Need advise on Planting Corn and companion plants

I have a 4'X8' box with nothing in it yet and I wanted to plant corn. Some to eat fresh and some to put in freezer. My concern is the corn blowing over. I have read to use garden netting. My questions are:

1. Would it be ok to put in metal fence post and attach hogwire to it for the corn to grow through? The hog wire is fencing that has 2x3 inch rectangles in it.

2. Concerning companion planting. I've read that I can plant some type of vining greenbeans as the corn gets bigger. How long do I need to wait and is there anything else I can plant besides the greenbeans?

3.I live in zone 7b. If I plant the corn now with a companion plant, can I plant something else in this box after the corn comes in or do I just need to stagger my planting times on the corn so it comes in at different times?

Sorry for so many questions but I'm new at sfg and any suggestions would be welcomed.

Mimi

My only concern with the hog wire is the holes are really kind of small for corn stalks, leaves and hopefully ears to work thru. Plus when the wind blows the hog wire is likely to chafe the stalks of the corn and could damage it.

Mel recommends that you use your fence posts and the nylon trellis netting (I bought a piece 5 X 15 for $5.00 just yesterday) to make a horizontal grid for the corn to grow through. The nylon holds up and is soft enough not to damage the stalks. The holes are about 7 inches square so lots of room for the plant to grow through.

I know nothing about companion planting, but Mel describes the Three Sister's method in the ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING book, and I can't find it right now. Basically, plant corn, when it is up 8 - 10 inches, plant pole beans at base, then add squash. SOMEBODY HELP HERE! I don't have room for this so have never tried myself.

Corn can blow over regardless of what it's planted in, if the ground is rain saturated and then a good gust of wind comes along. This corn is planted in the ground, not SFG. I was lucky, the steel frame was there from an experiment a couple years before. Despite the tilt, it was a good harvest that year. Hopefully that gives you some ideas. For a box, you probably only need to put a railing around it, with one or two cross pieces at most.


In my climate, I get one harvest only, if I"m lucky. I can't count on the weather being good enough, long enough to stagger my planting.

I can't find in the book where Mel talks about the 3 sisters method, but I did find information on how to keep it from falling over on page 206 and keeping critters out on page 78.

I hope this helps!

Thanks everybody for the info. This will give me alot to think on and keep me from making a big mistake. I have the All New Square Foot Gardening Book by Mel and didn't find the Three sister companion planting in it. I new I read it from cover to cover and didn't remember it but I am searching the forum for information and have found alot. If yall just want to chime in and give me pointers on anything and everything I'd appreciate it. I can make notes and if I already know it - it will reinforce it. This girls body can't take alot and the fewer steps I have to make the better. I know this probably shouldn't be posted here but I'm going to get my electric wheel chair today and I'm gonna make a basket for it to carry my garden stuff. YAHOO!!! Ain't gonna let anything get me down if I can help it! I'm really glad to be part of the family. Yall are just wonderful and so kind. May God Bless All Of You!!!!!!

Mimi1

No wonder I could not find Three Sisters in the All New SFG book. I checked again and it is not there.
I am very sorry for the mis-information.

It's not in the book, but he does talk about it on the website in the "Plants" section. Maybe this is what you are looking for? I'm thinking about trying it myself this year in a 4 x 4. Anyone done it with good results? From what I've read, the key seems to be to give the corn a good head start so that the other plants don't strangle it. I've also heard that winter squash or pumpkins work better than summer squash. I was thinking sweet corn, Kentucky Blues, and Acorn squash. Think that will work? My last frost date is this week!

"The three sisters refers to a Native American tradition of planting corn, beans, and squash. The corn is in the center, the beans are planted to grow up the corn for support, and the squash surrounds the circle.
The three sisters can definitely be planted in a SFG either a 3x3 or a 4x4. Here's what Mel suggests: In a 3'x3 box plant the center one with 4 corn plants. Then I would plant four or eight pole beans at the extreme corners and then two squash plants in opposite squares and then perhaps flowers in the other two corner squares, this would leave four of the in between squares as extra room for the squash vines to spread out as they circle the corn, and for the bean roots to spread out underground. A 4'x4' box would be the same, except start out with corn in the middle 4 squares.

This is a fun planting tradition to implement into your own SFG."

Thanks "K" I knew I had read about it other than on the forum.

Sure thing! I knew I had seen it somewhere and couldn't find it in the book either. I don't have super high expectations for my Three Sisters box but I'm going to give it a go. Can't resist the thought of that sweet corn! I'll plant it this weekend and keep you all posted.

(after making a complete fool of myself by posting this in the wrong place) here's my experience with planting corn along with pole beans and squash/pumpkin plants, a/k/a Three Sisters planting, offers great benefits: (a) corn is a heavy feeder; (b) beans help fix nitrogen in the soil--which corn likes; (c) and squash/pumpkin plants have rather prickly stems that meander over the area which creates a kind of barrier to marauders. Here's a pretty good source on the 'net: http://www.nativetech.org/cornhusk/threesisters.html

We've used the three sisters planting scheme for several years, and have never lost an ear of corn to either raccoons or deer, neither of which want to wade through the pumpkins planted around the perimeter of the corn patch. I admit, we've not benefitted as much with the beans, though, probably because we are more apt to use beans from the dedicated bean area, where the pods are up close and personal. A corn patch limited to 4' x 4' would be a bit small by my standards, and I probably won't plant any corn in my precious raised beds, but keep the beds for serious succession planting to and through a winter garden. For production, raising tomatoes for canning, I plan on trying the "hedge" method mentioned in the first edition of SFG, making it a visual change from the raised bed part of the garden and the wide-row, three sisters plantings of corn, surrounded by squash/pumpkin plants, and interplanted with scarlet runner beans, which are tasty for us when picked young, and the flowers of which excite the hummingbirds. Oh, BTW, one way to give your corn plants a more stable footing, plant the seeds in a small trench with a inch or two of soil over the seeds, then, as the seedlings grow, fill in the trench until it's level with the rest of the soil, then--again as the seedlings grow up--add more soil/compost mix to make the area around the corn higher than the surrounding garden, called, I believe, hilling up. It forces the corn to develop more roots to anchor the plant. Don't know how this would translate to a SFG bed, however.

