Having thought hard about its design I have ended up with this plan: a central teepee of rustic poles, supporting six "Cherokee Trail of Tears" bean plants; one "Butterbush" squash plant at each end of the bed, surrounded by six "Mirai Yellow" sweetcorn plants.
This is how it looks at present (not finished yet - and those lettuces have to go). The teepee of poles is made mostly from branches cut from my Philadelphus tree - more sustainable than bamboo poles imported from China! They are about seven feet tall.
At the base of each pole is one of these bean plants.
I have planted one of the squash plants under a big plastic cloche to provide protection from cold night-time temperatures. This is surrounded by six sweetcorn plants which are protected from animals and provided with support by a ring of plastic Clematis netting held in place by three short bamboo canes. I reckon that if it becomes necessary to do so I should be able to cover all this with a piece of fleece.
I will repeat this arrangement at the other end of the bed in due course. I'm hedging my bets again, by keeping a few plants in pots so that they can be brought under cover if necessary.
I know this arrangement of mine involves a bit more "hardware" than the original Three Sisters concept, but I think the Sweet Corn would probably not be able to adequately support the bean plants, and I don't trust my local foxes to leave things alone. We'll see how it goes, and maybe make some adjustments next time round if I get some success.
Very interesting and I like your support for your corn. I need to remember that if I ever try corn because every time I have grown corn it has fallen over.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Mark. I hope it does well for you. It'll be a good use of space if you manage to grow beans, squash and corn in one bed.
ReplyDeleteIt's all looking good so far Mark - will be interesting to see how it progresses.
ReplyDeleteInteresting but if the beans is planted away from the corn and squash how will it provide nitrogen and how will the squash plant prevent the soil under the beans from drying which is the whole point of planting it together right?
ReplyDeleteBut since they are not planted too far apart I hope it gives the same result.
Sri, the three elements are actually pretty close - the bed they are in is only 1 x 2.4 metres. As it happens, I am growing the combination for "cultural heritage" reasons rather than for the science of it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether the philadelphus will root. We've only just sown our sweet corn so are well behind you.
ReplyDeleteI like having an insight to your veg patch, I always pick up new ideas. I've always wanted to grow sweetcorn, can't wait to see how it turns out. I love your wigwam...I don't think I'm brave enough to make one, might take my eye out.
ReplyDeleteI hope it works great. I've tried the three sisters a couple of times and the beans do like to take over. Maybe I'm just too early planting beans and I have to let the corn grow for longer.
ReplyDeleteYour experiment Mark is looking very promising-looking forward to seeing how things progress...
ReplyDeleteProtecting plants is one of my priorities too. You seem to always have good protection in mind. Hope its successful.
ReplyDeleteOh, I meant to say, I like your single chilli blog header. I like your original one too!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your experiment. I look forward to seeing your progress!
ReplyDeleteI will watch with interest and may be persuaded to try it myself.
ReplyDeleteThe garden looks great. As for new blog header - I would not put the title on the green background but just the same as the inscription under it. The picture of chilli is great, it is already your trade mark, Mark!
ReplyDelete