This spring Will and I both planted a special heirloom garden . . . Mine was planted in very fertile raised beds . . . Will's garden? . . . In our old horse pasture with a bit of mulch added.
Will planted a traditional 3 Sisters Garden ~ heirloom super sweet corn, rattlesnake pole beans and sugar pumpkins. I planted an experimental 2 Sister's Garden ~ Cochiti popcorn, and French yellow filet beans.
The whole idea behind a "Sisters Garden" is the big sister, corn is planted first. She supports the pole beans. The beans provide nitrogen for the corn, the pumpkins protect the ears of corn from the corn eating critters, and help keep the weeds down by shading the earth.
April 19, 2013
Will examining his drip irrigation system.
4-5 corn seeds planted, and bean seeds planted north, south, east and west of corn plants.
Pumpkins are planted in alternating circles between the corn and bean circles.
April 19, 2013 ~ My raised bed of popcorn and beans.
Yellow French Filet Beans.
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Here's what a month of growth looks like in Will's garden . . . Poor Will!
Don't know what the rattlesnake beans are going to climb . . . But the pumpkins are looking great!
Will's sweet corn has nice full ears and will be ready for eating very soon!
A month of growth in my experimental 2 Sisters Garden!!
Yes, that's me with my hands raised so you can see me behind my corn!
The tomatoes I grew from seed are in the foreground (more on those later this week).
I'm 5' 9", my popcorn, minus the 8-inch raised bed, stands 6-foot 6-inches tall . . . They're only supposed to grow 4.5 - 5 feet tall!
This photo was taken a couple days earlier.
We'll be eating our first yellow beans in a couple days along with Will's sweet corn!
My popcorn plants have grown side-shoots so some of my corn has 5 ears of corn per plant!
These tassels are the corn's flowers and are filled with pollen. My popcorn kernels come in different colors, so the "flowers" come,in different colors ~ white, tan, and a reddish brown!
A lot of hours have gone into preparing our soil . . . weeding, fertilizing, and watering our gardens, and soon we will be enjoying the fruit of our labor . . . Fresh picked sweet corn and yellow beans . . . Over at Julie's!!!
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