GANG news, June 12, 2015: Permaculture experiment discovery! Plus new project photos.

“Hey,” said podmate and head gardener Rebecca the other day. “I’ve got something in the garden I want to show you; might make a good blogpost.” Two days, later I finally got around to taking my iphone out there to document it. And it’s a real wow! A week or two ago (not sure how long ago) she decided to take out half of the pepperweed? peppergrass? growing wild among the squash, and leave the other half there to see what the effect would be on the squash, if any. One bed, probably eight squash, leaving four plants surrounded by pepper weed, and four not. And guess what! The four that still live with the “weed” are twice as big as the squash without! Check it out! The ones on the left have the weed; the ones on the right do not.

From the left:

From the right.

Little squash plant:

Bigger squash plant:

But is that really pepperweed or pepper plant? I googled it, and what we’ve got doesn’t look like either one of those. I just called Rebecca. She’s gone. So I went back out in the garden and got this closeup of whatever the plant is that still grows with four of the big squash plants.

Little purple blooms on it. WHAT IS IT? Anybody know?

To us this experiment presents some kind of anecdotal evidence — either that plants like to be crowded with other plants (at least that) and/or that squash and whatever this particular “weed” is like to live together. Vindication at any rate, for our permaculture policy of allowing some wild plants to cohabitate with domesticated annuals.

Go on over to Katarina’s very active Green Acres Neighborhood Garden facebook page to see photos of new garden projects this week, including a new fence gate and stone steps between the two properties, flanked by two new raised beds in what we’re calling “The Avenue” between the two ecopod houses. The walls of these beds are constructed with the same urbanite (i.e., chinked up old basketball court) that rims the GANG pond.