Yay, I just found this thread. Thanks for bumping it, TF! I also have Great Garden Companions and am going to plant my first garden this year (we just moved and finally have a big sunny garden area). I'm planning on doing the three sisters and lots of other companion planting. I hope it works! I realize I have high hopes this year, so I hope I'm not setting myself up for disappointment. I'm sure gardening is the kind of thing you perfect throughout the years.
Planting the "Three sisters"
Thanks so much Tamara for all that insight and info on the weeds to clean up the soil. Sounds really interesting.
I was in a car accident on Jan. 18th and havent been back to class since. I am ok but really banged up my left side and going for physio everyday.
Cant wait to get back to medicine class and see what progress has been made on the soil clean up project.
Will keep you posted.
Again, many thanks and blesssings to you.
blessings & healing to you!
Heah All,
I have read about the 3 sister's garden design. I am still not sure if this would work for a plot that is 5' x 4'??????????? Anyone know? I have 3 of these sized plots next to each other, seperated by 2' of grass for mowing purposes. Can I just do like one mound per block???? thanks.
Rebecca30
i would suggest that you have two circles per block, though i don't know which direction they run. you only need five feet between the centers of your corn circles, and with the 2 feet in between for grass, that makes two cricles PER block. and since you should have at least two rows of these circles for good polinati0on, i would say stagger the circles.
for example: starting from the right plot, a corn circle in the upper right corner, one in the lower left corner. repeat for each plot. then, when you later plant your melon or squash, put a "mound" of those in the center of each plot. the other corners i would put companion flowers: nasturtium does well in cool climates with part shade. cosmos are WONDERFUL, and marigolds of course. zinnia will attract your pollinators too,a nd make great cut flowers. in fact, i regularly cut all my companion flowers for vase arrangements, which encourages more blooms.
but, then again, are these framed in? corn doesn't like to be crowded by grass... so you might consider some wood or concrete blocks to keep the grass from spreading in with the corn and suffocating it when they are seedlings. i personally like sunflowers for reducing grass. just don't put the sunflowers BETWEEN the corn, as that would inhibit pollination.
last year i planted radish THICKLY ALL OVER the beds when i planted the corn. i didn't thin themuntil some were ready to eat. i left plety to go to seed. this kept away two kinds of pest, once which bothers corn and lays some kind of worm that eats your corn, and one that attacts your squash, i think the moth that lays squash vine borer eggs. it was supposed to keep away the squash bugs, but i didn't plant any close enough to the squash i guess ;-(
please don't hold me to any of this, just coming off some groggy medications... ;-)
good luck! and remember to not plant the beans at the same time, and choose varities with similar maturity dates, so that, when planted 2-4 weeks apart, they won't be all in bloom and competing for water at the same time.
i think your size plots are perfect, and wish you much success!
tf
wish i could draw you a picture ;-) i feel as well as i did BEFORE i went to the DR lol
Hmm, this looks like a good way to utilize space in our small veggie garden!
What varieties of corn and beans did everyone use?
And has anyone tried cucumbers rather than squash or melons? (not so big on the squash, but love fresh cukes)
for the circles i like to use an early sweet corn, they mature fast, can handle the cold, and don't grow as tall. Triple Play from SOC is my favorite. True Gold works well too.
you needs the beans to NOT mature at the same time as the corn. not a problem if you plant the same time, usually. i like Kentucky Wonder and Black Seeded Blue Lake, they produce well in my dry climate. be sure to hill your corn and mulch everything heavily to conserve water. plant companioon flowers to discourage pests...
this year i want to plant my old favorite Stowell's Sweet Corn. And try a large bean with it, like Jack in the Beanstalk. But i will do rows, as that corn gets REALLY tall LOL. I will try to let you know how it goes.
you would need more of a bush cuke, since normal ones need to climb, they don't crawl like squash. you could, however, do pumpkins or gourds... seem i have read somthing about cukes and corn not being good companion plants....
one year i planted a small square of an heirloom corn, and put up two small panels to grow cukes on. the cukes did great in the shade of the corn, but the corn didn't fair as well as i had hoped.
dont' forget sunflowers with your corn!
do a search to see what cukes go well with, there is a lot of companion planting infor on Dave's...
i have NEVER been disappointed with a three sisters planting...
tf
Thanks!
