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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] The Three Sisters

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Liz <liz@allslash.org>
  • To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] The Three Sisters
  • Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:33:18 -0400

At 05:17 AM 7/10/2008, you wrote:

I have heard about the cultivation of beans, corn and pumpkin, called the three sisters, practices by the American natives. However, I don¢t know how this is done in practice. Are these plants cultivated at random in the same field, or are they cultivated in rows in close proximity to each other? Are they sown at the same time, or are the sowing dates staged? How exactly is it done? <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I thought that the three sisters were corn, beans and squash, not pumpkins. I don't know why you couldn't use pumpkins instead, except that they spread even worse than squash.

I've only done this once, though I plan to try it again. I planted the corn farther apart than you normally would, about three feet apart in a 10 to 12 foot square block. I let it get about six inches tall and then planted a couple of bean seeds (pole beans) close to each stalk. At the same time, I planted a squash seed in between each corn stalk. The beans twined up the corn stalks, and the squash grew in the open space. The only thing that I wasn't completely happy with is that many of the ears of corn didn't completely fill out. I'm assuming they weren't completely pollinated because they weren't as close together as normal.

Anyway, too impatient to thoroughly investigate the matter, I went ahead this year and tried it out. I broadcast all seeds at random into an existing stand of weeds, trampled down the weeds, spread ½ inch of compost and toped everything with 1 to 2 inches of mulch. It all went well, except that now, nearly 3 months later, the pumpkin leaves are starting to shade the bush beans. The beans have flowered, and I have started harvesting, so perhaps it doesn¢t matter all that much that the beans are in the shade of the pumpkin leaves. I wonder, once the seed pods have formed, is photosynthesis via the leaves still necessary, or can the seed pods mature solely with the energy supplied by the roots?

I don't know the answer about photosynthesis, but if the bean leaves are shaded, it certainly is going to cut down on the energy available to the whole plant, and I wouldn't think that would be good.

I also thought that perhaps if I had delayed sowing the pumpkins by 2 to 3 weeks, I might have been able to avoid this problem. What do you think? Any information regarding the 3 sisters is welcome.

I don't know whether my method is traditional. It just seemed like the right sequence for the particular plants. Sowing the squash or pumpkins later would cut down on them shading the beans, but using a pole bean variety instead of bush beans would also take care of the problem. I did worry that the corn would be hurt by the beans climbing on them, but couldn't see that it made any difference. The bean leaves shaded the corn somewhat, but not enough to keep it from developing.

Here are a couple of links: Renee's Garden - http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html
Kids Gardening - http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/PROJECTS/MARCH02/mar02-pg1.htm
iVillage Garden Web - http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/teach/2003045238014436.html

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com




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