The 3 sisters method is sacred knowledge passed down generations of indigenous peoples and later to settlers, and has sustained our ancestors through many rough years. You have named your video '7 issues with 3 sisters' but all I see is how the right methodology or seed was not used. I think you should rename this to '7 mistakes you could avoid while growing 3 sisters'.
@REDGardens5 ай бұрын
Yeah, that is probably a better title. I have changed it, and will try to change the thumbnail later. Thanks for your comment.
@ASpinnerASpinner4 ай бұрын
Wouldn't make a difference since those exact varieties are not likely available today. We grow weak crops today. Please stop insinuating that RG is disrespecting the Indians (yes, that's right, I said "Indians", which is not derogatory and is literally a short word for "indigenous peoples").
@zviLikesTV3 ай бұрын
@@ASpinnerASpinnerIndian is not a short word for indigenous people, it means from India. Its use in the Americas is due to Columbus trying to reach Asia but actually getting to what is now sometimes referred to as the West Indies (same error) Plenty of American Indians do prefer to be called Indians, if speaking more broadly than a specific Indian nation or confederation
@beckynorris43662 ай бұрын
@@ASpinnerASpinner that is incorrect. Indian is what the white settlers called native americans because they had at first thought they were Indians from India since that is where they were trying to go. My mom is half native and i find that many other natives I have heard speak on the issue feel that there really is no difference between being called Indian or native american since neither name is a name their ancestors called themselves. I think they identify more with their tribal name than any collective name. That being said they might even refer to themselves sometimes as either name if the situation requires it.
@horithehitmanАй бұрын
@@ASpinnerASpinnerI'm from the South Pacific Islands and even I know that Indian is not short for indigenous 😂
@zmavrick Жыл бұрын
I am from the US and have done quite a bit of research on the 3 sisters because I found it fascinating. The biggest thing I learned was that there was no set implementation. Each geographic area and sometimes different tribes in an area implemented it differently. The growing areas and their needs context over time developed what worked best for each group. Some even planted the crops separately. I know it is called three sisters today, but often sunflowers were also added to the mix. In the end I found there is no wrong way, just what works best for you. The method you used works best for the groups that planted in the spring then left to their hunting grounds for the summer and then returned in the fall for their winter camp, so no attention was given during the growing season.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That is all really interesting, thanks!
@gregbluefinstudios4658 Жыл бұрын
one thing I found when looking into the 3 sisters: Our local tribes here in New England planted a type of Landrace Flint Corn. I never knew it before looking into it. They Wampanoag tribes used the corn for milled meal, rather than specifically for eating the ears.
@industrialathlete6096 Жыл бұрын
@@gregbluefinstudios4658 I truly doubt Native Americans ate much if any 'corn-on-the cob'!
@gregbluefinstudios4658 Жыл бұрын
yeah, @@industrialathlete6096 But until I looked into it, I never knew
@sydneygardener540 Жыл бұрын
That is interesting as Helianthus , in particular Sunflowers are allelopathic and their compounds reduce the growth of other plants around them🤔🤔🤔
@pansartaxen Жыл бұрын
I have successfully cultivated the Three Sisters gardening technique for nearly a decade in the chilly region of Sweden. Here's my method: Preparation: The planting cycle begins with the Three Sisters approach, starting by applying a substantial layer (20-40cm) of nearly fresh manure. Corn: Opt for a flour corn variety, ideal for making bread after undergoing nixtamalization. I use my own seeds, but the original were 'Painted Mountain' and 'Wade’s Giant Indian Flint Corn' varieties. Beans: While still in search of the perfect bean, I've observed success with various types. Surprisingly, low-growing beans works well also, benefiting from wind protection provided by neighboring plants and a touch of sunlight. Squash: I primarily utilize winter squash/pumpkins with a longer shelf life through the winter. My family has grown weary of the surplus of pumpkin and squash dishes so I need to be able to secretly mix it in over a longer period. Bonus: In the preceding year, the plots are dedicated to potatoes. Any overlooked potatoes tend to yield substantial crops when grown alongside the Three Sisters. Layout: I employ three south-facing beds simultaneously, situating more corn towards the back and increasing squash towards the south. Beans are strategically placed near corn, ensuring access to sunlight during their early growth. Planting Density: Plant corn densely, maintaining an approximate ratio of 5:3:1 for corn, beans, and squash, respectively. Post-Harvest: After harvesting, repurpose leftover plant material as mulch. The subsequent year benefits from a combination of manure and mulch, creates exceptionally fertile soil for other nutrient-hungry plants.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Wow, that's for all that detail! It is really interesting to know that you have been successful with this type of planting.
@patament4520 Жыл бұрын
Awesome information! I haven't tried this but where I live, Wisconsin USA, all of these plants grow well and many native Americans lived here. In thinking about how this combination of plants might work I considered that deer love corn and beans but not so much squash. Perhaps the squash planted around the perimeter would deter the deer. In your video I noticed that your corn leaves were curled. We see that here when they don't get enough water. Also you can hand pollinate your corn to increase the number of kernels by taking some mature tassels and brushing them on the corn silk peaking out of the cobs. Thanks for an interesting discussion!
@earth.agario8 ай бұрын
20-40cm of nearly fresh manure? Which kind of manure are you using, and aren't you afraid omits gonna be too hot?
@pansartaxen8 ай бұрын
@@earth.agario It has never been a problem with heat, but then again my context is cold climate. I use cow manure, mixed with the bedding (straw or sawdust usually), from a neighboring farm. I use 75cm wide beds (~30 inches) and woodchips around them. I also put the compost on the beds a few months before planting into them... so far I had success for the first decade through wet, dry, cold and hot summers. Some years the corn, some years the squash and some years the beans perform better.
@judithmcdonald90017 ай бұрын
Very good. I'm doing a new bed using some permaculture planting techniques paying attention to wind and light. but, yes, on the manure. I have horses and plenty of last winter's manure in the barn. It's aged enough to put in the soil for fruiting vegetables and corn is heavy feeder. I have found a pumpkin whose seed I love to eat and I saved lots of seed to plant. Pumpkin and squash are excellent food for dogs and chickens and many others. Growing food for my animals as important as feeding my soil.
@kimberlybain91437 ай бұрын
I am a volunteer at an Indigenous community garden in Utah. The beans used in the three sisters are Cherokee Trail of Tears, Hidatsa Shield, and True Red Cranberry. The beans are planted after the corn stalks are at least three feet tall. We only plant yellow crook neck squash in the garden, which is planted well after the corn is established. As for corn, we used the glass gem popcorn that was given to us by an indigenous family. I'm in Utah, so it has a different climate, but our three-sisters garden did very well. .
@REDGardens7 ай бұрын
Thanks for sharing the details of your plantings!
@vijaynazari92467 ай бұрын
It is difficult to wait until corn is 3 ft tall here in Europe because of the shorter growing season. Having moved from indiana to germany, I have noticed that the corn gets a much slower start early in the summer due to cooler conditions. That makes it difficult to time the beans. Thats why we have to start our beans earlier when the corn is shorter, which leads to the trouble of beans pulling down the corn. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it is a challenge that we deal with in this climate.
