Three Sisters gardening: corn, beans, & squash

Hello my garden people. It is May 4th, and the Iris flowers have bloomed today so beautifully. I didn't notice them even trying to form heads at all, so they made a speedy bloom.

Today was supposed to rain but I waited to realize that it wasn't going to rain until later in the night. So this afternoon I tilled two spots in the second garden and planted in three sections.

Here was already tilled, so I quickly hoed 7 rows of different varieties of greens next to the potato patch. There's Tatsoi, a Chinese mustard green; Georgia collards, Bibb lettuce, Black seeded simpson, Red Cinnamron, dwarf curly kale, and Swiss Chard in the back next to the woods.

Mounds of potatoes merging into rows of greens

In the pic below are the two spots I tilled today. On the end, I hoed and planted in Cushaw in the front row, then two rows of Sweet Dumpling squash, two rows of Delicata squash, then in the back I planted two rows of Hickory King corn. Next to this section I planted in Half runner beans which I will trellis. Fortunately I did all this before it rained.

Sowed squash, corn, and beans

I think it's going to rain tomorrow as well, so I'm going to wait for the next dry days to till this section and plant more varieties of beans and corn to create the Three Sisters gardening method.

Need to till and plant more corn and beans here

The method is noted as being beneficial because the beans supply nitrogen, the corn supplies a post for beans to grow on, and the squash suppresses weeds.

This method has been passed down from Native American tradition and is used widely among many gardeners. Corn, beans, and squash are of course southern American traditional foods as are potatoes and fried greens, so naturally these are the veggies I'm growing because I was raised on these foods. Try this method in your garden as well.

Plans for up-coming garden: permaculture, compost, & recycled materials

I am not sure if I will get to garden this year. My life is a little up-in-the-air. I am may relocate to another state or I am may take a walk across America with my partner. We still want to purchase land, grow food, live sustainably and such. Yet I think that may come in time.

Nevertheless, I wanted to create this post in order to organize my thoughts and plans for our up-coming garden (if I garden this year).
My idea is to plant greens and cold weather crops as early as January (I live in a cold climate). Also, I intend to plant tomato starters indoors during February, as well melons. Also, I want to begin creating small, heat trapping structures for small beds of greens, and starter plants.

My vision for our garden is building greenhouses, starting our garden earlier and earlier and incorporating permaculture techniques by using compost, leafs and brush from the woods, and other recycled materials to build raised beds. 

Time to start saving seeds (& dehydrating/storing garden harvests for winter)

The past two months have kept me busy, replanting lettuce (for Fall) and harvesting, storing and dehydrating excess food. My tomato garden produced over 200 pounds of fruit this year so my partner and I have been feasting on large quantities of tomatoes. Yet, we couldn't eat them all, some went to the compost and some tomatoes ended up getting canned and dehydrated.

dehydrating tomatoes with basil from the garden

tomatoes ready to be eaten fresh or dehydrated

4 Mistakes I've Made as a First-year Gardener

1. Started root vegetables in starter kits. Root vegetables should be directly sown into the ground they intend to mature in. There isn't enough room for their roots to develop in a small space (starter kits.) Consequently, I wasted about 25-30 seeds trying to start beets, onions, carrots, and greens in starter kits because I was trying to be "prepared."
 

2. Didn't water starter plants as much as they needed. I watered my starter plants everyday or every other day, which seemed to be working fine until the days started getting hotter, sunnier, and my starters were getting bigger. As I was being conservative with water, I was taking away water from my plants. Remember to water your starters everyday, especially if you're leaving them outside to catch sun. They like a little water in the morning and in the evening (if they need it.)