Traditionally Growing the 3 Sisters

[eastkygal]

So, my corn is in the ground and I believe I'm to wait until the corn is about 5 inches tall before planting my beans. I am either going to be planting White Half Runners or Kentucky Wonder pole beans to grow up the corn. Are there things I should keep in mind while doing this to insure good corn and beans?

[mamafish9]

No idea, but I just wanted to say your blog made me "homesick" - I lived and worked in Appalachian TN for four years, and I miss the hollers in quiet spring .

[Carley]

Subbing!

I'm planting 3 Sisters style this year for the first time too! I finally have some decent sized beds for all three! :

I've got cucurbites started inside (seattle = very short season of dissapointingly grey skies) & am about brave enough to experiment with beans & corn in the ground.

I hadn't even considered germination dates, hillariously enough! So thank you for posting this q!

Also, for anyone who can answer, it's basically beans growing up corn with squashes in between, right? Is there something I'm missing?

I was thinking I'd cram a couple tomatos in there too? I've got raised beds pending cloche & amazing compost mix going on.



DH & his dad are busting out the pvc & helping me create my super duper cloche vision = sooo excited! We're going to make it taaall, so there's actually a possibility that I'll get corn this year!! Yeah!!

I've only had luck with tomatos in containers here since there's few opportunities for them to get baked (so to speak), so I'm pretty excited to see what happens.

Worst case is I have a cloche for green tomatos and fall crop



Bring on the garden wisdom!

[salt_phoenix]

I found some instructions here.

[dillonandmarasmom]

Great link, salt phoenix!

IME, you can plant them all by seed simultaneously here in Cali, and they'll grow like gangbusters. But, if you are worried about sunlight, you might get your squash going a bit, then put some corn in. I have had success growing corn and beans like without the third sister, and I threw some lettuce and spinach in between corn rows. Another great companion...loves the shade from the corn.

Show us pics of the cloche if you can!

[ex-stasis]

That link was very helpful. I'm planning on planting a three-sisters garden for the first time as well, so the diagrams were great.

[Contrariety]

I think the most important thing is timing. If you plant the beans too late, they'll get shaded out. I think that was my problem last year.

[eastkygal]

Thanks for the instructions link. I think I will be waiting until my corn is about 3 inches when I put in my beans. My MIL says that there is a certain sign of the zodiac they need to be planted under as well, or the beans will only bloom and not produce any bean. That is a common thing here. Planting by the moon and such. I'm pretty excited about it all. Our garden is looking better than I thought it would.