Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Patricia Ruggiero" <ruggierop@earthlink.net>]

Carrie wrote:

 >I 'd like to try saving seed from several heirloom corn varieties this
year with bagging and staggering the plantings to prevent
cross-contaminations, but have not seen this done.

> Oh, I'm also trying the 3 sisters approach with a rattlesnake pole bean
and black zuchini, planting closely in a 3 foot wide bed.

I've not done this, so what I'm going to say is what I've heard from others.
One person said that she was unable to get the sweetcorn ears off the stalks
because they were strongly bound by the bean vines.  Another person replied
that what the Native Americans were growing was dent corn; thus, they didn't
need to harvest the ears until the beans were finished. 

Diagrams and descriptions I've seen of the Three Sisters plantings show very
wide spacings between the corn so as to allow the beans and squash room to
grow as well as to allow all three plants to get their full complement of
nutrients from the soil.

Pat