@craigmatheson27365 ай бұрын
Which part of Utah? The State of Utah covers several different microclimates which will change when and which varieties of plants are used. We have the same problem here in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona.
@bobaloo2012 Жыл бұрын
Bruce, if you're interested I can highly recommend a flint corn variety called "Floriani". It was actually bred in northern Italy specifically for the production of polenta. Being from cooler climes, it does great here in western Oregon. I grow a big patch every few years and enjoy the best polenta I've ever eaten. It doesn't get too big, 2-2.5 meters, and matures very quickly. Also, as a student of history, I can tell you that the vast majority of Native Americans didn't use mixed plantings. Early vistors over eastern North America, where corn was a staple, found enormous monoculture fields of corn, some reported to be more than a kilometer across. Another interesting fact about their agriculture is most of the squash wasn't allowed to ripen, it was picked green and dried / smoked to preserve it for the winter and used to thicken soups, much like we'd use a grain.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the recommendation, and all the interesting historical details.
@industrialathlete6096 Жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@kirstypollock6811 Жыл бұрын
Hmm. Scarlet Runner beans! I got tons of green ones this year. Also mix of summer and winter squash.
@kahzinger Жыл бұрын
Do you think the polytunnel corn stalks were weaker due to no wind blowing across them to cause them to be more robust? Thank you for your videos. Cheers from British Columbia. 👍🏼
@Chris-bx4vk Жыл бұрын
Just one guys opinion here but I have never noticed a difference in stalk density or size between indoor vs outdoor plants of same species
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
I was wondering that, but didn't grow the same variety inside and outside, so couldn't check.
@bobskewer18747 ай бұрын
Along with stalk strength, corn is wind pollinated, so I was wondering if the same thing could be replicated by large fans inside the tunnel.
@RuthBennett-pw3ps4 ай бұрын
I wondered the same thing. And also it seems that the corn planted outside would be more successful if the ground were properly amended (see my comment).
@GardenerScott Жыл бұрын
Great video! There is more to this mythic plant combination than just sowing seeds. Wonderful process to show different options and plant selection.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
🙂
@WillowsGreenPermaculture Жыл бұрын
A suggestion for your corn stalks. I stake my three sisters mounds generally with three 2m stakes, attached like a teepee. They support the corn stalks, and the beans grow up them as well as the stalks. It works well. The beans can grow heavily and help to protect the cobs from little critters. The stakes not only prevent the corn from falling, but also, if animals come to munch on the corn, they don't cause the whole plant to fall, so the plant can still put out more cobs (as animals will only eat the upripe ones, so the corn stalks will still put energy into new cobs). Of course, I minimize animal grazing by giving enough space and light to my squash plants. Good healthy, thickly growing squash plants will discourage not only the little critters, but the big ones too, as the vines are prickly.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That sounds like a useful thing to try. Thanks.
@WillowsGreenPermaculture Жыл бұрын
My pleasure. I forgot to mention, the beans growing up the stakes also surround the corn stalks, to they secure the corn stalks to the stakes as well, making them standing even more firm. @@REDGardens
@vijaynazari92467 ай бұрын
This is a really good suggestion
@WillowsGreenPermaculture7 ай бұрын
Thank you!@@vijaynazari9246
@gardnerkeep Жыл бұрын
Found this interesting thank you. I live in Arizona, USA and people talk about this alot. It answered some of the concerns ive had, mainly corn not being big enough to support the beans. We've altered our crops a lot over the years and it would take a lot of trial and error to figure out what works best.
@scrappyquilter102 Жыл бұрын
So glad you addressed this topic. I'm a long time gardener and I could never get the 3 Sisters companion planting to work for me. I have had tremendous success with asparagus and strawberries together in the same raised bed for four years now. Bumper crops in both cases every year.
@aaron5508 Жыл бұрын
How do you space? I'm wanting to try this.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Really cool about the asparagus and strawberries!
@jennisutherland577 Жыл бұрын
Yay you’ve answered the question I had in my head this morning! Thanks I was wondering if I could successfully plant asparagus and strawberries 🍓 together ✅
@MrLogain85 Жыл бұрын
We tried 3 sisters this year but with a twist. We are on the southcoast of England and we used sunflowers for support, berloti beans growing up them, courgette green and yellow at the base. We then grew sweetcorn separately as a wind break. This I think saved us a lot of issues with the high winds we experienced during the growing season. Really informative to see how you got in with poly tunnel growing and I think had we tried to grow up our sweetcorn we would have suffered the same issues, they just were not strong enough.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Using sweetcorn has a windbreak would be an interesting option to explore.
@iamthatgaby Жыл бұрын
I think that 3 sisters relies a lot on the timing and environmental cues that normally happen in the tropics, like the switch from rainy to dry season. For instance, the beans I have been experimenting with don't care at all about what season you plant them in, they will only start flowering once the rainy season stops. From a book that documents indigenous knowledge in my area, the planting dates for corn are at the beginning of the rainy season (may) and in august after the small break in the rains that happens in july. Makes sense because corn is such a thirsty crop in my experience. I have been told that you're not expected to plant beans at the same time as the corn, you're supposed to have finished harvesting the corn and the stalks are starting to dry up and you use them as trellises. Beans can be super vigorous in the tropics as well as the corn, so I don't see how they would be able to crop at the same time, too much competition. Also the squash, in my experience, wants to go into the ground and have a lot of rain (best to plant in may), but I have planted in april and got an insane harvest because I made sure to water before the rains came. In summary, I think 3 sisters is best interpreted as a method of staggered planting instead of a interplanting method for growing the 3 at the same time. In any case, do continue experimenting because I can see how using different varieties of the 3 crops would yield different results. It's just that the varieties that we grow here in Costa Rica seem to be hardwired to respond to the change between seasons and I can't make them or need them behave differently.
@NotSureJoeBauers Жыл бұрын
I've heard about old varieties of beans from Brad Landcaster that will grow better without water from the Hopi Indians in Arizona. Sounds like those would be the ones that follow the corn and squash. Plant them on the tail end of the wet season and let them have some shelter from the dried up corn and squash. Such a dry climate there harvesting in the winter wouldn't be an issue for drying
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That is really cool, thanks. So many things I didn't know! Given our climate, and the short and cool growing season, all these plants need to be grown at the same time.
@davidkottman3440 Жыл бұрын
My understanding of how three sisters plantings were managed in the north American "corn belt", was by more closely staggered plantings. Corn planted first in clusters as soil begins to warm in May, about 2-3 weeks later the first weeding of the corn seedlings is performed & climbing beans are planted next to the corn seedlings. About 20 days later, it's time for a second weeding after the beans have emerged, and squash is planted between the "hills" of freshly weeded corn & beans. By this time it's summer solstice - July 1, corn is entering period of rapid growth & it's ideal time for planting pumpkins or squash even today.
