Companion Planting

Companion Planting - carefully selected species of plants grown in close proximity - can help growth, mitigate the effect of attacks by pests and contribute to balanced soil composition.

Monoculture - the growing of just one sort of plant, usually a food crop, over a wide area - on the other hand, is an open invitation to pest and disease and over time denudes the ground of nutrients which have to be replaced using artificial fertilizers.

Modern society encourages us to believe that to achieve a specific goal, we must fix all our attention and energy on it. Monoculture in other words. But what if the more time we spend on a given creative activity, the less productive we become?

In a couple of hours we can make measurable progress on a creative project and yet if we spend all day on the same project we often make little more progress than if we had confined ourselves to just the two hours. Instead we might waste large amounts of time obsessively fiddling with a small part of the project and losing sight of the whole. Might we be much more productive using the 'companion planting' approach to our projects? Allotting short bursts of time for different projects and allowing one discipline to feed and balance another?

So, what would you rather see when you look out of your window - fields of wheat stretching as far as the eye can see or a brightly coloured cottage garden, overflowing with brightly coloured flowers and vegetables?