Two into One

[Cloud]

Anyone out there tried growing two or three crops in one space.I.E.Climbing beans and sweetcorn or sweetcorn and squash?

[Mrs Dobby]

Yep, we tried sweetcorn, pumpkin and climbing beans in 2 beds last year, the sweetcorn and squashes / pumpkins did well, but the beans didnt, so this year we arent bothering with the beans, but have got 3 beds of sweetcorn and squashes / pumpkins!

[womble]

I'm trying the sweetcorn, beans and squash this year. A few days after planting I had a couple of sweetcorn plants sort of pulled or pushed out of the ground.
I have pondered if it was the bean seeds I sowed in the same hole as the planted sweetcorn?

The beans are really old seed, so some will germinate and some not, so it will be interesting to see which sweetcorn do well and which don't.

[smallblueplanet]

Yep, we tried sweetcorn, pumpkin and climbing beans in 2 beds last year, the sweetcorn and squashes / pumpkins did well, but the beans didnt, so this year we arent bothering with the beans, but have got 3 beds of sweetcorn and squashes / pumpkins!

Hi Mrs D, have you got a photo of what your sweetcorn/squash looked like? I've seen folk say you can grow squash and sweetcorn (and beans, but like you I'll pass on them) together, but I've never seen what they look like growing. When do you plant what out?

[Snadger]

I think it's termed the 'three little sisters' way of growing. American Indian derived methinks!

[smallblueplanet]

Yeah Snadg, but I only want a duet!

[lottielady]

I did butternut squash around my leeks and runner beans last year and all seemed to fair well. This year I am trying a crown prince on a mound of earth behind my raspberries to grow around them not sure if it will work but short on space and we do like our squash in the winter in soup.

[Mrs Dobby]

Yeah Snadg, but I only want a duet!

Ok SBP, here you go!

The first piccy is the 2 sisters bed we did last year on plot 1, it was saved pumpkin seeds with minipop sweetcorn, good sized pumpkins and plenty of them! The second piccy was the same bed a month later!

Third piccy was the 3 sisters bed on plot 2 last year.

Fourth piccy is one of the squash and sweetcorn beds from this year, which was originally planted on plot 2, but as we're giving that one up they've been moved now into the new plot, as can be seen in the last piccy!

We're doing 3 beds of sweetcorn, and using the squashes / pumpkins to provide ground cover and double the harvest from the growing space! The last 2 beds we planted were planted thru cardboard, after the ground was cleared, in the hopes this will minimise watering and weeds, but we'll compare the yields from these beds with the first bed (planted as can be seen without a cardborad mulch!)

We planted all of them out at the same time, sweetcorn and squashes, burying pots / upturned bottles next to the cucurbits to help with watering!

Hope these are of some help!

[Alice]

Great growing Mrs D. You really are a witch to get such great results.
Cloud, I've recently moved house, so have to grow where I can as previous owners put everything under gravel, but have made this narrow bed and growing beans and squash together. Looks good so far.

What are you growing and can we have piccies.

[smallblueplanet]

Cracking pictures Mrs D. Can I be a pain (again) and ask what spacing you use?

Good luck for this years growing. Its our 1st year with sweetcorn, we've 12 and I thought maybe we could use some of their space for squashes?

[Mrs Dobby]

Great growing Mrs D. You really are a witch to get such great results.
Cloud, I've recently moved house, so have to grow where I can as previous owners put everything under gravel, but have made this narrow bed and growing beans and squash together. Looks good so far.
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What are you growing and can we have piccies.

Lol, thanks for the compliment Alice! Not sure if our being Pagan has anything to do with it really (tho I'm sure Mr D will tell you its all down to the fertility rites! lol!)

Cracking pictures Mrs D. Can I be a pain (again) and ask what spacing you use?

Good luck for this years growing. Its our 1st year with sweetcorn, we've 12 and I thought maybe we could use some of their space for squashes?

We space the sweetcorn between 12" and 18" in a block, with the interplanted squashes / pumpkins planted inbetween, and spaced about 2' by 3' away from each other. A 10'x4' bed holds about 30 sweetcorn and 6 pumpkin / squash, plus a couple of sunflowers to distract the squirrels from the corn!

[Mrs Dobby]

Couple more pics for you SBP, just to show the spacing of the 2 sisters bed, hope they help!!

[mcsee]

Well done Mrs D. it looks very nice. All the hard work has given great results.

Compliments to you both.

I'm envious by the way.

[di]

we tried the "3 sisters"method last year.although it looked good & from what i'd read each 3 plants has something to offer the others in their growing,we found that the squash got in the way a bit of tending to & harvesting the beans,they have a tendency to create a bit of a jungle!this year we're doing similar but instead of planting the beans amongst the squash we putting them around he edges~that is if we can convince yhem to grow in the direction we want them to!!?LOL.
Mrs D I'm sure if your hands are full of positive energy it's helped to make such bumper crops(along with the hard work of course!)with fear of sounding like an old hippy I usually plant with my reiki hands!

[Mrs Dobby]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Envious? Nah, it's only cos we have a (un)healthy obsession with the plots, if it was anything else we had such an obsession with, we'd probably be termed as addicts and treated for it! lol!!

andi&di, I know what you mean re the reikki hands, I dont consciously use reikki, but something similar thats more me, its not something I consciously think about, but being Pagan you do tend to find yourself very in tune with the land and the energies around you, and anyways, wots wrong with being an old hippy?? Although we both missed the 60's, I get the feeling we would have fitted right in! Right on Maaan!