@industrialathlete6096 Жыл бұрын
One aspect of squash type plants in this 'rotation' acts as a deterrent to animal predation .Raccoons and deer do not like the 'prickly' stems and leaves of squash type plants. Very informative presentation. I have tried this in zone 5 in the Midwest(USA) and even with a longer and warmer season there are challenges you very well explained!
@nonyadamnbusiness9887 Жыл бұрын
The deer where you live are effete snobs. The redneck deer where I live have no problem mowing down squash or any other thing.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That is interesting. Thankfully we don't have deer or raccoons around here!
@industrialathlete6096 Жыл бұрын
@@REDGardens Ireland, Scotland and England eliminated 'pests' a LONG time ago. Is it good or not? You be the judge!
@kirstypollock6811 Жыл бұрын
We have both here in N Germany (yes we have raccoons, but not on my land thankfully). Also ridiculous huge flocks of starlings and crows. I got no sunflower seeds from my sunflowers, so didn't bother this year. The prickly squash trick is worth thinking about!
@kathleensanderson3082 Жыл бұрын
@@kirstypollock6811 Just about any place that you grow sunflowers, you'll need to put bags over the heads before the seeds start to ripen, or the birds will get all of them.
@michaelmcclafferty3346 Жыл бұрын
As always, a very interesting video , thanks. I love your honesty ,which in my opinion,is critical to learning.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Thanks. Glad you appreciate the approach I take to all of this.
@karenl7786 Жыл бұрын
I learned recently that when colonists landed in the Americas, a lot of what they thought were wild forests were often very carefully managed "food forests". It's interesting to think of how stories and practices that incorporated different worldviews were instrumental in shaping interactions with nature
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yes, it is really interesting to think of the landscape as managed food forests.
@hermanhale92587 ай бұрын
Three sisters is probably made up baloney and so is Indian food forests. Citation needed, as they say.
@cantseetheforestforthetree9673 Жыл бұрын
I would recommend growing way more corn instead of, or in addition to fewer beans and squash. Growing corn on a small scale requires a dense planting of corn in order to achieve good pollination. Also, overshadowing the squash somewhat will reduce their vigor a little which will help with the overall balance of growth between the three crops, and as a trailing vine, the squash will simply spread outside the footprint of the overall plot in search of additional light so reduced yield should be minimal. Finally, three sisters is best as a “set it and forget it” style of growing where long season storage varieties, ie. Field or flint corn and dried beans accompany winter squash to be planted in an out of the way corner of the acreage for harvesting together at the end of the growing season as winter storage staple foods. The regular, mid season harvesting required for sweet corn and green beans is greatly hindered by the wild, jungle like condition of the three sisters plot, and are better grown in separate, controlled conditions. The three sisters garden is a great system, but this isn’t really the context where it can truly shine.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
I think you are right. More corn, with a few plants of the beans and squash around, might work well.
@alexanderpaines1754 Жыл бұрын
Very interesting video, as always. I think you hit the nail right on the head at the start saying theres so many ideas and not much experience. 3 Sisters often comes up when talking about companion planting, and many are quick to suggest it, but ive yet to see an effective implementation of it in the UK. Id imagine its highly dependant on using varieties bred specifically for the purpose in specific climates. Maybe a very long term breeding project for someone? Interestingly enough, ive heard about some farms experimenting with intercropping successfully in the UK in the past couple of years, such as fava beans and grain, using very specific breeds, so it is possible. I think ive also read somewhere that it was done in the past (maybe tudor period). If both crops are being harvested dry and then threshed the labour wouldnt be much different from a mono-crop
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
I would love to see a successful version of the 3 sisters in this climate, though I am not sure I am the person to do it. Companion planting defiantly seems to have a lot of potential, but it does seem to require fairly refined approaches and varieties.
@susankarpuk7347 Жыл бұрын
To add to the confusion, my old relatives in Iowa say, plant corn when the apple blossoms fall. Corn needs full sun all day. Corn shades the pumpkins. Beans can be planted later when the corn is big enough to support the vines. Corn should be knee high on the fourth of July
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That is interesting. In our relatively short and cool growing season, we need to grow all these crops at the same time.
@larrywilliams9139 Жыл бұрын
IF you want running beans, you really need to get the corn in first. There are short season varieties which make staggered plantings easier.@@REDGardens
@Soundofwindonsand7 ай бұрын
As soon as I heard Ireland, I immediately thought he wouldn't have enough Sun energy to really prosper for corn
@Reggie20005 ай бұрын
With my GMOs, we're now chest high by the 4th of July here in Iowa. 😂
@grassfeeding6073 Жыл бұрын
Your assessment is bang on in my opinion. Multi-crop systems are very complex. Even in simpler systems, climatic variability impacts replication. Timing, type, fertility, density, huge number of variables to work with. Super interesting to think about how to optimize production.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yeah, they definitely are significantly more complex than mono-crops.
@michaelburke5907 Жыл бұрын
One year I grew an "Indian style" plot utilizing heirloom varieties such as Six Shooter corn, runner beans, pole green beans, sunflowers, sun chokes and various squashes and pumpkins. The corn was planted first, in a mound about 3 ' in diameter and about 9 " high. Beans were planted around each corn stalk. Squashes later on. Also, each mond had a decent sized carp buried under in for added nutrients. It all worked beautifully. Southern Wisconsin on deep, rich soil and a great summmer climate. One of the best plots ever.I think the key was the Six Shooter corn; tall, sturdy stalks, multiple ears, a great old time variety.
@julianachandler2975 Жыл бұрын
I live in Massachusetts and I tried the 3 sisters method. I even chose beans and squash that were supposedly grown by native Americans. Like your results, my corn was weighted down by the beans. I found that the method made everything more difficult and my yield was lower for everything. My preferred method is to grow squash and beans on a trellis. Everything is then easier to pick and airflow is greater. In my area, powdery mildew is a constant challenge, so airflow is a big deal.
@AgentNyo Жыл бұрын
Have you tried growing Jumbo Pink Banana? It grew well for me in the UK, very good yield, tasty and keeps well over winter. Also Primavera Spaghetti Squash, gives good large yield and tasty too. I love your Squash trials and agree it is about experimenting with different varieties for your own environment. You channel is fantastic, I've learned so much about how much varieties matter for growing all vegetables.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
I haven't, but sounds interesting. Thanks!
@aplacetoexist Жыл бұрын
Ive been doing research on the combo "large headed sunflowers, pile or runner beans, and carrots" and ive had moderate success due to the predators the sunflowers bring in keeping the grasshoppers at bay! There was a 4-7% increase in yield from the sunflowers not just in weight, but in count as well, and the beans had a 8-13% increase in count, but only a 5-7% increase in weight, while the carrots had a 1-2% increase in weight and a 3-5% increase in sugar! While small, the results have been consistent over several generations with a sample size of over 3,000!
@willbass2869 Жыл бұрын
Location?
@aplacetoexist Жыл бұрын
@@willbass2869 central nebraska, North Iowa, East Tennessee! I'm assuming you were asking for the location that the tests took place?
