Three Sisters... Any tips?

[rmonge00]

Hi everyone,

I am planning on trying out the 3 sisters method of growing corn, beans, and squash together this year. Any tips? When should I plan the different seeds? I have already started the squash indoors. I am rototilling the garden on thursday and then I think I will put in the corn and wait a few weeks to put in the beans so they don't shade out the corn.

Good plan or not?

Any extra advice?

Ryan

 

[vfem]

Plant the corn first... I always wait until the corn is about 8-12" tall before I plant the beans. Though I don't use bantam corn, doesn't hold up well to the beans!

Good luck!

 

[journey11]

I did three sisters last year and it turned out pretty good. These are the directions/diagram I followed , except I planted a little more corn.

The beans on mine were a little slow to germinate and get going, but by the end of the season, the corn was done and the beans were going strong.

My primary bit of advice is to use a taller, stronger variety of corn. I used Kandy Korn, an se hybrid, which was not strong enough and bent over, making a mess of the beans. Also, I found watermelons to be the best living mulch and they were very thick and healthy, resistent to mildew and a lot of the problems that killed off the squash sooner. Canteloupe also worked well. I never did get any pumpkins off of mine. Perhaps the extra corn gave them too much shade and that furthered the mildew, but I was afraid that 4 seeds of corn per hill would not be enough for proper pollination. The corn did well also, just not the squash.

 

[Kassaundra]

I was going to do 3 sisters this year, but was thinking that is an aweful lot of walking through the beds to harvest, so I planted corn and lentils together. I'm hoping the lentils will provide a living mulch and fix nitrogen. And I had heard about needing the bigger corn for the beans to grow on, and didn't have any so thought the bushy lentils may be better? Either way it is my first year to do it, and I was interested in seeing how yours turns out so I'm mostly sharing info and marking this thread so I can find it again.

 

[rmonge00]

Great article on the 3 sisters - I will be using that!!!!!!!!