Three Sisters

[Bigmallly]

Have just made a 2' x 20' bed in order to keep the Corn & Courgette out of my SFG beds. Do you think Corn, Courgettes & Sweet Peas will work with each other. (Not a lover of peas & beans). The bed is against a wire fence which I thought would help support the Sweet Peas so as not to strangle the corn.

[Hazel at the Hill]

What a great idea the 3 sisters bed always sounds!

However, in general, do note that it only really works when you want to leave the corn to mature (like the american indians did to make maize flour) and the beans to dry for shelling.

This is due to the fact that once the bed is rollicking away with the squash covering all the ground, and the climbers going mad scrambling up the corn, you can't get anywhere near to pick the corn cobs without buggering up the climbers. and that is assuming that you can reach across into the middle of the bed without stepping on the squash.

And that is also assuming that you have the planting out timed right such that the climbers don't grow more quickly than the corn. Or higher than the corn.

So with that negative nonsense out the way, with your set up, I'd get the sweetpeas growing up half the fence with the courgettes in front, and the sweetcorn in a block (2 or 3 rows deep) along the other half of the bed.

[Two_Sheds]

No peas and beans, what's wrong with you man?

Make sure you can access your sweet peas for daily cutting. Your corn won't get strangled, it's fairly robust.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Your corn won't get strangled, it's fairly robust.

You're right, but I bet you won't be able to pick the cobs without breaking the sweetpea plants.

[Bigmallly]

Shouldn't be any problem accessing the corn as the bed is only 2' wide & can walk either side of the bed as one side is lawn. My main concern is the corn would have to be 1 row due to narrow bed (no room for block planting).

[Two_Sheds]

You can tap and shake your corn to release the pollen BM

[Florence Fennel]

I think you're just going to have to try this BM, it sounds great and you can let us know if it works!

[Bigmallly]

My plan was to plant the corn in a zig-zag formation rather than a straight row so they can be planted closer together. It's trial & error as I've not tried it before.

[Nes]

I grew sweetcorn last year in a bed just 2' wide. The results were ok - not fantastic, but perhaps they could have done with a bit more manure and tlc. I planted them in three rows - less than a foot apart - across the depth of the bed, and made up for this close spacing by leaving a larger space between these rows. This seemed to work, as I don't recall any problems with unpollinated grains.

[Two_Sheds]

The results were ok ... I planted them ... less than a foot apart

You might get better results by growing them 18" apart: otherwise they compete with each other for food & water

[Dane End Dolly]

brilliant bm, i done a 3 sisters bed last year, corn with drying beans growing and courgettes amongst the corn, big success, worthwhile doing

Kx

[Lazgaot]

I tried it last year, 2 sisters really, Sweetcorn and beans. Total disaster. The beans over-ran the corn, pulling them down and creating a total mess. I won't be doing it again this year.

[Two_Sheds]

I've never got it to work. Last year one of my beans wrapped itself round a stout sunflower: 3 sisters | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The beans never got any bigger than that (the sunflower gobbled up all available food & water)

I do grow sprawling squashes amongst my beans though, they do a good job of shading out weeds

[Nes]

You might get better results by growing them 18" apart: otherwise they compete with each other for food & water

I know they should be further apart, but as the bed was only 2' wide, and I wanted them to be planted in a block for pollination purposes, I thought it was worth a try. I did compensate to a degree by spacing them out further the other way to give them a bit more room. Still got (if I remember correctly!) one decent cob and a second small one off each plant.

[SunnyU]

I'll be trying the three sisters this year. My allotment is a really weird shape and there's kind of a triangle at the bottom which I'm going to use for it. Going to start my corn a few weeks before the beans and then grow some squashes or courgettes on mounds of well rotten manure in between. Fingers crossed.