This spring I took an archeology class and I learned that many early North American cultures interplanted corn, beans and squash in a system known as the "three sisters." The corn provides storable carbohydrates and a structure for the beans to climb, the beans are nitrogen fixing and supplement protein, and the squash provides weed control by covering the ground. I thought this was pretty cool and decided I wanted to give it a shot, this was the real motivating factor behind getting this garden built. I don't expect tremendous yields, I guess it's more an experiment than anything, but we'll see.
The section of the garden hosting the three sisters is 5' x 9' with 18 mounds each a little over a foot in diameter. Half the mounds have corn & beans, the other half squash, and they alternate accordingly. Each of the corn/beans mounds have four corn plants with a bean plant for each stalk. The squash mounds also hold four plants. I staggered my planting in three stages, each a few weeks apart, so I don't harvest everything all at once.
The corn is a hybrid sweet corn called golden cross, and they say it's pretty delicious. I chose it because it's supposed to be pretty reliable in a variety of conditions. The beans are a mixed variety of pole beans called Kentucky Wonder, an heirloom variety first introduced by 1864 and originally known as old homestead. This variety quickly became popular for it's unusually long beans, and still today it's one of the most common pole beans available. The squash is primarily a variety called Delicata. It's a heirloom squash, also known as sweet potato squash for it's flavor. It's skin is fairly thin, from what I've read, so it's difficult to ship and thus not commonly available at the grocery store. In one of the squash mounds I planted three cucumber plants that I got from my uncle, the voracious vines of which are taking over the 4 foot radius around the mound. Damn thing almost took down one of my corn plants, I didn't realize they were so vine-y. Speaking of heirloom vegetables, as trendy as it may seem, reminds me of a very interesting article I read in this months National Geographic, seen here..http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/food-ark/siebert-text
Ive got some other stuff planted but I'll save that for later. For now, I'll get on with the pictures.
This is a shot of my prize corn plant about a week and a half ago.
And more currently..
The squash has grown considerably and is finally doing it's job as ground cover for weed control. I've planted some Marigolds to try and deter the bugs.
Well? What was the result?
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