@josephp858 Жыл бұрын
Watching you is always a treat
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
🙂
@josephspruill1212 Жыл бұрын
There should be more than three sisters. Sunflowers 🌻 is another you can add for pollinators. Also they was planted on mounds. The beans corn and sunflowers was on top every other plant. The squash covered the slopes of the mounds. They need more room to grow than that little tunnel. You need twice as wide and twice as tall! Check out hill culture if you haven’t before. When the squash grows there is no more ROWS. There for squash isn’t grown in the same row as the other three. Oh one more you need bees as well! You can get the honey too!
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yes, I want to grow sunflowers. There are beehives right beside the polytunnel, but they don't seem to be interested in the flowers in the vegetable garden. Most of the time it is the native bumblebees doing the essential pollination.
@christajennings3828 Жыл бұрын
European honey bees didn't exist in the Americas at the height of the 3 Sisters cropping. It wasn't until Europeans introduced Apis mellifera that the crops would have been pollinated by them. Up til then, they did fine with native bees and other pollinators.
@RuthBennett-pw3ps4 ай бұрын
The Eastern tribes planted a fish with their seeds as fertilizer. Today you can buy fish fertilizer and I'm sure it doesn't stink as bad or attract raccoons and opossums as much.
@josephspruill12124 ай бұрын
@@RuthBennett-pw3ps Personally, I eat coon , rabbit , squirrel etc so please come to my garden and save me the time goin looking for them. My grandma would run over a possum and bring it home and make possum pie! Just like squirrel dumplings. I think I own too many dogs and cats for that. Not that I haven’t seen them try and get into the garden cause they do. Just not as much as ppl make it out to be. To an Indian everything is food. Not every tribe owns a casino or has some oil income etc…
@tsiharter6423 Жыл бұрын
Maize, beans, squash or pumpkins, along with a few dozen other plants. This was very common throughout the Americas. when possible, fields were put along streams or rivers. Water flooded in spring and deposited silt and plant matter. Corn used in bean fields are special, ancient varieties. Use northern European plants, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, scarlet runner beans, favas. Leather britches, dried green beans, were harvested at the end of the season.
@eilenepatrick9319 Жыл бұрын
I've done three sisters only twice, and I think it worked because all three crops were harvested after the corn and beans dried. For me, it didn't work with beans picked young, or corn picked young. I live in Southern California. Well done experiments.
@Szajlai_Jozsef Жыл бұрын
Nagyon jó, jövőre kipróbálom. 👍
@TheKrispyfort Жыл бұрын
There's three (3) layout patterns to the Three Sisters; mound, field, and succession. Level beds, such as your polytunnel, need the field layout or the succession planting. You used the mound layout planting on a level bed. And the over crowding is the result. I use mound method exclusively to avoid over crowding. One mound is four corn plants tight together, four pole beans outside the corn cluster, and two pumpkin/squash plants. I also leave the stalks in place - my corn just keeps producing ears - so winter legumes have a support. Try unpopped popcorn kernels instead of sweet corn. Starchy corn instead of sweet corn.
@kirawelty Жыл бұрын
Where I grew up in Southern New England the Nipmuc, Pequot and Narragansett Indians used the yearly Alewife run to fertilize 3 sisters, we used in our gardens too. When the fish run so thick you can catch them by hand, grab them and dig a hole 2 ft deep (60cm) drop in 6 fish, fill in and wait 2 months til planting season. I've tried 3 sisters planting since living near the Alewife runs but it just doesn't grow well without the fish.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
I have headed about burying fish for fertility, which sounds really useful, especially if you have such abundant supply of fish at the right time.
@williamhad Жыл бұрын
I think the corn would have been much stronger if sown in the ground, rather than transplant. Another thing to note is that this method comes from areas where people would have needed to irrigate by carrying water to the plants. It's much easier to irrigate when you pack everything together than if spaced far apart. North America was also in an old growth state back then, which would have made cultivating land without steel tools and horses very difficult.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That is interesting about transplanting vs direct sowing, something to explore.
@christajennings3828 Жыл бұрын
If you plant the corn seedlings quite deep, that helps. They will grow extra roots along the buried portion of the stem, which will make them stronger and facilitate greater nutrient and water uptake.
@advicepirate8673 Жыл бұрын
I think that in your situation substituting the squash for a less aggressive ground cover crop would alleviate a lot of your issues. I think rhubarb might be great, it won't encroach on the corn like the squash, and it is harvested so early that the beans won't have strangled it at that point, then you let your rhubarb bolt, and the beans in turn 'go to town'. Rhubarb might not be your smoking gun, it won't suppress weeds as well as the squash, but I hope it's a good example of how one could fiddle with the recipe to suit a northern climate. Your comments section is awesome by the way. Really knowledgeable and helpful people. 👍
@jaymedomejka1977 Жыл бұрын
Thank you for making sure throughout this video that you mention your specific context. It is so important and something that many people who put out content miss when talking about things that work or don't work. One of the more traditional ways that three sisters has been planted is in the mound context. The mound (circular in shape) is made and then 4 corn seeds are planted in a well at the top of the mound with little to no spacing. The beans are then planted around the mound on 4 to 6 inch spacing and the squash are planted 24" out from the center of the mound. Vines are trained out and away from the corn as as they grow. I think this planting method does a few different things. 1. Dryland corn is planted this way in deserts and it might help with pollination to have the plants really tight together. 2. The beans can go either way, up the corn or wrapping around the squash vines. Either way it's a chore to find the pods. 3. Training the squash means less problems with the vines climbing up the corn stalks. You are correct in thinking that this method isn't great for intensive planting, it was more for the benefit of getting harvestable staple crops in a small area with little care. I also wonder if older/native varieties do better in this set up than plants with modern breeding.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yeah, context is so important! One of the reasons I wanted to do this trial, to show how hard it is to adapt the three sisters concept to a different context.
@NotSureJoeBauers Жыл бұрын
I know several people that have tried the Three Sisters, mainly because it's fashionable to be indigenous now. But none of them ever have success. The varieties are just not ever right for each other. Everyone is trying to grow sweet corn but it has such high water and nutrient requirements that I really doubt it wants to share the ground with beans. Plants that the native peoples of North America probably worked together in the sense that they would be broadcast seeded and nature brought each up as it was opportune for the plants development. So much of those plant genetics have been lost to time. I keep clicking Three Sisters videos though because I would like to see someone crack the code. Even if it just works for one person in one place, that would be a major win for food production
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yeah, most of what we grow has been bred to be quite demanding of nutrients and water.
@hermanhale92587 ай бұрын
The whole story was probably just made up.
@becc8617Ай бұрын
I'm in Australia and going to try the 3 sisters method for the first time this year, so glad you've shared your findings because you've saved me from making the same mistakes especially with the beans!
@REDGardensАй бұрын
Nice. Hope it works better for you!
