Three Sisters Year 4

2026 is here. Time to start a new thread on my 3-sisters efforts.
Last year was fairly successful. Corn produced 50 bushels/acre. About 190 pounds from 3000 square feet. Beans also did very well, though no 'official' measurement since a lot was picked green. Squash was a total bust with very heavy insect damage.
Incidental crops like sunflowers, tobacco, and flowers did well. These I do not plant but simply allow them to reseed themselves and grow as volunteers. Tomatoes almost always do well as volunteers, but in 2025 did poorly.

I am planning a couple of things to change. First, I will add companion plants around the squash. I have read that radishes and marigolds may help prevent squash bugs and borers from finding the squash. I am somewhat skeptical but it's worth a try.
Second, I received a gift of 6 new corn varieties so will add a few rows of those to the mix.

2026 will be the third year with no added chemical inputs. No fertilizers, insecticides or herbicides. I may carry in black dirt to improve some of the heavy clay.
The garden now:

Some pics of hills:

Seeds for volunteers:

More volunteer seeds:

What varieties of squash were you growing?  I've had good results in multiple situations with the Seminole pumpkins and their relatives.  They seem to keep on growing and producing in spite of bugs, borers, mildew and the rest.  The vines do like to climb, though, so you might have to discourage them from climbing the corn and sunflowers, since the squashes might break them down with their weight as they grow.  Many times I've had to get a long pole to fish them down out of the trees and bushes!

Alder Burns wrote:What varieties of squash were you growing?  I've had good results in multiple situations with the Seminole pumpkins and their relatives.  They seem to keep on growing and producing in spite of bugs, borers, mildew and the rest.  The vines do like to climb, though, so you might have to discourage them from climbing the corn and sunflowers, since the squashes might break them down with their weight as they grow.  Many times I've had to get a long pole to fish them down out of the trees and bushes!

I have been growing Japanese Kabocha squash, since that's what my wife strongly prefers. This year I will add Red Kuri, another Japanese variety. Both are Maxima varieties, so tend to be susceptible to bugs. But no point in growing anything we won't eat.

Regarding climbing, it's a thing. I walk through a few times a week and move the vines to where I want them. Even the beans can pull down corn eventually, especially if there is a strong wind.

Best wishes with this year's 3 sisters and friends!

Ground the first corn from the 2025 season today. Still have a lot left over from 2024. I suppose I'll feed it to the squirrels and birds and gophers.

I for one, look forward to this thread every year. So much good experience shared. Successes & failures are all learning opportunities. Many people try a 3 Sisters garden once & fail at some aspect of it, but the continuous evolution of yours is nice to follow.

Hey Tom, do you find that feeding the squirrels purposefully keeps them out of your newly planted seeds?  Like if you distract them over here they won't dig up and eat what's over _there?

Cy Cobb wrote:I for one, look forward to this thread every year. So much good experience shared. Successes & failures are all learning opportunities. Many people try a 3 Sisters garden once & fail at some aspect of it, but the continuous evolution of yours is nice to follow.

Today is April 1st. I had promised myself I wouldn't do any gardening until today. Moved some straw bales around and put out the rain gauge today and that was all. Too chilly this morning and strong winds. Hoping tomorrow is warm enough to do some clean-up.

Cy did you want some corn seeds this year?

I may not get any results from my Nigerian corn this year. Friend reports that she gave the seeds to her sister who has a farm. Sister gave corn to her workers, who pretended to plant it but actually stole the seeds and took them home! So it is possible my corn is growing in some hidden garden in Nigeria, or maybe he just ate it.

Riona Abhainn wrote:Hey Tom, do you find that feeding the squirrels purposefully keeps them out of your newly planted seeds?  Like if you distract them over here they won't dig up and eat what's over _there?

No idea. I don't worry about the squirrels much. I think because there is so much stuff growing that they don't target my seeds especially? Also, I tend to way over-plant seeds so maybe they do eat a lot but enough are left over?

But last year I had to replant maybe 1/3 of the corn hills because something ate the sprouts or maybe the seeds did not grow. Deer and groundhogs and maybe birds are worse there than squirrels. I have read about old-times farmers soaking a bucket of grain in water then dumping it out near the field to distract critters from the new seed.

I do think putting out sunflowers is helpful against deer. They seem to strongly prefer sunflowers to corn so if both are growing the sunflowers get eaten down to the roots but the corn isn't bothered much.

I think I'm good on seed this year. Thanks for lookin' out.

I ordered some South American giant varieties online (mostly dent), but when I received them, they were heavily weevil damaged, some moldy, & generally looked old. I spent way too much for seeds that have no return option & may not grow. Rolling the dice here to try something exotic & will likely regret it. We'll see though. I keep changing my mind on what I want to grow & how I want to grow it. Just when I think I'm settled with a logical plan, the kid in me wants to grow all the things & just have fun with the variety.

On another note, I'm going to take my first foray into bottle/birdhouse type gourds this year. I've grown vining pumpkins for a few years now & wanted to try something similar, but new to me.

Happy growing!

We ate the very last squash from last fall today. Still very good. They get sweeter as time passes. Of course I saved some seeds!
So far have not done any work on the garden. Depending on weather I hope to get out tomorrow and dig up or cover with straw some grass growing into the edges.
Still about a month from any planting. Aiming at May first. I have planted earlier, but don't see much advantage. One year due to weather I didn't plant until June, and saw no deficit.

Did a bit of work today, first of this year. Spreading straw around the garden edges to smother the encroaching grass, and digging up some grass clumps. 45 minutes. 2 and 6/10 inches of rain in the gague.
As with the last few years I am charting time spent, activity effort level low/medium/high, and any rainfall amount. It was warm, sunny and very windy.

I sowed winter rye cover crops in this year's corn patch. Spring in my area arrived 2-3 weeks early and forecast called for a dryer and warmer summer so I will be terminating them soon.