I had already planned a row of sunflowers along the back fence, before I started in the back with the three sisters, (of which have a couple of hills with beans and a few with peas) various peppers, some tomatoes interplanted with basil, and then some salad greens and onions...and cheery lil nasturtuims around the lot.
I have actually heard that cukes and corn went well together, and had hoped to plant the peppers next and in a row along that edge..but I could see where the cukes would pull down the corn, and the bushier types not fare so well..(I did read on one of the linky's form here, that the cukes would grow up the sunflowers..hmmm....)
well, we really liked Bush Champion Cuke...
hope those were small cukes and stout corn, hill it good!
everything sound great. throw in some marigolds and cosmos to boot, and it will be pretty and you won't get worms in your corn...
be sure you don't plant "in a hill" unless you get too much moisture...
Thyme for a good shove..... here we go..... ~Bump~
~ Robin
sunflowers have a natural resistance to climbers and will repel beans and cucumbers. sunflowers and corn together in the same space will starve the other of light and nitrogen, but in the same field will attract different pollinators, predators, and different minerals accumulated. the squash should be a vining winter squash variety. maximas and mochatas are doing better against the borers and fungus. the beans should be a cornfield bean which can handle more shade with larger leaves, and the corn cannot be sweet or pop corn, which are smaller and weaker than necessary. the corn is planted first, the week of the last frost. when the first corn starts germinating, see which spots are not coming up and replant them with soaked seed. when the average corn plant is about a hand tall, that is time to plant the beans. if you are in a long season area, you can plant the squash at the same time as the bean, but if you are in a short season area, plant it with the corn alittle closer to the edge. they should be planted in hills, i make mine six feet across. the corn is planted in hexagons in the center of the hills, the hills only far enough away to walk between them. this way the corn from each hill is capable of wind pollination without touching each other, and touch-eachother corn is against the rules. it causes the evolution of super disease as we have seen in the past 400 years. so you would have 7-12 corn, 10-20 beans, 3-5 squash, and one tomato if you want, but no more. the corn accumulates the nitrogen for mulch and next year's fertility, while producing a stalk for the beans that nitrogenate the soil for this year as it feeds the corn, and the beans and corn supply the little shade needed by the squash that shades the rest of the ground from the sun and keeps down weeds. additionally you can use radish in the squash, which do not get harvested so its good for your heirloom radish you want the seed from. one morning glory with the beans attracts more pollinators which the squash needs more and more as the years go by. the hills need to be mulched. i keep at least an inch or two of mulch on at all times, and thats after its flattened so if its fresh usually its 6 inches. in the southwest and desert areas that do not have as much rain or mulch material, you can carve concave areas instead of hills, this way the bowl catches any water there is, and the seedlings are deeper in the ground closer to the water. when the corn gets taller than the hole dug, then it can be filled back in with sand. which will allow the water to get trapped in without getting hot or coming back out. a swale can be dug above the three sister's patch for extra water infiltration in the desert.
if anyone has questions or comments, wishes to discuss things, please let me know. check out my website where i keep photos of my three sisters hills.
http://goodmindseeds.wordpress.com
This message was edited Jul 3, 2011 3:19 PM
well, i'm in a suburban area in south florida, zone 10a-b.
I have one raised concrete block bed, getting ready to create another, was thinking of doing them next to each other, but uncertain of a few things:
1: when do I start seedlings down here?
2: I have 4 x 6-8 foot bed...can i even do the hexagon thing in there?
3: If yes to no. 2, how many hills or hexes?
4: Any other companion planting, like marigolds or parsley or basil or something?
thank you.
I just received two different sets of three sisters mix, and uncertain which one to do, or if I should do them both but keep separated in different beds.
I also wanted to know who sprawling everything is going to get; my watermelon and summer squash took over my HUGE planting bed and smothered everything else.
thanks.
Jumping in a couple of years into the conversation here. I have a 4x10 plot of corn with summer squash and zucchini growing on each end of it. Along each side of it are scarlet runner beans. There are one or two peas running around inside the patch.
The corn is about thigh high, beans are running - no blooms yet - and squashes are in bloom with young fruit on them. Everything is healthy and happy. We will see what July brings. 8-)