Three sisters garden: they are growing

It's been two months since I started a Three Sisters Garden project, and I'm happy to report that so far all off the sisters are doing extremely well. I'm glad that I staked the beans because the corn did not have a chance to grow tall enough prior to the beans taking over. Now the whole concoction is taller than me:

Squash is blooming:

And corn is blooming as well:

We have three weeks left till Thanksgiving, which is when usually this garden is supposed to be harvested, so hopefully we will not have an early frost and will enjoy the fruits of this age-old arrangement.

Another update on three sisters garden

Thanks to the cooling weather, corn, beans and squash are finally starting to perform. All of the beans and squash have germinated, and corn picked up the speed as well.

I planted two squash seeds on each corner of the three sisters garden, and all the seeds have germinated. I hate killing a perfectly healthy plant, but at some point a decision will have to be made. The amount of space allocated to the three sisters garden cannot support that much squash, so one of the squash in each corner will have to go to let the remaining one have the room and the sun to grow to it's full capacity:

The idea of this project is to have a triple harvest at Thanksgiving: corn, beans and squash, all growing together and supporting each other by nutrients, shading and support functions.

Three sisters garden update

I was going to wait until the corn gets established enough for the beans to climb over it's stalks, but the corn is not exactly going gangbusters. I need to get beans and squash into the ground because we only have two solid months until the possible first frost date. So, I decided to cheat a little, and added bamboo posts to support the beans.



Now, even if the corn fails I would still have the beans and the squash, which will make it a two sisters, but I am hoping for the best. I planted six bean seeds around each stake.

Also planted two squash seeds per each diagonal corner of the three sisters garden. If both come up, I will leave the stronger one and snip the smaller one. We will see what develops.

Three sisters garden project

This year I want to try out the "three sisters garden". This type of garden combines corn, pole beans and squash in the same area. The tale is that native Indians grew these vegetables together because corn provided support for the beans, beans provided nitrogen for the corn and squash, and squash provided shade and moisture for the corn and beans.

For this project I have selected Golden Bantam corn, Kentucky Wonder beans and Grey Zucchini Squash, not for any particular reason, but because I had the seeds. The only requirement, in my mind, is that beans have to be pole beans, not bush beans, otherwise there is no reason to plant them together with corn, as bush beans do not need support.

First, you need to seed corn. It needs at least some time to get established before beans choke the stems. So, seed the corn into the garden or in containers (I do) and then replant into the garden. Right now is the prime time to seed corn. Let corn grow to about six to twelve inches tall before planting the beans.



At this point we are done, waiting for the corn to establish a little bit before seeding beans and squash.

The layout and spacing of three sisters garden is something like this:

In a four-foot square, plant four corn plants in the middle, a foot apart. After they get to about eight inches tall, plant six beans around each corn stalk. Then, plant three squash plants in a circle around corn and beans. This plan provides for a space-saving productive garden, at least in theory. I will keep you posted on the progress of three sisters garden.