@nickthegardener.1120 Жыл бұрын
I tried the 3 sisters this year and it worked really well. 35 corn incredible F1 in a block with blue lake french beans growing around 3 sides and 3 squash growing along the other side to grow through to smother weeds, the squash were sweet potato squash x1 butternut x1 and a honey nut squash, the sweet potato squash did the best but didn't vine.. I had an amazing crop of everything. Timing is everything, and plenty of compost in full sun in an English allotment. The corn was planted first then the squash and then the beans and the beans only caught up with 3 corn which was over 6ft tall. 🤠👍
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Awesome! Great you had a good crop!
@kirstypollock6811 Жыл бұрын
Aha, great ideas there and glad to hear of success. I'm a bit further north but do get usually good sun.
@oskaraalholm7505 Жыл бұрын
Thank you, Bruce! Much appreciated😊
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
🙂
@blackcurtainanimation4 ай бұрын
Invaluable discoveries. Thank you for sharing!
@thearkedcrown Жыл бұрын
I came to a similar conclusion that there were a lot of geographic differences. I had the best luck in the Southeast US with sunflowers, watermelons, and beans, and sometimes a late planting of tomatoes. But overall it wasn't that good compared to my normal garden and I won't be experimenting with the 3 sisters anymore. It also seems like the traditional combination was often meant to be a drying garden, where the crops were harvested dry and then stored and cooked to be eaten.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yeah, even in good climates for these crops, a lot of people seem to have better success growing them separately.
@davidkottman3440 Жыл бұрын
It was a method of field growing a quantity of crops for a tribal village, perhaps not as applicable to a garden setting.
@jacksonclan Жыл бұрын
I live in southern Mexico and this is how all my friends do it, however I think the varieties are different as well as the spacing. Recently I asked my friends why they plant 3 corn stalks together. They looked at me like I was crazy and said, "that's just how it's done."
@TYProle Жыл бұрын
Try adding Jerusalem artichokes and sunn hemp into the mix. Also sweet potatoes.
@cew9837 Жыл бұрын
We have zimbabwean people on our allptment and they grow 2 swweetcorn plants together at planting to support each otger. Their plants are enormous at over 215-20' tall and smaller beans grow up a few but generally they plant their maize cor very closely like a field they call my sweetcorn the englush corn.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Cool
@TaanayeSikhosana Жыл бұрын
I don't even know why we plant 2 corn per hole. The 3 sisters planting in like a traditional way of planting for us and yes the corn is always the tall variety. People prefer the white over the yellow corn and broad variety pumpkins or butternut for squash. The beans is almost always borlotti beans. Our climate is Savannah grasslands, lots of sun and good rainfall too
@sharimuhamad59057 ай бұрын
Thank you❤ I am thinking of planting "three sister" this year, your video is very helpfull❤❤❤❤❤ I am watching and learning from germany.
@E.S.Foster996 ай бұрын
This has been super helpful and interesting. Thank you!
@ElisandeWalters Жыл бұрын
I was honestly VERY surprised that you decided to try the 3 sisters in the irish climate, poly tunnel or not
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yeah, it was a very strange thing to do, but I kept getting people suggesting it as a great option, so I wanted to see how easy or problematic it could be in this context.
@s.leeyork3848 Жыл бұрын
I love your videos and your style of presenting. Thank you!
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much!
@bdwon Жыл бұрын
Your analysis of the situation seems thorough and accurate.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
🙂
@charlespalmer3595 Жыл бұрын
I have never been a fan of companion planting. With the exception of adding peas or bush beans in open spots. I've found that the extra competition makes for lackluster results in all of the plants in that bed. My advice to you for corn is to cut off a few tassels and manually dust the silks to make sure you will get full ears. Gardens just don't have enough room to grow enough plants to get a good fertilization with corn. I seem to remember that 3 sisters mounds are spaced far apart, like 5 or 6 paces between mounds. If you have 3 sisters, I'm sure that you'd have more than just 7 issues with them! 😄
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Competition is a big factor. And yes I do have 3 sisters!
@macsarcule Жыл бұрын
I’ve done this successfully in the upper Midwest with flint corn many years. I’ve never seen someone transplant corn vs direct seeding. Fascinating. Just sharing a datapoint, I direct seed my pumpkins, beans, and corn.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
The transplanting is a common thing around here, as the season is so cool and short, the plants need all the help, and supplemental warmth, they can get. It would be interesting to see how different things would grow if we did push things to be able to direct seed.
@phoebebaker1575 Жыл бұрын
I love your scientific approach!
@jeunneeve3512 Жыл бұрын
Дякую за ваш досвід, теж хотіла спробувати цей спосіб посадки. Тут, в Україні, це може спрацювати. Вже знайшла високу міцну кукурудзу та сорт тикви, але тепер задумалася про квасолю. Можливо, краще буде посадити стручкову, може вона не так сильно буде рости. Також ви підтвердили мої підозри, що кукурудза може не встигнути вирости, щоб стати підпоркою для квасолі. Тож, мабудь, доведеться вирощувати її розсадою. Що стосується кабачків - цікаво, чи вирощують в Ірландії патисони (pattypan squash)? Мені вони своїм солодкуватим смаком більше нагадують тикву, ніж кабачок, і вони не плетуться. Можливо, для "Трьох сестер" такий варіант краще.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Дякуємо за коментар. Підозрюю, що літо в Україні краще для такого виду посадки. Багато що залежить від сортів. Патейкових сортів я не вирощував, але хочу спробувати. Вони не є поширеними тут, в Ірландії. Thanks for the comment. I suspect that the summers in Ukraine are better for this type of planting. A lot does depend on the varieties. I have not grown patty pan varieties, but I want to try them. They are not common here in Ireland.
@wvhaugen Жыл бұрын
Good job! Especially analyzing the pluses and minuses. I rarely grow pole beans and grow between 12-20 varieties of green and dry beans (including yellow wax and purple). Between 6-12 corn varieties. Sweet corn and popcorn. I find dry sweet corn to be fine for grinding. 1 Moschata squash, 1 Maxima squash and several Pepo varieties. These are all my own landraces, developed over 27 years. Spacing is critical for squash to keep seedlines pure, although I encourage some mixing. I plant in rows outside, with a bean block on one side of a corn block and squash on the other side. I never used poly tunnels and I have a couple of 2x3 meter greenhouses for tomatoes. Beans don't add as much nitrogen as you think, which is why favas are integral to my rotation. I am going to introduce cowpeas this year. I am a retired market gardener from a maritime climate in the US Pacific Northwest but am now retired in southern France. I still do about half an acre each year plus an orchard. Still doing landrace research. Good luck to you.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That sounds like an amazing collection!
@thiemokellner1893 Жыл бұрын
Many thanks for sharing your experience on the three sisters. With respect to corn within the tunnel folding. It might be affected by not being exposed to wind, thus not needing to develop strong support structures. And when the beans grabbed the corn, it was too late for them to improve the stems significantly.
