Corn/Bean/Squash Guild

Last year I had all my corn eaten by raccoons, which sucked. So this year I'm planning to plant a corn/bean/squash guild to try to improve yield while also discouraging those little punks from eating all my corn.

How do you guys do this? I was planning to direct seed all three species, so would I do this all at the same time in the Spring? Does the corn need a head start to get above the squash? Alternatively, if I start the squash indoors for a head start, is that a problem?

Last - can I grow pumpkins instead of summer squash?

I do think you could use pumpkin instead of squash.
I would say yes the corn needs a head start for both pumpkin and beans.
also try cd disk tied with string so that they turn and swing in the breeze , music,live traps,dog hair from groomers,and or dog staked out at close timing. for coons
add radishes,marigolds,zinnias to that mix will help with squash bugs also.
I am adding cucumbers blue lake green beans sun flowers white clover buckwheat amaranth lambs quarters plus a few other things to the mix this year also.

I've been experimenting with planting coon-proof corn and so far, I think planting close and getting a lot of pole beans into the corn's canopy to help lock the corn all together gives me my best results. I've been experimenting with planting more sparsely in the hope of corn plants with big and tough-enough stalks that the raccoons can't pull them down, but that isn't really working yet. (Maybe with landrace breeding I'll get there.) I plant the squash and beans once the corn are a few inches tall, but I've seen them all planted at the same time successfully too, so I'm not clear on that.

Here is the guide I am following for planting this same guild in my garden this year, much based on this link

https://www.groworganic.com/blogs/articles/three-sisters-companion-planting-method

I've never done it before,but I've experienced with all the plants individually.

I plan to throw in some sunflowers in place of corn and see if they hold up well.

Maybe I'll try this too.  For my first permaculture experiment.  The guide seems pretty clear.  

Two things to help with the racoons:

For a long time, I didn't care to have dogs. Always seemed a bit of a problem. Now we have three border collies. Best, smartest dogs I've ever had. And, magically, we no longer have any problem with deer, coons, ground hogs, etc. Those dogs are super friendly, social, well behaved with human kind. And they just love to herd what needs herding.

When I didn't have dogs, I (live) trapped. One Spring I caught 26 raccoons. And (for me) I especially enjoyed the fun part. I pay attention to the political signs people put up. I am sure the folks of a particular political persuasion really enjoy having lots of new and fun furry friends to play with.

Alan Burnett wrote:Here is the guide I am following for planting this same guild in my garden this year, much based on this link

https://www.groworganic.com/blogs/articles/three-sisters-companion-planting-method

I've never done it before,but I've experienced with all the plants individually.

I plan to throw in some sunflowers in place of corn and see if they hold up well.

I think they overcomplicate it. It is dead easy. Plant corn first. When it has sprouted, plant beans between the corn plants. A few weeks later plant squash between the corn hills. Beans can be pretty close to the corn, squash farther away, a few feet.

Thom Bri wrote:I think they overcomplicate it. It is dead easy. Plant corn first. When it has sprouted, plant beans between the corn plants. A few weeks later plant squash between the corn hills. Beans can be pretty close to the corn, squash farther away, a few feet.

I hope that anything done for food production over generations would end up with complicated instructions for maximum production. I'm going to be doing this with young kids, so I'm hoping to make it a bit more accessible by giving each kid a stick 18" long and about half an inch thick, removing the bark from the last inch.

When we build the mounds, use the stick to measure each mound 18" wide, and 18" between the edge of adjacent mounds, and then use the debarked 1" to poke holes for the seeds.

Then we check the corn regularly, when they're a few inches tall, we plant a bean next to each corn

When the beans are a couple inches tall, we plant squash in the corners between mounds.

We'll have to check regularly, weed, help the beans coil around the corn, check for critter damage, etc. Hoping it turns out fun for all of us

I tried this several years ago. I didn't research it well enough and planted everything at the same time.  I should have known better, but oh well. Needless to say it wasn't very successful. The bean were basically choking out the corn.  
Honestly I stopped planting corn. It's so cheap, and accessable at the store or farmers market I just don't think it's worth the space and time it takes to grow.  This year my kids really want to grow corn. So I'm going to give it a shot.  I don't have high hopes because I don't have any raised beds space left, and the gophers are terrible.  If I can get anything to sprout, I will try Three sisters.  Maybe if I over plant the gophers won't get it all.