Shabbat 85b (פה:) — the Talmud in English

And we explain:

A decree, lest he fill the corners.

And we challenge this: What concern is it to us if he fills the space of the corners? After all, the seeds in the two garden beds do not actually intermingle; rather, it is recognizable that they belong to two separate garden beds, since the boundaries, empty of seeds, surround each garden bed separately.

And since the garden beds are recognizable as separate, then

the proximity

of a seed located in the corner of one garden bed to its counterpart in the other garden bed will be

nothing other

than the entry of a

“rosh tur”

of a field of

vegetables

into another field containing seeds of a different species, which are not prohibited on account of kilayim. [A rosh tur is the shape of the edge of a field, which appears as a pointed projection; if it projects into another field, it is apparent that it does not belong to the field into which it enters].

Did we not learn: If a rosh tur of vegetables enters another field—

it is permitted, because it is apparent

that the rosh tur is visible and it is recognizable that it is the

end of a field

belonging to another field?

And we explain:

There is no

significance to a

“rosh tur” in a garden bed

that enters another garden bed. For when garden beds enter into one another, because of their small size it is not recognizable that the rosh tur of one garden bed is entering the other; rather, they appear intermingled.

And Shmuel said:

It is permitted to plant

a garden bed between the garden beds—

we have learned.

And we challenge this:

But the garden beds intermingle

with one another

with each other,

since there is nothing between them except the width of the boundaries, which is only two handbreadths.

And we explain:

When one row

in this garden bed is inclined

in this direction, and a row

in the second garden bed

in that direction.

That is, the rows in the garden beds are arranged perpendicular to one another, and they are recognizable, because he does not fill the space of the corners.

Ulla said: In the West, they raised the following question: If one interrupts

a furrow and plants

one furrow across its entire

length—the garden bed—from side to side through its middle, including the seed in the middle—

what is

the halakha? Does the name “garden bed” thereby cease to apply to this garden bed because of that furrow? [The practical implication is with regard to the rosh tur].

Rav Sheshet said: The intermingling of

the furrow

comes and nullifies

the entire

row,

and it does not have the status of a garden bed.

Rav Asi said: The intermingling

of one furrow

does not nullify the row.

Ravina raised an objection to Rav Ashi:

One who plants

in a large field

two rows of cucumbers, two rows of gourds, and two rows of Egyptian beans—

it is permitted,

even though there is no difference in the measure of their root nourishment. This is because two rows appear as a field in their own right, and there is a recognizable separation between the fields.

But one who plants

one row of cucumbers, one row of gourds, and one row of Egyptian beans—

it is prohibited!

Because they intermingle without the difference between the rows being recognizable.

And it is thereby proven that one row [one furrow] is considered intermingling; so why does it not nullify the row in a garden bed?

And we explain:

Here it is different,

in the case of cucumbers and gourds—

for there are long tendrils,

long vines that intermingle, and the distinction between the rows is not recognizable.

Rav Kahana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One who wishes to fill his entire garden

with many types of

vegetables—

makes

his entire garden

a garden bed,

one square garden bed after another, each square garden bed

six by six

handbreadths.

And he makes a circle in it,

and plants in each garden bed in the shape of a circle whose diameter is

five

handbreadths.

And since the center of the garden bed is planted in a circular shape, which is a form recognizable in its own right, from that point onward he may plant other seeds around the circle, since they are recognizable as separate from the circle,

and he fills its corners—

with whatever he wishes.

And we challenge this: Granted, in the garden bed itself he may plant other seeds around the circle; but since he fills his entire garden with such garden beds, how is he permitted to plant different species in separate garden beds?

But there are

different seeds, which constitute kilayim, growing in the spaces

between and among them,

between the garden beds, without a distinct separation being recognizable!?

And we explain:

The school of Rabbi Yannai say: It is when he leaves it unplanted,

as he indeed does not plant around the circles, and consequently there is no intermingling of species

between the intervening spaces.

Rav Ashi said: If they were planted

in one garden bed around the circle in the form of

two—

he plants them

in the other garden bed

mixed.

And if they were planted in one garden bed

mixed—

he plants them

in the second garden bed

in twos.

And in this manner the distinction between them is recognizable.

Ravina raised an objection to Rav Ashi: The measure of

the

“labor of vegetables”

for which one must leave vacant space around it, distancing another plant from it so that vegetables will not intermingle

with another vegetable—

a garden bed of

six

by six

handbreadths,

containing five seedlings.