@melissa7233 Жыл бұрын
I live in the Memphis, TN area, and I'm sure that it was done here by the Native Americans. They were obviously much better growers than I am, because I've yet to be successful with that method. I may be running into the same variety issues too. I've been trying for several years to grow sweet corn, along with green beans, and winter squashes like butternut and acorn. The impression I've always had was that you could do it with any varieties, but I guess that thinking is wrong, and more research is needed if I want to try again. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, because I never came to that as a possible problem. I always put it down to being a poor gardener. I'm not sure if I'll try it again, since I seem to do better with mono-culture, but I'll do better research next time.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yeah, the variety selection seems to be a key part of it all.
@davidseiffert39995 ай бұрын
3:42 they broke BECAUSE there is no wind. The stems were not trained.
@FrozEnbyWolf150 Жыл бұрын
This method definitely requires some experimentation to find the best combination for your climate. I tried this in USDA zone 7b, and while the growing season was certainly long enough for the crops to mature, there were several mistakes and things I had to learn from. Growing a prolific type of squash like Tahitian butternut probably was not the best idea, as it grows and spreads so quickly, it climbed the cornstalks and dragged them down. Growing the corn in spaced mounds was also not a good idea, as not all the corn survived, and the mounds were too far apart, meaning there was uneven pollination. Cramming too many bean plants into the same space didn't work, as they ended up competing with each other for vertical space. One of the things that did work was growing other robust vertical plants in addition to or in place of the corn. Sunflowers, amaranth, and okra can all work well for the stalk type plant. Staking the corn is a good idea no matter which variety you choose to grow, as even under the best circumstances, they can still collapse due to storms or the cobs simply getting too heavy. Regular harvesting of the squash leaves (which are edible) can help prevent them from taking over, which I found necessary to clear a walking path through the garden. I definitely plan on trying this again this coming year. I never thought I could grow corn before, but it finally worked in this setup, so despite all the issues, I must have done something right.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yeah, a lot of experimentation needed, as there is with a lot of crops. But with the three of them together, it really can complicate things. An interesting challenge, and lots to learn in the process, but I am not sure it is worth it.
@MohdFahadfaruquikhairabad10 ай бұрын
I’m from India and looking to do something interesting with intercropping. Very valuable lessons shared thanks and will definitely inquire more about the plants and Varity Charectorastics before planting them together
@ravenpineshomestead Жыл бұрын
I recommend Good mother stallard bean and wapsi valley dent corn. Long pie pumpkin might do well in your situation, its a variety from new England and suited to cool short summers
@af2313 Жыл бұрын
This is a really interesting take. Jacques in the Garden had trouble with his three sisters planting too.
@themadbotanist2122 Жыл бұрын
Depending on the water table of your area, you could try recessing the floor to effectively increase the height of your tunnel. In my area the soil never freezes below 18" so by digging out the floor of my greenhouse I have been able to grow many tropical plants while also adding to the overall height.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That is an interesting idea. I would want to remove the topsoil, dig out the subsoil layer and replace the topsoil.
@peteshoulders1 Жыл бұрын
I treid this this year outdoors in Cornwall uk, and found that the beans gave almost no yeald, despite growing well at first, the squash made lots of leaf and climbed up the corn stalks and made lots of flowers but no fruit, and the heirloom corn a dwarf type grew over ten foot high and snapped under the weight, the ears were poorly formed and useless, the same variety of beans and squash grown seperately performed well and I had a surplus crop to trade, I did not plant any corn seperatly so cannot compare that, i dont think I will try again unless the three sisters are compatible in some way.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Sorry to hear that you also had a poor crop from this. This approach does seem to struggle in cooler climates.
@kathleensanderson3082 Жыл бұрын
@@REDGardens I really think that 3 sisters is best for climates with hot summers, because (in a hot climate) one of the advantages is that the three crops help shade one another and the ground. That's a significant disadvantage in a climate with cool summers. (I'm in Kentucky, and plan to try a small 3 sisters plot this summer; I've been trying to find good information from people who have actually done it, and it's hard to find!) I'll be planting old varieties of dent corn (I don't like sweet corn as a vegetable, just want a little bit of corn meal) with old cornfield dry beans, and several different cucurbits -- moschata squash, melons, and cucumbers around the edges. I will put my green beans elsewhere, so I can leave the 3 sisters area to mature and dry down for fall harvest.
@B0r0 Жыл бұрын
Can you do another with the new planting you suggested next year as a follow up...Cheers, Good work by the way.
@MistressOP7 ай бұрын
Woodchips would take care of the pumpkin weed problem. I think there's probably a perfect balance but I'd rather a less agressive pumpkin and woodchip then finding perfect balance plus by the end of season I'd probably be left with something better under it. As well as the fungus quailty of the woodchips warding off mildew. I could also see this system used for winter fodder left in place for rotation pigs, cows, sheep, so forth if done on pasture. in maybe mounds. So, only harvesting the beans, and sweetcorn and leaving the pumpkin in place with maybe some wax paper under them or something. 12:25 (worth it to grow in polly tunnel?) - I could see it working as a no till system in a poly tunnel like an off year rotation or something. To give woodchips or hay a chance to really break down. While still using the space effectivly. maybe even a three sister system using amaranth, beans, and sweet potatoes with some in like a pasture style system instead.
@enriquecabrera2137 Жыл бұрын
There is a reason the cheroke and other tribes not known for agriculture created this. It was heavy manual labor need for when they had nothing else. And it generated a low yied, not enough to replace regular hunting or create a proper farm. The way natives did agriculture is MASSIVELY different in how we think agriculture SHOULD be. In the sense of expected yield and expected ammount of labor involved. We expect things like a nice big field of a bit off mass production to either feed for the whole year or be enough to sell excess. Natives did more of a foraging method where they planted what they COULD and used all the extra time they had and in case of lacking resources, regular foraging, hunting and fishing made up for it. It just wouldnt be sufficienct for a farmer to use those methods. Its more of a hobby farmer. Someone that grows flowers and loves tending the garden but is interested in growing food. And of course, many of the crops where vastly different a couple centuries ago. Weve managed to create newn ones that while much better for mass production, may create issues when it comes to nutrient requirements of the plants and their ability to grow together. As before, they HELPED each other perfectly, todays version might just end up competing with each other and end up causing more issues than what they fix.
@IowaHarry2 ай бұрын
I enjoy many of your videos. On the subject of 3 sisters. Native Americans were growing what we call fall crops. No sweet corn, no summer squash, no green beans. They grew flint or flour corn, winter squash and either shell or dry beans. Plant in the spring, come back in the fall and harvest.
@timothyhowell85657 ай бұрын
Last year was a very poor summer so will impact plants like squash beans and corn, if you are in Ireland Wales or the north it was a tricky season.
@cory98847 ай бұрын
You said you have a hard time finding hard corn in ireland. Is there no popcorn kernels? We can get them by the pound at a some grocery stores in the US.
@reneebrown2968 Жыл бұрын
Try using a bush bean with the shorter corn breeds. I love the Cherokee pumpkins with this type of growing. They are very pest resistant too.
