Three sisters garden

[img][/img]Is looking lovely. I waited until my corn reached 10 inches tall to plant my beans and squash.. which was last week. All my beans and squash are now poking up through the ground! Provided I actually get a harvest this year (my first time for this!) I will probably plant the squash as soon as my corn is 4-6 inches tall, and plant the beans when it is 10 inches tall. I am afraid my squash won't have enough time to mature. I decided on lima beans though, so I am looking forward to freezing limas for the coming winter use!

Well, you are a better woman than I. I planted them at the same time. Can we say "DUH"? My beans are far outpacing my corn so I just stuck a bunch of bamboo stakes in the ground and am hoping for the best. Luckily there are no three sisters police or I would have been arrested early on.

Me too. My beans have FAR outraced my corn... though the runners may yet latch onto the corn from the trellis. I am SO glad I built trellises on both sides of the corn! As for the squash...

I was shocked at how quickly the beans took off.... seems like they sprout in about 3 hours! LOL. I had read somewhere to wait, so I did.. but I wished I wouldn't have with the winter squash. At least not waited as long.

Well I'd be arrested 'cause I planted all mine at the same time also
I thought that was what I was supposed to do... So far so good though as my different squashes are tiny, my different beans aren't taking over and mostly small except for the favas (which are just going up), and most of my corn is at least 5 inches high. If things start to go crazy, I think I will just put some poles up also.

The only thing I am worried about is two squares of corn that I had to replant... eight squares of it are doing just fine.

I really had no idea which beans I was to plant in there so who knows if I get anything in the end. Just learning as I go.

I planted all of mine at the same time, too. Would have started the beans/squash later but for the wacky spring we had that delayed me. They were ALL tiny until they started to rocket. The Cherokee beans sprouted first, slow to grow, but first to flower. The Christmas limas sprouted later, but VERY vigorously and grew like mad.... then flowered later. The squashes have shown very different habits also. The zucchino is about to take over the world, while the crookneck is modestly poking along. Corn is thigh/hip high.

I can't resist. Here is a picture. I swear I have taken more pictures of my garden than I did of my kids. Digital cameras bring out the OCD in all of us.

That bushy box on the right is the three sisters:

LOL. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to see what my 3 sisters look like in a few more weeks!

me too!

I lOve this thread! I hope everyone posts info about their 3 sister's garden.
Mine started out perfectly, and then took turns for the worse.
-The corn came up, but I didn't know I was supposed to hill it up to prevent erosion. So, most of it toppled over at 3 feet.
-The squash did what it was supposed to do by shading the roots, but the squash borer claimed it.
-The beans came up, but they soon turned yellow and spindly.

When I 1st noticed things were going badly, I planted some watermelon and sunflower seeds.
The sunflowers are now about 7ft (starting to flower) and the bean vines have climbed to the tops.
I have 3 or 4 baby watermelons too!

Ants started mining aphids all over my sunflowers. Not to mention every other bug was eating the leaves. In order to save what was remaining, I am no longer using organic pesticides, just didn't work here.
--Here is shot of the garden (about a month ago)
before the borer totally destroyed the squash.
**Sorry, if I alredy posted it in some other thread.

Wow! That is quite and adventure. Looks like you made the best of it and one can understand why a farmer would rely on Monsanto instead of Mother Nature.

I am leaving for a week or so, so I put stakes on the 4 corners of the box and tied a piece of twine around it just so there were not any wind tragedies. I can't leave that responsibility to my city-bred son-in-law who will be here alone. And he would be horrified to have to tell me that all of the corn blew down.

I wouldn't mind seeing pics of everyone's 3 sisters (or cousins as the case may be). I have two sisters myself and am trying to decide which of us is which. LOL.

Here's mine. The white powder on the leaves is diatomaceous earth. I am going to leave the crookneck squash on the ground, I think. I want to save the rest of the right-hand trellis for the watermelon... plus one of the cucumbers is trying to grow in that direction. (Both are growing outside the Three Sisters.)

I also strung some garden twine between the two trellises, at the top. (You probably can't see it in the picture.) I am hoping it will give the pole beans additional places to go. I am starting to understand more about pole beans... I though they would just grow up, but they are branching a lot, too, and reaching out for whatever they can grab...and the corn isn't QUITE tall enough yet for them.

Also, I'm looking into what seems to be a nutritional problem with the beans. I hit them with some Epsom salts and fish emulsion last night.

my beans in the 3 sister planting are not eve sprouting yet, granted I just planted them a week ago but the beans in the new box some are sprouting.

I also have tomato plants I thought weren't going to make it and they are thriving.