does anyone plant their gardens in a "non-monoculture" format?

[kaybee]

OK, what i mean by this is...Im tired of having a row of this and a row of that and having it all in this mono-culture, same-thing-together-type format. i dont think its pretty. i want a pretty garden. i know theres companion planting, but i dont exactly mean that. i mean i want things in such a way that theres kind of an integration, so it makes a beautiful whole, instead of just all of one veggie here and another there, etc. I think it could be more beautiful if they were sort of integrated. But then I dont know if this really goes along with the principles of organic farming, because you are supposed to rotate crops to prevent soil diseases.... but im tired of monoculture gardening...any ideas? any plans? anyone do a "more integrated format" in addition to veggies and greens, i will also have borage, calendula and nasturtium flowers, and maybe sunflowers but they have to go on the borders, as its a rented plot and they dont want the whole field being accidentally seeded with sunflowers. i wish it were my own so I could integrate in plantings of perennial herbs and stuff, but thats not worth doing as Im not guaranteed to be using the plot long-term. so only annual herbs will go there (perrenial herbs will go in the backyard of someone else I work on a garden with)

thanks :)

kaybee

[irishserra]

I'm sure it would be beautiful; however, I can imagine myself getting confused as to what's what. My gardens are more "functionality" than anything else (not that I don't appreciate the beauty of the lush leafy greens, swirling vines and pop of color that the blossoms and fruits deliver...)

:D

[juliebove]

I plant flowers all over. I don't like highly organized flower beds. But veggies? I don't want to have to go all over, hunting for them. I think they are generally planted in rows for two reasons. One, that I just stated. For ease of harvest. Another so you can do crop rotation from year to year and not deplete your soil of nutrients.

[RaeVynn]

I'm doing a variation on the Square Foot Gardening idea. I don't plan on having "rows" of anything! By spacing things around the garden box, it all looks nicer through the season, besides providing for companion gardening.

[Revvell]

I had no set plan. Take a look (http://revvellations.com/weekly/2009/03/creating-my-garden/) ~ the pics are from just about 3 weeks ago. Things have changed. Need to get more pics up soon.

Revvell (http://Revvellations.com)

[kaybee]

thanks for suggestions... i think im going to do it in "patches" rather than rows... the idea of "patches" is more attractive to me for some reason than big long rows. i like the idea of the square foot gardening but i feel too lazy to build raised beds on top of all the other garden work that has to be done... (we are hauling manure at the moment..takes 2 hours a load and need about 12 loads....

Revvell--i saw these picks and some of the ones on your website too. the cement blocks look like a good idea especially because you can actually plant IN the blocks too...

still trying to sort out the details and have PILES of seed packet sitting on the table, guess ill see how it ends up taking form :)