First results MoestuinMix 2024
One of the aims of our experiment was to harness knowledge from allotment/vegetable gardeners that could be of value to arable farming, especially when it comes to strip cropping or other forms of crop-diverse cropping systems. We asked participants all to choose a crop of choice to combine with broad beans and also why you chose this crop.
We are still working on the analyses, but here you can read about the first results.
Top 10 choice crops
Below you can see the participants' top 10 most common choice crops. Behind them, you can read the most common reasons for combining this crop with broad beans.
- Red beets - Have an equal growing season with beans; fit into crop rotation schedule; are a crop that often does well; broad beans provide shelter for beets
- Potatoes - Nitrogen from broad beans benefits potatoes
- Onions - The smell of onions repels insects
- Cabbage - Nitrogen from broad beans beneficial for cabbages; they have an equal growing season
- Peas and pods - Are from the same plant family so fit into the same box in crop rotation
- Flowers - Attracting pollinators and natural enemies; luring aphids away from beans
- Maize - The 'Three sisters': beans, maize and pumpkin
- Lettuce - Nitrogen from broad beans can be used for lettuce; has an equal (early) growing season; broad beans shade lettuce; lettuce covers the soil between bean plants
- Courgette - Low courgette plants alternate well with tall broad beans; they can use the nitrogen from beans for growth; during flowering, courgette attracts pollinators
- Chard - Easy-to-grow crop that you can harvest quickly; more resistant to slugs than, for example, lettuce
The best neighbour for broad beans
Ultimately, one of our other goals was to analyse which combinations with broad beans now work better or less well than others. Participants investigated this by measuring the yield of both beans next to pumpkin and beans next to their choice crop.
For each garden, we compared the yield of beans next to pumpkin with the harvest of beans next to the choice crop. For each garden, we calculated how many more or fewer pods could be harvested from broad beans next to the choice crop compared to broad beans next to pumpkin. The graph shows in green the choice crops next to which the beans yielded more than next to pumpkin. In orange, you see the choice crops next to which the beans actually did less well than next to pumpkin.
MoestuinMix is a citizen science project in which non professional vegetable growers and gardeners experiment with different crop combinations.
In collaboration with
More information
Would you like to know more or do you have questions? Please contact us via moestuinmix@wur.nl.
For news and updates, follow CropMix on LinkedIn
Comments and side notes
All choice crops chosen are shown in this graph, including those that occurred only once among the participants with a harvest. The number above the choice crop in the graph indicates how many participants tested this crop and provided data on their harvest.
If we want to draw conclusions about how good or bad a particular choice crop is as a neighbour to broad beans, it is important that a choice crop has been tested by several people. Then we can say with more certainty that the results are not a coincidence. With statistical methods, we can calculate whether a result found is a coincidence or whether there is an actual difference. The choice crops for which it is likely that the broad beans next to them really performed better or worse than those next to the pumpkin are marked in the graph with an asterisk (* meaning significant).
Tentative conclusions
It seems that broad beans next to sellery, spinach or peas give more yield than when they were next to pumpkin in the same garden. Garden beans that were next to flowers, beans, onions, carrots or maize actually seemed to do worse than those next to pumpkin. For the other crops, either no difference could be seen in yield or they were tested by too few different participants to draw a conclusion about them
Picture: Participant Lisa.
What's next?
To draw really good conclusions, we need to find out more and study more information that participants have passed on. For example, how do different neighbouring crops affect how quickly a bean plant flowers, how many aphids are on it and how many pollinators come to it? As soon as we have new results we will share them on this page.
Join another season of the experiment!
And of course, it is important to repeat this experiment again next year. Will we still see the same choice crops have a positive or negative effect then? Would you like to take part in the experiment? Registration for season 2025 is now open! Anyone with a piece of land can participate, however, the information will be in Dutch. Read more via the button below (participation in Dutch only).
Frequently asked questions
I participated in 2024. Can I participate (again) next year?
You certainly can! We will repeat the experiment in 2025. Anyone can participate, including people who have not yet participated in 2024. Sign up via the website.
Broad bean and pumpkin are not together in the garden for most of the season. Why did you choose this combination?
- Broad beans are an early crop and much of the season the broad bean is alone in the garden. If we adjust the sowing density and make room to sow pumpkin later on, each broad bean plant will get more light. The broad bean has less competition from its peers. For the pumpkin, on the other hand, it is planted or sown late and takes up very little space in the beginning. Once the broad beans are harvested, the pumpkin can take up space from the broad beans. In science, we call this 'temporal niche differentiation' and this seems to have the greatest advantage in areas with temperate climates.
- Broad beans are so-called nitrogen fixers, due to their cooperation with soil bacteria. These bacteria supply nitrogen to the broad bean in exchange for sugars from the broad bean. When the broad bean dies, the plants and root remnants of the bacteria remain, passing on the captured nitrogen to the next crop, in this case pumpkin. Broad beans also stimulate beneficial soil bacteria from which the pumpkin can in turn benefit.
- Pumpkin and broad beans are both interesting for pollinating insects. By growing them together, pollinators can use the same place over a longer period of time this saves them searching time.
- Pumpkin and broad bean can both suffer from aphids. In healthy ecosystems, the aphids will also attract natural enemies. When the pumpkin is planted, there is already an army of natural pest controllers ready to protect the pumpkin as well.
These are all advantages that may occur. If they do occur is the question that we are trying to answer with your help.
Who is behind MoestuinMix?
Researchers from Wageningen University & Research coordinate CropMix, a five-year research programme, and the experiments in MoestuinMix. Here, we work together with AVVN samen natuurlijk tuinieren.
Why do you ask the help of vegetable gardeners?
A vegetable or kitchen garden is pre-eminently a place where crop diversity is high, but there are also big differences between gardens. For instance, in soil type, type of environment and which crops are grown. This provides interesting data.
Moreover, vegetable gardeners often have a lot of valuable knowledge about combining crops. We like to retrieve that knowledge to see what insights could be useful for arable farmers.
What is the goal of the experiment?
Our aim is to learn more about crop diversity and how it works in practice in a vegetable garden or in a field. We are specifically looking for crop combinations that promote cultivation and the processes that ensure this. This knowledge could be important for farmers who want to work with crop diversity in their fields.
What is the role of AVVN?
AVVN samen natuurlijk tuinieren is a partner in the CropMix consortium. We work together in building the MoestuinMix experiments, aimed at people with a kitchen garden.
Is you question not answered above? You can send us an email at moestuinmix@wur.nl.
MoestuinMix is a collaboration between CropMix and AVVN samen natuurlijk tuinieren.
