Three Sisters Thursday

We harvested my Three Sisters corn a few days ago. I planted an early dwarf variety. The ears were small, but very delicous. I expected the corn to last a few days as left-overs. The family could not stop eating it and it was gone by the time the dinner table was cleared. We also had green, yellow, and purple beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Basil and oregano added flair. All was from the garden. Yummy!

congrats mijejo on your wonderful harvest!



quiltbea our three sisters are not in our SFG....they are out in our back garden....we used mounds for the corn, beans, pumpkins and squash.....we have four corn per mound, with four pole beans or if we planted bush beans i did a circle around the corn.....the pumpkins and squash each have two plants per mound



hugs

rose

WTG mijejo!!!

Excited for you guys.

---------------

Rose, I hope the squash starts to produce for you.
Love your pic's...everything looks great!!!

Thanks april we are still hoping we got some squash and at least one pumpkin!



we are so excited to see the corn ears coming.....each morning now hubby is the first one out the door to see if there is anymore baby hair



im/we are so surprised how pretty the corn has turned out to be



hugs

rose

the three sisters are doing great!



the corn is getting lots of ears....so far 2 to 3 and it almost looks like we could get 4 ears per stock....





the squash is getting huge....still no fruit as of yet....maybe there is some in there and we just cant get to it....



we have one really big pumpkin growing....looks like someone else has his eye on it as well...it has claw marks on it





hugs

rose

Everything looks great! Heat killed my beans. Aphids got my zucchini & squash. Not sure what happened to the corn. Oh well there is always next year.

FamilyGardening wrote:the three sisters are doing great!



the corn is getting lots of ears....so far 2 to 3 and it almost looks like we could get 4 ears per stock....





the squash is getting huge....still no fruit as of yet....maybe there is some in there and we just cant get to it....



we have one really big pumpkin growing....looks like someone else has his eye on it as well...it has claw marks on it





hugs

rose

three sisters is not really for beginners, neither are many other companion planting combinations do to the need to understand the limits and goals of each combination.

I disagree, it just takes a bit of reading and planning and anyone can do it.

+1, FV



That is one reason we all come together on this forum, to learn from each other!

farmer valerie the reason I say three sister is not for beginners. Is I have seen the results of them trying it. An over grown tangle of plants they can not get any harvest from.

this is our second year of gardening and first year for a three sisters garden.....its doing wonderful ....it is a jungle...but that is what we wanted to keep the coons out and away from the corn....we can get in there when needed we just need to be careful where we walk.....as far as harvesting the pumpkins and squash...i have read its better to let them stay on the vine until the plant dries up and dies off....letting them stay there until right before the freeze hits....this allows the outside shell to harden firmer allowing the pumpkins and squash to store longer inside.....
we are amazed at how well the garden is doing....we should be starting to harvest the corn next week .....the beans are all flowering and the squash is setting fruit.....we have four pretty good size pumpkins as well
I recommand this type of gardening to anyone....its been really easy and fun to watch the plants grow together.....the children have learned so much!
With any garden....there will be up and downs.....the weather plays a big role in it as well.....i also believe that the lay out of the garden is the key.....
hugs

rose

jcpen wrote:farmer valerie the reason I say three sister is not for beginners. Is I have seen the results of them trying it. An over grown tangle of plants they can not get any harvest from.

So, who really cares, it's fun, it's learning, I've seen row gardens that are not companion planted in worse shape. If a gardener takes the time to read and plan, they are going to take the time to care for it. What if the Native Americans had given up after that first year. We are all entitled to our opinions, mine is to let us play in our own gardens, after all it's our own garden.

the native American grew all three crops you drying not fresh eating.
corn for meal , squash for storage and beans dry beans. as for the mess they harvest after all plant died back.
if want use three sister with sweet corn , string bean and summer squash you have to plant in totally different way then native Americans did.

We thought, after a couple of years using the Three Sisters in row gardening, we were experienced. NOT! by creating a bale bed, filled with Mel's Mix and planted with sweet corn, scarlet runner beans, and winter squash plants where the bales came together, we were not prepared for this:







I'll try to post some pictures of the squashes that have escaped the fence and are hanging outside the garden. Wasn't ready for the verdent growth the heat from the composting action on the old hay bales.

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:We thought, after a couple of years using the Three Sisters in row gardening, we were experienced. NOT! by creating a bale bed, filled with Mel's Mix and planted with sweet corn, scarlet runner beans, and winter squash plants where the bales came together, we were not prepared for this:

Gallopin' Gourds! Phew!

GG

After very high winds and lots of rain...I think I got most of the garden back in shape. My worms are doing better, ants seem to be interested elsewhere. This is fun...I have no idea how to be a gardener, but I'm learning daily.



My other Three Sisters SFG but with pumpkins is below It too took a beating from the winds, but hopefully all is back in good upright order.

april and nonna your gardens look great!

our three sisters are VERY busy.....growing veggies!!

they only problem so far is someone is scratching and pecking at our pumpkins



does anyone know what would be doing that?



our corn is filling out and getting fatter every day



lots of flowers on the beans..these are little pinkish-purple flowers



acorn squash



butter cup squash



hugs

rose

Rose, I was going to ask if the bullet came out the other side then the better answer came to me.

