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| The Hortophile gardener's blog. The start of the Three Sisters. |
The Legend of the Three Sisters
One gardener's approach to the Three Sisters Garden
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| The Hortophile gardener's blog. More growth of the Three Sisters. |
In Midland I planted the Three Sisters Garden behind the garage. First I had a very large hole dug for compost. We took a long time to fill it with leaves, grass, even a Christmas tree. Earthworms came from the rabbits' swimming pools (where we caught manure in soil harboring earthworms). Some fat worms got this benediction from Little Ichabod, "You about to enter earthworm paradise."
We also added Rabbit-Gro, our patented combination of top soil, rabbit manure, and hundreds of earthworms per scoop. No, it did not stink. The soil absorbed the manure and the worms sanitized the soil.
The first time warty gourds popped out of the compost, uninvited, and grew faster than Church Growth programs and bad rock bands. They climbed over to the garage chicken wire, where edible pod peas had grown. They raced to the bushes for support, and they grew among the corn. The price of warty gourds crashed that year as the supply over-reached the demand.
Not knowing the Three Sisters Legend, I heard about maxing the garden with pole beans, corn, and pumpkins. I planted the three together on the compost and filled the rows between with newspapers and grass clippings.
Our only weeds were purslane, which is an edible salad plant. The purslane was rampant in Midland and decided to grow up with the corn, very ambitious and opportunistic. I had the biggest, fattest, juiciest purslane in town.
The pole beans were difficult to harvest inside the Silver Queen corn plot, but it was fun to see them climb the corn. I used Atlantic Giant pumpkins, so we had giant leaves shading the rows. We had a few homely AG pumpkins. My neighbor said, "Your pumpkins are invading my yard." I said, "Chop the vines when they get in your way." They were like the Anaconda horror film, the giant snake, only this one was green, stopped only with a hatchet - or frost.
The idea of pumpkins is to shade the ground and deter the pests. Nevertheless, one squirrel chewed off a pumpkin gourd and tried to drag it away, while it was quite young. People living near creeks or rivers in Midland had a big problem with masked bandits, raccoons, who robbed the corn patch at the moment of harvest.
Although pole beans will help fix the nitrogen in the soil, I doubt whether the pole beans make up for the draining of nitrogen by corn and pumpkins at the same time. However, if the remains are put back in the soil, the loss of nitrogen will not be great.
Our Three Sisters plot is now in practice mode, with sunflowers, spinach, lettuce, egg plant, and kale planted. In the fall the area will be expanded for the spring plot. The time to plant corn is when the soil is warm enough to sit on. Before that time, corn will rot in the soil. Corn loves heat, rich soil, plenty of water and sunshine.
Whether the method is called Three Sisters, organic, square foot, or French intensive gardening, this illustrates how the growing traits of each plant can be used to harmonize with the others. Because so much was happening underneath the surface, all the plants could burst with energy derived from compost and high nitrogen manure.
No pesticides were used, except to invite garden spiders to stay and feast on pests. When the dew covered the webs in the morning light, I could see the spiders were hard at work, stretching their lace across the rows of corn, predators fat with choice insects fattened on organic plants.
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| The only kind of sweet corn I care to eat is from my garden. |
Each cob was tossed into the yard, after we ate from it, for the squirrels and birds to harvest the rest. The garden's remains were all composted.
The Rules of Creation
Easy organic gardening is inexpensive, a neighborhood project where five families are gathering newspapers for additional expansions. The unused back area will make a great pumpkin garden and the rose garden is bound to grow next spring.
Nothing I do is really new. I have found most of them by reading the books and a few by violating the myths shared by people with very little experience in gardening.
These rules were established at Creation to govern and manage the earth for our benefit. When they are violated, such as with overcropping and stripping hills of vegetation, disaster strikes.
Church leaders think they can lie to everyone and cover up crimes - in the name of public relations. They would rather feed victims to abusers than admit to the abuse. The Church of Rome gets well deserved infamy for this, but equivalent crimes are easily mined from the Internet, or experienced firsthand among the Protestants who shake their heads about Rome.
For some Judgement Day comes when they die. Others may see the fruition of all their evil deeds and teaching. They will say, "Hills, fall on us."
