three sisters planting method

I'm doing a bit of experimenting this year. I have plowed up more space then ever before on this property. working into the soil wood ash from the stove and the material cleaned out from the chicken coop.


im not sure how others plant beans, squash and corn together. but im doing a bit of experimenting so far I have put in 2 rows each about 100 feet long. I first made a trough with the hoe and then dropped in corn seed about ever 8 inches or do then I dropped in green bean seeds some right next to the corn then I dropped in squash seeds. in one row corn was a 60 day variety with black beauty zucchini and producer green beans the next row was 75 day corn variety with straight neck yellow squash and the same green beans. then covered the seeds over

the next row is about 150 feet long and I dumped lots of seeds in it this one just green beans and 3 kinds of squash from seeds I dried out from last year including yellow and white scalloped squash and zucchini no corn in this row,. its in a completely different location where last year all the corn there was completely destroyed by wildlife.

bruce Fine wrote:... but im doing a bit of experimenting so far I have put in 2 rows each about 100 feet long. I first made a trough with the hoe and then dropped in corn seed about ever 8 inches or do then I dropped in green bean seeds some right next to the corn then I dropped in squash seeds. in one row corn was a 60 day variety with black beauty zucchini and producer green beans the next row was 75 day corn variety with straight neck yellow squash and the same green beans. then covered the seeds over...

I love reading about experiments. I do hope you post updates regardless of the outcome, although I do hope you're successful.

The Corn/Beans/Squash combo has a long history. However, when I researched it, there are subtleties. I recall that the corn was planted a few weeks before the beans and the squash almost a month after the corn. This was so that the corn got a chance to grow enough that the other crops didn't overwhelm it.

My problem is that in my ecosystem we have a very long, slow spring and often get cold damp weather in June. ( The locals are coined the nick-name Junuary!) My other problem was that I think this system needs *really* good sunshine and I simply have too many tall trees casting intermittent shade.

Would you mind adding a little description of your ecosystem - soil, water, sun, weather?