@chihtahuang5 ай бұрын
I wonder if the sweetcorn plants inside hte tunnel were actually weaker than the ones outside because it was not exposed to wind. wind has the effect of hardening some plants.
@DustySplinters Жыл бұрын
Well Done, One of the things we do wrong today is trying to plant modern varieties compared to the ancient varieties used by the originators of this method.
@1001_love7 ай бұрын
谢谢你做了三姐妹视频,给了我们宝贵的信息。
@TruthAndLight49957 ай бұрын
Variety selection is very important for successfully growing the 3 sisters. I successfully did a sweet corn, pole green beans, and zucchini. (southern USA)
@TaLeng2023 Жыл бұрын
I wonder which varieties would grow well in monsoon areas near the equator.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Yeah, that is a completely different climate!
@RuthBennett-pw3ps4 ай бұрын
Native Oregonian here, I grew up working the clay soils of the north Willamette Valley. Due to the very wet, rainy conditions of the area, the clay soils couldn't be worked until June, and our growing season started winding down in mid-September, ending completely with first frost in October or November. It sounds like this was similar to your climate and short growing season. Corn, beans and squash don't tolerate transplanting well but it can be done by using peat pots or small pots with seed starting potting soil in small pots indoors. Plan in February or March. Transplant after last frost. My family grew "Blue Lake" pole beans but there is also a Blue Lake bush variety that would work for your corn garden. Beans need full sun and so do corn and squash. In the Willamette Valley, our best-growing squash varieties are butternut, acorn and another variety that I forgot the name of but it has a sage green skin and pale orange flesh, it grows big like a pumpkin, it's ugly and delicious. Squashes are best picked after first frost. The frost improves the flavor! Corn is best direct-sowed, not started early in the peat pots. Mixing manure and straw into the soil adds heat and improves soil quality. If using cow manure, it needs to compost for several months or a year before adding to the garden. Chicken manure doesn't have that requirement. Mix these into the garden soil one month before planting, particularly if adding straw. You can skip the delay if you don't add the straw. We used the straw because the clay soil hard-packs. If your soil isn't clay, you might not need the straw. Using heirloom variety corn seeds to grow your corn may be a more effective way for you to grow corn. Please research this advice before using since I've never been to Ireland and I'm not familiar with your soil or your climate. Seeds from Alaska might be a good choice for your garden since their growing season is also quite short but they have much more daylight in the summer than Oregon where I grew up. However if you can order from Central or South Canada that might work. You can get the seeds I mentioned from www.teritorialseed.com. Happy gardening!
@RuthBennett-pw3ps4 ай бұрын
I also want to add a tip regarding seed-saving squash varieties. Squashes tend to cross-breed quite easily with other squashes, but hard-shelled squashes (butternut, acorn, delicata) typically don't breed with soft-shelled varieties (cucumbers, zucchini, yellow summer squash). This means you need a lot of space between hard shelled varieties, enough that cross-pollination is very unlikely, and the same between soft-shelled varieties. If they cross-breed, the next year's seeds will grow plants that produce inedible fruit. My only experience with this yielded hard, tough, inedible fruit that tasted bitter and could not be cooked enough to soften it even if cooked for several hours.
@REDGardens4 ай бұрын
Thanks for sharing your approach to this trio of crops. With such a cool and relatively short growing season over here, I don't think I will bet much if I don't transplant to get a head start on the season. But as you say, these plants don't like it, and are probably set back quite a bit.
@RuthBennett-pw3ps4 ай бұрын
@@REDGardens they can be transplanted if their roots are not disturbed. This is the benefit of using peat pots and planting up to 3 seeds per 3-inch pot. Transplant carefully to avoid disturbing roots. Transplanting should occur about 1-2 weeks before the plants become root-bound in the pots. However I've experienced cold summers in Oregon and also very hot ones and if your area tends to very cool summers, greenhouse growing in raised garden beds may be your best tool. Planting corn in thick rows encourages pollination, and having enough rows. But you might benefit from adding grow lights and fans to your greenhouse setup.
@RuthBennett-pw3ps4 ай бұрын
Also squashes and melons like good drainage, so they grow well in mounds and raised beds. They don't like "wet feet". They do like a lot of heat and will produce well in the hottest part of summer. I've seen a single zucchini plant produce 5-7 mature zucchinis per day in August. But it does get up to 106°F in the Willamette Valley where I grew up. In Idaho where I live now, I'm more in the interior of the continent so the coastal temperate zone is west of me and it gets even hotter here than what I grew up with, and earlier in the year. I'm curious, what do you grow for food in Ireland? Some of my ancestors came from the Isle of Skye (clan Donald) and I have a long-standing curiosity about your region. Could be a great video to make and share. You do a good job and anything you could share about your local region could be quite interesting to the many people like myself.
@kontopoulos3107 Жыл бұрын
My recollection of garden crops, was that wooden stakes&/or wire /trellises with ties were used to support plants 😊
@kontopoulos3107 Жыл бұрын
Beautifullly detailed, Thankyou for info & time
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
🙂
@friendlydog-p4t8 ай бұрын
I am trying a garden with MN13 corn, scarlet runner beans, and long island cheese pumpkins. Wish me luck. I'm expecting to pollinate the corn by hand. Thank you for this informative video, I know what pitfalls to look for
@REDGardens8 ай бұрын
Good luck! Your success will likely depend on your climate!
@ashtonswinburn8414 Жыл бұрын
Hi, I have been trying to think of ways to fertilise my garden with free resources but the only things I have access to are materials that would either need composting or put into liquid state, despite these being very effective after this year being flooded out my garden due to the massive amounts of rainfall I was wanting another option for wetter years to add fertility and biochar came up and it seems to provide everything I want from a soil amendment such as aeration and fertilisation and I've just watched your video on bichar and was wondering how well it worked for you. Thanks 😁
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
I haven't done proper testing with biochar, which I want to do this year. But it seems to work well in the one garden I use it in.
@ashtonswinburn8414 Жыл бұрын
@@REDGardens Thanks
@naturefondernature4 ай бұрын
1:50 "All three of these crops could be relatively easy to manage, once they ere established, and they could all be harvested at the same time in the autumn, providing a storable supply of food for many months for the squash, and possibly many years for the maze and beans." Do you mean that both the bean plants and the corn plants can remain there without replanting and keep producing beans and corns for years?
@REDGardens4 ай бұрын
No. Harvested in the autumn, and everything replanted the next spring.
@naturefondernature4 ай бұрын
@@REDGardens Thanks a lot for answering my questions.
@michaelsasylum Жыл бұрын
I've heard of people having good results using sweet potato as their ground cover component. Does look like cutting back the squash plants and letting the vines cover more ground so they don't get tempted to grow taller to compete for sunlight. BTW, squash flowers are edible and there's tons of recipes for stuffed squash flowers. Good rundown of your process.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That would be interesting to try.
