For those of us currently in winter-- what new varieties are you growing this coming year?
What new things have you added to your garden for the upcoming season?
What new techniques are you trying this year?
We’re in the dead of winter and I am itching to get back out into the garden… tell me what you’re up to!
We planted a bunch of edible natives around our house which we are looking forward for the bees and the rest of us to enjoy them. Hopefully they come up for dried flowers and teas but I am thinking we will need to wait another year for them to get large enough to flower and harvest.
We had a mixed season planting the Three Sisters in our garden. Our popcorn turned out okay with a few stalks giving a good harvest and a few with not much. The beans went okay until the pumpkins strangled them. The pumpkins grew like crazy but all got mold and didn’t produce any fruit. So we are going to want to attempt the right timing on those next year and reduce the pumpkin plants to a single plant.
We have some garlic in the ground already that we are hoping comes up well in the spring. Besides that the classic tomatoes, snap peas and peppers from last year. Hopefully with our addition of mulch and attempting some low dig methods we can get some larger plants this year.
I was just wondering whether anyone grows the three sisters in a home vegetable garden. Did you follow a guide, or just wing it?
Mostly winged it which caused the problems. After looking more online you plant the corn first and then the beans in a few weeks and then the squash. The corn and beans are 1:1 while you have a single squash. Not like I did which was everything at the same time at a 1:1:1 ratio
Growing “three sisters” requires a lot of experimentation. You need the right corn, right pole beans and the proper squash. For example, bantam corn, with bush beans and tiny squash isn’t going to do well. Don’t expect your favorite varieties to produce much. Also, Native Americans didn’t plow fields, they planted three sisters in various clearing.