Marie's Milpa: a planting plan

Last updated: 26.03.2022

Reading time: 2 minutes

Mixed cultivation is the cultivation of different plant species that have a positive influence on each other. This is the opposite of monoculture and brings more variety to your vegetable patch. What can be a real mess for many people when planning their beds is nothing more than a child's play exercise with the tools in the Fryd app. As part of our themed weeks on mixed cultivation, we are presenting five example beds that you can use as inspiration for your own mixed cultivation. Today we're talking about one of the oldest mixed cultures of all: milpa.

A very well-known and popular mixed crop with a long tradition is the milpa mixed crop. This historic mixed crop originates from South America and includes corn, beans and pumpkin. The three components, also known as the "three sisters", complement each other in the vegetable patch in an unusual way. The maize plants are planted before the runner beans, giving them a head start in growth and serving as a climbing aid later on. At the same time, the beans improve the soil thanks to their nitrogen-enriching properties, which benefits the two heavy feeders, maize and pumpkin. In contrast to beans, maize has relatively shallow roots so that the two planting partners do not get in each other's way underground.

Pumpkins, zucchinis and corn grow together with various runner beans in this special milpa bed.

A circle of beans is placed around each corn plant (e.g.'True Gold'); suitable varieties here include 'Blauhilde' or 'Neckargold'. The colorful pods of the purple and yellow beans (wax beans) are a real eye-catcher and bring more color variety to the vegetable patch. If you don't fancy the classic yellow sweetcorn, you can also choose colorful varieties. A pumpkin is planted in the traditional milpa, offset from the maize plants. This creeps over the bed and shades the ground between the maize and bean plants. As an alternative to pumpkins, you can also plant other pumpkin plants such as zucchinis. Marie has planted a Hokkaido pumpkin 'Red Kuri' and a spaghetti pumpkin 'Vegetable Spaghetti', as well as a zucchini'Gold Rush' in her milpa bed. You can fill the gaps with herbs and flowers. Savory (here: summer savory) goes well next to beans because it keeps the bean aphid away. You can also plant other herbs such as parsley and oregano. So that you can harvest the herbs easily, it is better to plant them at the edge. The remaining gaps can be filled with marigolds and borage.

Fancy a mixed milpa crop? We have already added all the varieties of Marie's Milpabeet to your shopping cart - all 100% organic, of course. You can also edit the selection according to your wishes: Click here to go to the shopping cart!

Would you like to receive helpful gardening tips all year round and plan your own beds optimally? Then register here or download the Fryd app for Android or iOS.

Fryd - your digital bed planner

Cover image by Bruttos on Pixabay.

Author

Annabell

Annabell is studying agricultural biology at the University of Hohenheim. She also enjoys gardening in her private life, spends a lot of time in nature and loves to be creative.

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