@uthyrgreywick5702 Жыл бұрын
As a lifelong gardener in the mid-Atlantic area of the US with a fascination with Native American ag, I have been familiar with the 3 sisters concept since the 1970's. I'm convinced that the way it is recommended (what you followed, and I tried too) is a modern interpretation of what was actually practiced. See the watercolors of John White (Roanoke colony) and the book titled Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden plus other drawings done by the Spanish in Florida. They show the varieties of crops, but they were never planted in the same beds, but were planted in the same gardens. From a practical approach, trying to harvest anything from a tangled mess is nearly impossible. The Native women kept their gardens free of weeds, they didn't depend on squash to do it. They planted in hills not rows, but they kept them separate. Best regards.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
That is interesting.
@David_Bell_growing Жыл бұрын
When I grew flint sweetcorn in the UK the plants were over 3m high and it took so long for the first cobs to reach maturity I had to protect them against frosts for several weeks at the end if season. Made me doubt whether most/any advocates of this method had ever actually tried it themselves.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
It seems to need much warmer climates!
@danicablue5587 Жыл бұрын
I tried 3 sisters last season and my pole beans pulled my corn down and my squash disappeared. I like it in a nostalgic way, but it didn't contribute much to my food crops. I will probably dedicate a small space to it again but with different varieties and hopefully in time will find something that does well in my area.
@eliinthewolverinestate6729 Жыл бұрын
I looked up Ireland's plant hardiness zones. Out last frost here is mid May. Zone 5.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Plant hardiness zones don't seem to be a thing here in Europe.
@DenSvaraTradgarden Жыл бұрын
I tried those three crops together once, but the result was disappointing. Planting them separately would have given a much higher yield. From what I hear that's how they were sometimes planted, even if the hype nowdays is to plant them together. But as growers we know there are no absolutes, every plot of land is different and we have to experiment and find what works best in our own space. I really like that you tried the same combination of plants in the poly tunnel and outside, that's a very interesting comparison.
@LadyTink6 ай бұрын
so many people that do the 3 sisters technique, forget a portion of the idea. Planting order matters, BUT most importantly, when you look up the original description... The were planted in mounds, with a corn surrounded by climbing beans and then at the edge of the mount there was squash. One of the issues is that the western ideal crop is in rows on flat earth. While the idea of each mound being on its own, and not conjoined in a continuous row. I'll also say, you're absolutely right about climate playing a part, and I think you could get away with the real 3 sisters technique if you substituted the plants based on your climate. But thats just what I've read, I'm looking forward to trying to 3 sisters method on my own garden in a desert, using drought resistant crops that use facultative cam. Using Purslane as the ground cover instead of squash. But idk, maybe I'm deluded xD
@MrRemakes Жыл бұрын
I tried three sisters this year, and it didn't work very well. The corn was the only one that was really productive. Most of the squash rotted before getting very big, and none of the beans produced anything. I think the issue was how I planted it, in kind of a loosely spaced block. I think if I had done rows or hills it might have done better. Next year I'm planning on doing a method that was traditionally used in France for growing Tarbais beans, where corn is grown in wide spaced conventional rows, and beans are trellised on them. I'm also going to grow squash between the rows in hills with plenty of compost.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Sounds like an interesting option, hope you have success with it.
@elizabethmilward83019 ай бұрын
I tried the three sisters many years ago, but didn't have much success. I don't really remember details, except that the corn was a disappointment and I think the squash were too. I'm in a sub-mediterranean zone, so summers are dry but not very hot or long, and winter squash are very hit and miss for me, with more misses than hits. It might have helped to try growing corn and squash separately and getting the hang of that before putting it all together, and the corn might have worked better if I'd had space for a bigger patch than one 8 x4ft garden bed.
@walterbunn280 Жыл бұрын
Sometimes sunflower or sunchoke (jerusalem artichoke) were used instead of corn. My experience with corn is that it's fussy.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
I think sunchoke would be a better match for Ireland.
@deathpyre42 Жыл бұрын
How about trying out Yabumame (Amphicarpaea Edgeworthii) as the legume component ? Varieties grow as far north as hokkaido so it's a bit more suited to chilly climates, and it often grows in forests so cramped shady conditions probably won't be an issue.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Sounds interesting. Getting the seeds would be an issue around here, but I will keep an eye out.
@kirstypollock6811 Жыл бұрын
There's lots and lots of corn grown by me here in N Germany. I think it's "feed corn" for animals, so maybe it would dry well? It grows really well, even though we have very dry summers usually
@zmavrick Жыл бұрын
Corn is a C4 plant which long story short means it uses a photosynthesis process that causes less loss of moisture through transpiration. Also corn is a deep rooted plant so is less affected by soil surface drying. Most corn raised for animal feed is #2 Dent variety and is picked when it is dry enough to shell and store naturally.
@kirstypollock6811 Жыл бұрын
@@zmavrick wow awesome thanks
@anonymostoxicmale3241 Жыл бұрын
i had a nice patch of butternut squash this year. so vigerous i will not even attempt to grow something near it next year.
@paulm2380 Жыл бұрын
Thanks
@teac117 Жыл бұрын
My experience in Nova Scotia outdoors is pretty much the same. Sweet corn needed to be transplanted early here, and then nothing would grow in the shadows/cold. The three sisters are evolved plants that filled a very tight niche, which no longer exists in Ag. I gave up trying in our niche of niche of niche environment.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
Good way of describing it. I also think the shade cast by the corn is problematic in cool climates. Everything wants full sun!
@BlackJesus8463 Жыл бұрын
I'm not convinced the nitrogen from the beans is available until it decompose but you had fertile soil so maybe next year is the one to judge. or salad greens if you want to actually make money.
@FireflyOnTheMoon Жыл бұрын
Yes, I think it's very worth exploring the nitrogen fixing and finding out how much is actually given in one season. Not much, I suspect. As Bruce says, the vast majority ends up in the bean pods.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
I think in poor soil, in in contexts where importing nitrogen is difficult or expensive (such a larger scale organic farms), then nitrogen fixing from beans and clover can really help improve things, but I am not convinced it translates to smaller, more intensive growing spaces, where fertility I easier to source.
@gustavchambert70724 ай бұрын
Possibly plant bigger clusters of sweetcorn outside, maybe 3*3 or 4*4, with beans planted around the outside, and squash in-between clusters. That way, the corn can better pollinate each other, and the beans can get more than one stalk to grow on.
@marka9292 Жыл бұрын
There is a guy I follow on here who does restorative forestry and he was talking about a native perennial bean that grew in the americas. The pods were quite small so that may effect the outcome
@grahamburchell1 Жыл бұрын
Tried 3 sisters once outside in south east England and like you had limited success. Found growing each separate is best. Though Corn in larger block does polinate better and let squash trail between for vine ends later in season. Best to growbeans as a decidicated crop in my opinion as best yields and easy to harvest.
@REDGardens Жыл бұрын
A lot of people seem to have similar experience.
@khomol5 ай бұрын
I grew 3 sisters a couple of times in the last three years. And I saw similar results.
@flowersvg Жыл бұрын
Every year I grow my companion planting with many different types. I have had much success with corn, squash, and beans