Most of us understand that changing which crops you plant (“crop rotation”) helps to keep the soil enriched and ready for each successive planting and harvest. Those who know a bit about the history of agriculture and related major events might have also heard of the Irish Potato Famine (caused by a disease apparently wiping out the majority of their ‘staple’ / food supply) and The Dust Bowl (monoculture; growing the same one type of plant over and over on the same piece of land, and doing this on a regional/national scale… until it had depleted the soil to the point that it was turning to sand and causing huge sand/dust storms). My point in bringing these catastrophes up is to make it clear, and in no uncertain terms, just how critical, not just generally helpful, growing the greatest possible variety of crops is.
In the short term, it will help ensure you profit off of every harvest; no matter how the market supply and demand fluctuates, you’ll have at least a little of something that is still highly prized. You’ll also be keeping your diet balanced. Just from the land’s perspective, you’ll have a stronger anti-erosion roots-system, and your plants will be connected to complementary species which will support them by trading nutrients, so you’ll need to tend/fertilize them less.
In the long term, diversifying the plants of your garden or farmland will prevent desertification. You’ll be keeping the soil nutrient-dense/rich, thus more complex in the right way/s, thus better-able to hold ‘living’ water and maintain its structural integrity. This will create a nature preserve and major footing for many plant and animal species which will further balance one another and keep stabilized the whole area, not just your land, allowing them to repeatedly venture back into areas which still/do have desertification/monoculture challenges, giving those adjacent areas a better chance at ‘holding on’, even recovering.
Some crops can even clean up the water and atmosphere, not just make the food and air we also need. You’ve probably heard that plants pull carbon out of the atmosphere when they breathe, thus making the air a little more enjoyable for animals such as humans. Did you know that they have a similar purifying/filtering effect with all the water they uptake through their roots and then perspire from their leaves?
Don’t be intimidated by having to know different planting times, growing seasons, how much to water to train/strengthen each root system, or anything else your plants might respond best to; all of that can easily be managed the same way you balance your checkbook or jot down a quick note on your phone or computer. Just start planting, start diversifying your garden/farm, and things will work out, starting to tend themselves, freeing you up to continue adding flora diversity to the rest of your land/s.
Diversify now and find out how much easier it is in both the short and long runs. You’ll be glad you did. Decades and generations ahead, everyone will thank you –and still be here because of your effort.
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