest Garden Trial, 2009-2021 In 2009 the Association received funding to run a ten-year forest garden trial. Eleven projects that were in the process of setting up forest gardens were recruited. We produced reports on their progress in 2013 and 2015, and are currently writing up the final report on the projects in 2021. More detail and links to all the reports can be found here: https://www.permaculture.org.uk/research/forest-garden-research We welcome donations to support similar research projects in the future. soy_growing_trial_results_march_2015.doc