Thanks Nonna, I'll try that when I plant the corn. It is a small space but I have 4 boxes and there are only two of us so I think I can spare it for the three sisters. My other option would be planting in the ground in a space maybe 3 by 12 feet in my backyard but my soil is pretty clay-y so I'm not sure that would be better. What do you think? Either way there's lots of room around the edges for the squash to spill over. Mel says it can be done so I figure I'll give it a go! As long as I keep my expectations low I won't be disappointed if it doesn't go very well. I love fresh picked corn and haven't had it in years unless you count the farmer's market.

kjenkins, I'd say go for it. We'd love for you to keep us informed about your results. Even if the squash sprawls into the aisles, some judicious pruning of a few leaves could easily leave you a walkway. How deep are your beds? Would their roots be able to grow down into the clay? Here in this part of Oregon, we have a deep layer of red clay soil covering this hill top, and we've raised lots of produce row-gardening in it over the years, but then we've added lots of leaves, spoiled hay, compost, etc., but clay must have lots of nutrients, too. I usually keep an emergency mix of fertilizer on hand to work in around my corn plants. It consists of bone meal, blood meal and kelp meal. Now, after reading the SFG book, I mixed up a batch of equal amounts of the above meals, about a bucket's worth, then mixed it into a bucket's worth of mixed composts. Figure I'll use a scoop mixed into a square after harvesting from it, and before replanting.

Well now you've got me wondering if I shouldn't just plant the 3 sisters in the ground. I was going to try some muskmelons there just for kicks but I could always put those in the box (and let them sprawl out) if the corn would benefit from the deeper roots. Two of my beds have 8 inches of Mel's Mix and 2 have 6 inches. Of course, with good planning I would have left a deeper one completely open for my 3 sisters project, but they were filled first and I planted spring crops there which are still pretty far from harvest. Doh! I should've been patient but I guess that's not my nature. I'll give some thought to amending my soil and giving that a go--it does get awfully windy here so even with support I'd be worried about the shallow roots of my corn. I got a shorter variety for that reason. I guess I just assumed clay was bad because it wouldn't drain as well. If you dig down a foot or so here it is bright red underneath. I've got a soil test kit and a ph meter so maybe I'll check it out.

I was planning on growing corn as well in a 4X2 bed (actually part of a 4X12 bed). I was planning on making a PVC frame that could be added to in one foot vertical intervals and that matches up with the grid beneath... still have to work out the "engineering" though...

I was going to plant at 4x per square like the book says which = 8x wide by 16x long block of plants. The box is oriented N-S which matches the direction of the wind (my neighborhood kinda creates a wind tunnel through this area of my back yard. It may not work, but if it fails, all I will be wasting is about $1 in seeds and 8 sq ft. BTW, I am using the silver queen cultivar

Am I thinking wrong?

Three Sister's Method used by the Native Americans: Let the corn sprout, plant pole beans beside it, and for the ground cover plant something like squash or cucumbers. The corn sucks the nitrogen out of the soil, while the beans (or peas) inject it back in. The cover plants protect the ground and help hold in moisture. I think there is something to do with pest protection in all that too. Just look up three sisters on wikipedia for more info.

Ashort, Silver Queen is a wonderful variety--not so much for western Oregon, but for Texas, it should be excellent. Sounds like you've paid attention to the benefits/drawbacks of your backyard's micro-climate, so you should be successful. Ummmmmm, fresh corn! Nothing better......unless it's homegrown tomatoes!

Furbalsmom wrote:Mimi

My only concern with the hog wire is the holes are really kind of small for corn stalks, leaves and hopefully ears to work thru. Plus when the wind blows the hog wire is likely to chafe the stalks of the corn and could damage it.

Mel recommends that you use your fence posts and the nylon trellis netting (I bought a piece 5 X 15 for $5.00 just yesterday) to make a horizontal grid for the corn to grow through. The nylon holds up and is soft enough not to damage the stalks. The holes are about 7 inches square so lots of room for the plant to grow through.

I know nothing about companion planting, but Mel describes the Three Sister's method in the ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING book, and I can't find it right now. Basically, plant corn, when it is up 8 - 10 inches, plant pole beans at base, then add squash. SOMEBODY HELP HERE! I don't have room for this so have never tried myself.

I too would think the chicken wire would harm the corn/be too narrow for the corn to grow through, but Mel recommends the use of chicken wire (with 1 inch openings) to cage in the corn on page 78. I'm having trouble visualizing this. :scratch:

So, in addition to the "Three Sisters" here's what I've got on corn companions.

With corn you can plant beans (bush and pole varieties), cucumber, lettuce, pumpkin/squash, peas, peppers, potatoes. But not all together, because there are some pairs in this list which are incompatible with each other.

Don't put together in the same box with your corn: peas and beans (one or the other is OK, just not both); cucumbers and potatoes; squash and potatoes. I would probably avoid cucumber and squashes (they are in the same family and may cross-fertilize giving you interesting, but inedible, results). Oh, and no tomatoes.

Maybe this info is too late for this year, but maybe for next year?