Three sisters bed
 

Has anyone tried (successfully or not!) planting a "Three Sisters
Bed", where you plant sweetcorn, climbing beans and squashes in one
bed?
I'd like to try it, but in reading up on it, it seems to need careful
planning, so as not to get the beans ahead of the sweetcorn.
Carol Klein did it in her recent Veg programme but I can't remember
the result! I think timing must be crucial.
You can read about it at the end of this article by Carol Klein, from
the Guardian on line.
http://tinyurl.com/2zd72a
TIA


Pam in Bristol

Three sisters bed
 

In article ,
Pam Moore writes:
| Has anyone tried (successfully or not!) planting a "Three Sisters
| Bed", where you plant sweetcorn, climbing beans and squashes in one
| bed?

No, but I have done the simpler form, which was common in Africa:
maize and squashes. In the UK, it is marginally beneficial. The
problem is that all three are competing for the same sunlight,
which the the commodity in shortest supply. In the tropics, that
is not so, and the mutual shade they give each other is beneficial.

Whatever you do, you need a TALL sweetcorn and get it started EARLY.
If it doesn't get to 6', you are onto a loser, and 8' would be
better.

What I do is to put up a 12' square by 6' high frame, and string
across the top and down the sides. The beans can go on that, and
there is room underneath for other crops. It works.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Three sisters bed
 

On 5 Apr 2007 16:25:59 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


In article ,
Pam Moore writes:
| Has anyone tried (successfully or not!) planting a "Three Sisters
| Bed", where you plant sweetcorn, climbing beans and squashes in one
| bed?

No, but I have done the simpler form, which was common in Africa:
maize and squashes. In the UK, it is marginally beneficial. The
problem is that all three are competing for the same sunlight,
which the the commodity in shortest supply. In the tropics, that
is not so, and the mutual shade they give each other is beneficial.

Whatever you do, you need a TALL sweetcorn and get it started EARLY.
If it doesn't get to 6', you are onto a loser, and 8' would be
better.

What I do is to put up a 12' square by 6' high frame, and string
across the top and down the sides. The beans can go on that, and
there is room underneath for other crops. It works.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Thanks Nick, your advice makes sense, as always! I can see that what
works in hotter climes would not be so good here. I'll put the beans
somewhere else, I think!

Pam in Bristol