Three Sisters Garden

[digitS']

Reviving this thread because I decided to try this in my raised bed. I have ornamental corn, chinese red noodle beans and warty pumpkins. I need to start the corn inside if I want this to work though.

Those should go in a planter, out front -- an artistic combination!

It makes sense to give the corn a head start. The one time I tried this 3 sisters thing, the vines overran the corn in short order.

The corn wasn't able to compete and didn't amount to anything by the end of the season.

Steve

 

[journey11]

I think this is going to be the way to go for my corn this year. Occasionally in the summer we'll get really high winds with a thunderstorm and I've been hesitant to plant corn up here on our hilltop. My neighbor down the road had some nice corn last summer, but he's got a windbreak from the woods down from his garden and he's not on the peak of the ridge like we are. I think this method will be less prone to getting blown over, so I'm definitely going to try it. I will be growing pole beans and squash anyway, so why not.

 

[vfem]

I did this last year... 2 things I learned:

1-Start your corn 2 weeks prior to your beans.

2-Give your corn stalks extra support where you beans grow up.

The beans will eventually get so heavy that once you collect the corn the stalks call over from the weight of the beans.

All my stalks fell over and the beans wrapped around my fence and blocked me from getting the water melon that ended up on the ground in the walkway between the bed and the fence. Total pain in my rear. (I did melon rather then squash or pumpkins)

 

[chicken stalker]

This is what I want to do also!

 

[digitS']

I don't know if this has been mentioned before . . . and I haven't done the 3 sisters combination except for once (despite my Southeast Native-American heritage ):

Corn (or most anything else) can be planted in "hills." Every 6 feet, say, you can sow 5 or 6 seeds or more and thin, later. Don't crowd them too much or they will make their own trouble, growing together. Comfortably spaced, the plants will be able to provide a little help to each other against the wind. My corn is in rows but, usually, these are rows of "hills" in my garden.

Just an idea and how I suspect the Indian gardeners did it anyway . . . and it gives me the opportunity to mention the word "hill" - and reflect on another part of my ancestry. The English word "hill" when used to refer to seed sowing is from Dutch, as I understand it. The Dutch word for a hill, as in a small mountain, is heuvel. But, a "hill" of plants is just a group of plants growing together. They may or may not be growing on a mound of earth.

Okay, this is all lacking any personal experience relative to 3 sisters so - I'll stop.

Steve's digits

 

[journey11]

One thing I am wondering: once the squash/pumpkins get going, is it difficult to get in there to pick your beans?

 

[PotterWatch]

One thing I am wondering: once the squash/pumpkins get going, is it difficult to get in there to pick your beans?

That's what I am thinking. I had melons completely overtake my garden last year and it was a major pain to get in there and pick anything. I just planted my corn today for my three sisters garden and I am wondering what to do about the vines that will be on the ground. Any good tips for keeping them under control while still allowing good fruit growth? I plan on putting watermelon in mine.

 

[897tgigvib]

There is a wonderful book called "Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden"

This book is a story told by Waheenee, a Hidatsa Woman born in 1839, about exactly how they planted their all important gardens.

The 3 sisters in their gardens, Squash, Corn, and Beans also had another important sister, Sunflowers. Generally their Beans were in separate hills, and the squash was nearby. Her Sunflowers were planted at the perimeters because they looked better there.

Yes, other tribes did things differently, but theirs were generally very successful. They lived in North Dakota.

The main intention of gardening for Indians was for food, especially for food during the winter. That means most of their corn was dry flour corn. They did have sweet corn, sometimes fresh, but even that, much was dried and reconstituted for when desired. Most of their beans were dry beans. Her particular family kept beans to more of a minimum because of the, ahem, result beans can make. 10 or 14 lived in a house.

It really is a great book. There is also an autobiography of her life that is a great book. They are both online and FREE to read online!

 

[raabfarm]

I am trying two new dry bean varieties that are haled to be Mandan Hidatsa Arikara originals. One being Great Northern bush from Victory seeds and another being Hidatsa Shield pole from Seed Lover on E bay. Also growing other North Dakota originals like Souix and Sheyenne tomatoes and Sunshine sweetcorn all of which have been developed and releases by the North Dakota State University. Early maturing heirlooms good for my zone 4 garden.

 

[897tgigvib]

The Hidatsa Shield are very vigorous! The large plump dry beans ripen kind of fast too.

I have grown them for years, and now have a stabilized second version that came out of them by simply separating them and selecting the plants that only made the different ones separately. Still have the original for sure too. The selection of different ones makes a smooth brown patch instead of the marked shield. Other than that they are the same. You may get a few like that too.