"The Man with the Pumpkin Head" by Robert Walser

Once there was a man and on his shoulders he had, instead of a head, a hollow pumpkin. This was no great help to him. Yet he still wanted to be Number One. That's the sort of person he was. For a tongue he had an oak leaf hanging from his mouth, and his teeth were cut out with a knife. Instead of eyes, he had two round holes. Back of the holes, two candle stumps flickered. Those were his eyes. They didn't help him see far. And yet he said his eyes were better than anyone's, the braggart. On his pumpkin head he wore a tall hat; used to take it off when anyone spoke to him, he was so polite. Once this man went for a walk. But the wind blew so hard that his eyes went out. He wanted to cry with his candle ends, because he couldn't find his way home. So now he sat there, held his pumpkin head between his hands, and wanted to die. But dying didn't come to him so easily. First there had to come a June bug, which ate the oak leaf from his mouth; there had to come a bird, which pecked a hole in his pumpkin head; there had to come a child, who took away the two candle stumps. Then he could die. The bug is still eating the leaf, the bird is pecking still, and the child is playing with the candle stumps.

jcpen wrote:the native American grew all three crops you drying not fresh eating.
corn for meal , squash for storage and beans dry beans. as for the mess they harvest after all plant died back.
if want use three sister with sweet corn , string bean and summer squash you have to plant in totally different way then native Americans did.

Again, I have to dissagree, most of the videos I have seen were of the descendants of Native Americans carrying on their anscestors traditions. And as I already said, so what, who cares, it's fun, gets kids involved, and when it comes to gardening to each his own.

Hi jcpen, I think probably most of us here on the forum like to experiment and try new gardening techiques. When I first joined, I was insecure and worried too much about my inexperience and lack of knowledge about gardening. But I was soon influenced by some of the great folks on here who suggested lightening up, enjoying gardening instead of being so afraid of everything.

The term "it's just seeds" is used often here and is what helped me realize that it's ok to experiment and not worry so much about doing things "by the book."

It's just so much more enjoyable to loosen up, try new and perhaps even untried techniques in the garden. If we're willing to play around with gardening and willing to accept the fact that we may not have 100% success, it's a free country and we're allowed. After all, who/what does it hurt? And you'd be surprised at some of the successes folks have had trying gardening "outside of the box" - but still inside our sfg boxes!

Here's to being free to try things that "somebody" said couldn't be done!!!

You guys,

I am sorry I didn't see this sooner....but jcpen is a banned member that keeps rejoining under different names. You don't have to worry about him/her anymore I just banned them again. Sorry for the negativity in your thread!

middlemamma wrote:You guys,

I am sorry I didn't see this sooner....but jcpen is a banned member that keeps rejoining under different names. You don't have to worry about him/her anymore I just banned them again. Sorry for the negativity in your thread!

Thank you for watching out for the forum! With thousands of members it can't be easy!

GG

I'm so excited over my Three Sisters Garden. It's coming along just great! Most of the beans suffered due to the extreme heat & humidity in bed #1, but oh well. Looks like we're going to have a bunch of corn and squash. I still got other variety of beans growing in the TSSFG #2 bed and my 4x4 bed.

All is-a-growin' We already ate our first bunch of squash and believe me it was so yummy.

I wish my Grandma could see me doing this. I never could even grow house plants w/o killing them.

I'm so happy to see this working for many of you.

We tried this in our comm garden this year so I didn't try it on my own. The fellow that was in charge of said project 'dropped the ball' and didn't follow thru. He just didn't do a thing after sowing a few seeds. The corn was inundated with weeds and most strangled out, only a couple of squash plants have made it and no pole beans because he never sowed those at all. His rows being very far from my own, I never noticed. I am very disappointed because I was waiting for sweet corn. I had planned to try this myself in my own rows but was told not to by the director. No sense in both of us doing the same thing. Therefore, I'm really happy to see how this works for others so that next year I can do it on my own.

Thank you members, for sharing.

quick up date....im not at home on our computer so im unable to post a pic's right now....the garden looks pretty much as all the other pics from before that i have posted..... its doing great!

we have lots of corn.....some stalks have up to three ears on each of them they are filling out and looking fat......hubby has already put dibs on which ones are his....LOL...kinda of like sticking your finger in a peice of cake! i thought we would be able to harvest more of the corn this week....but we are being patient and waiting until the silks have all turned brown and dry up.....its a hard wait after we did one sample of the corn last week and it was sooo yummy!

the sqaush plants are huge.....we havent harvested any of them yet....and to be honest im not sure what is growing under them....i know we have poked around in there and have seen baby squash growing....we havent done much poking and messing around to much with the leaves.....we have wanted to avoid the powder mildew the we had on just a couple of leaves....we cut them off and got rid of them and so far by not touching them we havent seen anymore of it......i read that you can wait to harvest any squash up until right before your frost date.....the plants will die off, the corn and beans will be done.....then we will get in there and harvest the squash......

we have at least four large pumpkings.....the really big momma is starting to turn a little color of yellowish/orange .....

the beans are doing ok.....we have harvested some of the purple ones my scarlet runners have really pretty red flowers on them and they are almost to the top of the corn which is about 9ft or more tall.....we have several differnt kinds of beans growing....each mound of corn has a differnt kind of bean.....we are looking forward to trying differnt flavors and decided which ones we like the best, and which ones grew the best....its a test run for next year so to speak :drunken:

hubby said for sure he wants to plant another three sisters next year!

oh almost forgot....no sign of any raccoons!!!....the squash/pumpkin sister has done a great job guarding the garden!!....what a warrior she is!

hugs

rose