Three sisters garden trying it again

[mickey]

I found someone to help me order some seeds online, So with the help of some good people on here who sent me seeds and the seed place I think I'm all set to try this again this year.
For the corn I picked

#1 Virginia white Gourdseed
#2 Cherokee white flour
#3 Hickory King
#4 Mc Cormack's Blue
And I have the seed from the corns I grew last year.
For the beans I picked

#1 Turkey craw
#2 Snowcap
#3 Rio Zape
#4 Rattlesnake
#5 Eye of the Goat
#6 Hidatsa shield figure
And I have the beans I grew and some that the members here sent me.
For the squash I picked

#1 Lakota
#2 Sweet meat

And I have Butternut that grew from the sweet meat seeds I planted last year. (So much for true seeds)
What do you all think is the best ones to use for the three sisters garden this year?

[YoungAllotmenteer]

Will be interesting to see how you get on. I wrote a thesis on Intercropping for my degree, its a fascinating area that links with my latest interest, Permaculture.

[12540dumont]

Young, can you give us some points from your thesis? Intercropping is very much of interest to me.

Mickey, do you have enough room to do a couple of trials and see what actually performs best?

You could try different beans on different corn.

[synergy]

I too would love to hear your take on intercropping with a permaculture type aspect to it Young Allotmenteer and what kind of climate are you experienced with ?

I am planting squash all over a 50 foot long 3 foot high and 6 foot wide hugelkulture berm in the process this year and corn would be an interesting addition as it would give privacy as it is along between my front yard and the road . the neighbours will think I am right nuts. Right now it looks like a beaver dam across the length of my yard so they undoubtedly already think I am nuts as it is a very upscale area of very small hobby farms where they don't grow food apparently, only have horses and exotic pets from llama to bison ( one had a tiger in their yard when my kids were little but he is long gone ) . Practicality seems to be a weak suit around here, only myself and one other actually has chickens .

[nathanp]

"I am planting squash all over a 50 foot long 3 foot high and 6 foot wide hugelkulture berm in the process this year and corn would be an interesting addition "

Sounds like an almost perfect location for 3 sisters. Corn down the middle in two staggered rows, flanked by beans and squashes on the slopes and/or along the bottom.

[Deleted]

Last year, I trimmed back some honeysuckle, noticed the vines have a useful way of holding tomatoes to a fence, also that shade can be useful, where it is so sunny.

This year, in my own three sisters garden, I am hoping that beans will hold tomatoes to sturdier cornstalks, and greens will be sweeter in the shade.

exotic pets from llama to bison

I have seen game farms, would like to learn about the carrying capacity of the land, so that I would be able to feed animals like these, independently.

One of the ideas I learned from permaculturists, which has to to with intercropping, is that an ideal design would perpetuate itself, either with minimal effort, or if you leave it alone.

[YoungAllotmenteer]

Mar 24, 2013 12:25:51 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

Young, can you give us some points from your thesis? Intercropping is very much of interest to me.

Mickey, do you have enough room to do a couple of trials and see what actually performs best?

You could try different beans on different corn.

Ohh sorry Holly, didn't see this one.
My thesis was a theoretical thesis rather than a practical one unfortunately. My question was basically could intercropping be used in a traditional monocrop situation to confer some of the benefits e.g.g nitrogen fixation. I surveyed a bunch of organic / conventional farmers, and the general impression was no it couldn't. That said, the more I think about it the less I believe that this is true and that it isnt just farmers stuck in their ways to some extent (which I can totally understand, if something doesnt seem to be broke, why fix it?)

[davida]

Apr 7, 2013 10:05:41 GMT -5 YoungAllotmenteer said:

Mar 24, 2013 12:25:51 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

Young, can you give us some points from your thesis? Intercropping is very much of interest to me.

Mickey, do you have enough room to do a couple of trials and see what actually performs best?

You could try different beans on different corn.

Ohh sorry Holly, didn't see this one.
My thesis was a theoretical thesis rather than a practical one unfortunately. My question was basically could intercropping be used in a traditional monocrop situation to confer some of the benefits e.g.g nitrogen fixation. I surveyed a bunch of organic / conventional farmers, and the general impression was no it couldn't. That said, the more I think about it the less I believe that this is true and that it isnt just farmers stuck in their ways to some extent (which I can totally understand, if something doesnt seem to be broke, why fix it?)

Just in the past year, I am hearing more and more about intercropping and cover crops in monocrop situations on Ag radio and Ag TV. Cover crop "experts" are recommending a mixture of at least 8 different varieties planted together. One researcher's data observed that corn can be followed by corn without crop decrease with this mixture of cover crops planted after the corn harvest and properly managed. And I witnessed one farmer intercropping by mixing clover and daikon radishes in his winter wheat planting.

I would like to try the mixture of 8 to 12 varieties of cover crops on my garden this fall, if I can find a reasonable priced seed source.