Three Sisters Method - The Miracle Trifecta!

[Shawnee_b]

I have done this and it's a good point about dent or field and winter vs sweet and summer squash. I used 5 foot dia hills with a few stalks per hill and I could harvest but had to be careful. I found let the corn get a good start, cause once the beans start they can overwhelm the corn. (happened first time) I feel better with 10-12 inches on my corn, by then the soil is good and warm, beans germinate quickly.

I have over 1/4 acre in 3 gardens and an extra herb bed. This time I will use Floriana Flint corn or maybe Painted Mountain which is gorgeous which I do want most dried and Jarrahdale squash. It's a pumpkin/squash cross. Tough blue/grayish shell, native to Australia, winter squash which stores very well. Bright orange color inside and meaty, not a big hollow like a pumpkin. Some say little flavor but I find it delicious as a side dish or in pie. 10" dia or so, vines will travel to the next state. I haven't decided on the bean, possible "Painted lady", an Italian shell bean. I also grow blue lake and rattlesnake which I know are good climbers and prolific.

Try it, it's fun and the bonus of less weeding with the squash cover.

 

[onebigglo1]

I used the yard long green beans. They are very easy to find and harvest on the plants. It doesn't take many of them to make a meal since they grow so long. Has anyone ever tried putting a whole egg under their tomatoes when they plant them? I have a friend that tried it this year and said the tomatoes took off growing when the roots hit the egg?

 

[mynamesjenelle]

We are doing this! Instead of a lawn, we dug out a big 10x15' rectangle and filled it with three sisters mounds. I chose the rattlesnake beans because you can either use them fresh (for the ones we find on the outside mounds) or dried (in the middle where we can't get to), sweet corn, and pattypan squash. We have a couple squash mounds that haven't come up yet so we might put winter squash in those. Do you need to thin the corn? There are three seeds of corn and beans in each mound, and I feel so bad pulling up the little corn plants when they are doing so well. If I leave them will it be a problem later on? I know corn is wind-pollinated so I kind of think having more is better for that. This is the first time I have ever done this planting method so I'm not 100% sure of what I am doing!

 

[itsren]

We are doing this! Instead of a lawn, we dug out a big 10x15' rectangle and filled it with three sisters mounds. I chose the rattlesnake beans because you can either use them fresh (for the ones we find on the outside mounds) or dried (in the middle where we can't get to), sweet corn, and pattypan squash. We have a couple squash mounds that haven't come up yet so we might put winter squash in those. Do you need to thin the corn? There are three seeds of corn and beans in each mound, and I feel so bad pulling up the little corn plants when they are doing so well. If I leave them will it be a problem later on? I know corn is wind-pollinated so I kind of think having more is better for that. This is the first time I have ever done this planting method so I'm not 100% sure of what I am doing!

How far apart are your corn plants? I don't necessarily plant in mounds. I plant corn about 1 foot apart though, and it seems to do fine.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

How far apart are your corn plants?  I don't necessarily plant in mounds.  I plant corn about 1 foot apart though, and it seems to do fine.

I'm doing a checkerboard pattern with mounds 2 feet apart. So one mound will have corn/beans, the next has squash, the next has corn/beans again. So the corn is really spaced almost 4 feet apart from each other in rows, but it's only just over two feet apart diagonally. It's hard to explain but it looks like the first diagram on http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/recipes/growing-a-three-sisters-garden only with 4' spacing instead of 5'. I'll take a picture when I get home tonight of what it looks like.

 

[itsren]

If your corn is 4' apart, I don't think you need to thin it. Corn can grow pretty close together. The squash plants are the plants that take up space.

I'm glad you shared that link - I was wondering the purpose of mounds for corn. Look like it is for drainage.

I plant in very sandy soil. We can plant pretty much everything flat.

 

[itsren]

An added thought... the first time I planted corn, I followed the spacing directions on the corn packet, (further apart) and it didn't pollinate. After I moved them closer together, I didn't have any problems with pollination.

I don't do a huge corn bed. Fields of corn, planted following the packet, would probably pollinate just fine. I just have space for a few (currently I have 16 corn plants), so I plant them in a square and closer together. Beans get tucked in between. Squash on the outer edges. I amend the soil each year with compost, and I think that helps to feed so many plants in such a small area.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Has anyone tried hand pollination? Seems more important in urban areas where everyone is spraying for insects, but that's the sort of area I'm in. Last year, my pumpkin plants were growing well, but were not pollinated, so this year I'm doing it by hand on the pumpkins and corn. Lots of good videos on what methods to use for anyone interested.

This is our first year trying the three sister method. We are trying for Peaches and Cream corn (1st attempt at corn...wondering how it will turn out!), pinto beans, and pie pumpkins. They are growing in mounds, and we buried dead fish at the base when planting the corn. Thinned out the corn yesterday to five stalks per mound, but may go down to three per mound.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

Five stalks per mound, wow! We have 2-3 that came up (out of three seeds in each hole) so I guess I will just leave them. Thank you for saying that, it makes me feel better about leaving them in there.

If your corn is 4' apart, I don't think you need to thin it.  Corn can grow pretty close together.  The squash plants are the plants that take up space.

I'm glad you shared that link - I was wondering the purpose of mounds for corn.  Look like it is for drainage.

I plant in very sandy soil.  We can plant pretty much everything flat.

We have ours in sandy soil too not by choice, but we also added a ton of peat moss and manure to try and keep some of the moisture in since it's so dry here. The squash are already going crazy so I'm pretty excited.

 

[gjensen]

Corn is wind pollinated, so you will not have to help it. The spacing on the packet is assuming there is multiple rows.