The Three Sisters Project - Part I: Corn

The three sisters - Corn, squash, and pole beans is an *old* method.


If this works out as it should, this new raised bed should supply an ample amount of corn, squash, and beans hereafter.... (from the Renee's Garden link above)


"Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans fix nitrogen on their roots, improving the overall fertility of the plot by providing nitrogen to the following years corn. Bean vines also help stabilize the corn plants, making them less vulnerable to blowing over in the wind. Shallow-rooted squash vines become a living mulch, shading emerging weeds and preventing soil moisture from evaporating, thereby improving the overall crops chances of survival in dry years. Spiny squash plants also help discourage predators from approaching the corn and beans. The large amount of crop residue from this planting combination can be incorporated back into the mound at the end of the season, to build up the organic matter in the soil and improve its structure."

Having the "spiny squash plants" protecting the corn is of particular interest, since we have raccoons in the area. I don't want to go through this exercise just to feed a bunch of city coons.

I'm curious about the premise that you can plow in all the crop residue. Corn stalks, corn husks, squash leaves... combined and composted with the nitrogen that the pole beans capture in their root system, means that you can continually plant the same crops in the same plot? (more research needed.)

My official seed planters have planted the corn.....

When the corn gets to 4 inches the pole beans will be planted in the mounds with the corn, and the squash will go in the negative space between the the mounds.

"Native Americans kept this system in practice for centuries without the modern conceptual vocabulary we use today, i.e. soil nitrogen, vitamins, etc. They often look for signs in their environment that indicate the right soil temperature and weather for planting corn, i.e. when the Canada geese return or the dogwood leaves reach the size of a squirrels ear."

We planted when the lilacs and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

First harverst (radishes) nearly ready....

Winter was *warm*. Amber's gamble during an over warm Feburary day - the last frost may actually have happened - plant and see if things turn out.

Things indeed have; Another week or two and we'll be munching fresh radishes. YUM! Cyrus is excitited - that boy loves radishes pulled straight from the ground.

The lower rock wall bed

Last year I planted in front of this rock wall, and I (nominally) amended the soil in only half the bed. I wish I would have taken pictures of that entire process... sunflowers that were in the portion of the bed that had received some compost were notably taller and better looking than those that I just planted in the dirt (little more than a sand/clay mix).

This year I've dug down about a foot breaking up the sand/clay dirt, removing the rocks, and amending the soil with cedar grove compost. In my mind there's dirt and there's soil. Dirt occurs naturally. Soil is something you have to create and nurture.

We planted watermelon (Bush Sugar Baby - 80 days), more spinach (Bloomsdale Savoy - 50 days), more broccoli (Green Sprouting Calabrese), and pumpkins (Small Sugar - 110 days). I'm skeptical that the watermelon will work ... but I was told that you can use a dome of plastic or you can prop up a sheet of plastic (southern facing) to amplify the sun and create a warmer micro-climate for the watermelon. I'll probably try that to help the watermelon along. I'd be neat if it works. It could be a viable method for other warm climate crops- peppers in particular!

Corn - a new challenge

Corn in Cascadia. Is it doable? We'll find out.

I discovered the 'three sisters' concept last year. (More info: gardenweb.com and Renee's Garden I'm determined to make it happen. Squash and beans are no problem... they're easy. Corn on the other hand, is more complicated.

First off, there's planting the corn. Corn can't just be dropped into any bed. Corn roots go deep (up to 4 ft!). "Over the course of a growing season, about 40% of the water used by corn will come from the first foot of soil, 30% from the second foot and 20% from the third foot. Less than 10 percent will be obtained from the soil below 3 feet." We diligently till and amend the soil in all our beds, but not 4 feet down.

To solve this problem, I've decided to build a new raised bed. Raised beds offer several advantages. Even with building a raised bed and importing soil from the nursery, I still have to dig down to break up and amend the existing soil - but at least I'm not digging down as far. (I'm aiming for 18-24 inches down and a 24" high raised bed). The earth under where I'm putting this bed has had excavators, my F-150 on top of it... and it's even been worked over with a compactor. Breaking it up took some work. Another benefit of raised bed gardening is that the temperature of the soil comes up faster in the spring. I expect that this raised bed will prove useful for other warm weather crops in future rotations.

A change from other crops we've grown is that corn has both female and male flowers on the same plant. (Primer) Normally the wind would provide what's needed for pollination to occur - but to ensure a strong crop I'll likely have to manually pollinate the corn.

To top it all off... lots of things beside humans like to eat corn. We've got raccoons, crows, and squirrels in abundance and they all like corn.

A worthy challenge... but worth it for the prize of fresh, sweet corn.

Rasberries

Rasberries are done and ready for the season.

Pruning, weeding, a top layer of compost (2 bags gave a 1-2" layer for a 1' x 50' bed), and then fertilizer. The fertilizer was put together by Amber - it's a recipe from a great book: Steve Solomon's "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades".

This is the second full spring for this bunch of rasberries. Last year was a bit disappointing in terms of yield. It was good enough for lots of munching, but barely enough to also supply preserves in the freezer. I'm not sure about this year yet... but I'm pretty sure that next year will be fantastic - the root system has spread throughout the bed and new shoots are coming up all over the place. By year four we may need to thin the bed out.