POLYCULTURE IN POTS

In an extract from his new book Huw Richards explains how you can recreate polyculture on a small scale in containers

- Huw Richard

Huw Richards is dedicated to empowering people to grow their own food and his popular YouTube channel documenting his gardening journey has had more than 100 million views to date. Huw discovered permaculture at a young age and was drawn to the idea of reconnecting and working hand-in-hand with nature. In his new book The Permaculture Garden Huw looks at all aspects of permaculture, including the concept of polyculture, which is where many plants are grown mixed together.

It is the opposite of monoculture, which is blocks of single plants. You can visualise this by picturing a meadow in comparison to a field of wheat. Polyculture can work on any scale and in this book extract Huw looks at polyculture in pots, so you can create incredible biodiversity even on a small patio or a balcony.

Large pots can be treated as their own self-contained garden, in the same way as you can treat garden beds. Ideally, you want pots with a minimum diameter of 40cm (16in) in order to fit in a variety of plants.