I Planted Three Sisters

a reply to: Night Star

When I had a big veg garden in Austin I would smoke baby back ribs in the garden and the students living next door would line up to help pull weeds if they could have them. They claimed it was unfair of me to cook them since they enjoyed the aroma and Could Not Resist. My garden won best in city that year!

So, my suggestion if you need a bit of help with vines, overgrowth, and weeds is to get cooking if kids and starving college students are in the area!

STM

originally posted by: new_here
Aww, c'mon! It's not a crime. The Native Americans did it!

Oh, I see where your mind went. So let me explain. 'The Three Sisters' is a term for a specific trio of companion plants (corn, beans & squash) which help each other thrive in various ways. It works like this:

The corn grows up tall.
The beans grow up the corn like a trellis.
The squash provides the ground cover (weed deterrent.)
Additionally, the beans put extra nitrogen into the soil, which the corn requires.

Due to the trees in my backyard, there was really no longer a suitable place that would provide enough sunlight to my venture ...UNTIL I discovered I could plant the 3 Sisters in a huge pot on my deck, provided I was careful to fertilize it as needed. Let me just say that the results have, thus far, exceeded my expectations!

I planted three corn plants, three bean plants and 1 squash plant in each of two 1/2 barrel planters. That was near the end of April.

During the first week in May:

Just a couple weeks after that:

A pic from today:

'A shot in the dark' from last night, because it includes my cat for perspective!

There are lots of online sources about how to do this. I consulted a lot of them before I went to the trouble. Here are just a couple:

Gardening Tricks that Work

Planting Three Sisters

Let me hear from you!
Have you tried this?
Something similar?
Have I convinced you to give it a shot?
Did I mention it is (thus far) ridiculously easy?

Gotta run... I literally have some green beans ripe for the picking.

Hi NH!

Your garden looks amazing! I can't believe how large the corn has grown in containers. In Texas they would dry out too fast and you would have to water twice a day, but now that's all changed recently. Now that your corn is pretty tall you might want to support it to keep high winds from blowing it over. Maybe poles or maybe just move it over by the railing or maybe tie a string around the group with a pole to keep them upright?

Also I love the pots you have chosen, very nice styles, looks wonderful.

Thanks for sharing,

STM

a reply to: seentoomuch

Thank you, seentoomuch!
I will heed your advice.

But now, dear gardeners, I need your advice!
The plants have begun to 'yellow' ...first the beans and now the outer leaves of the corn. This happened of a sudden, in 2 days time from lush green. I have added nitrogen, as that is what I read could be the issue (corn sucks up LOTS of nitrogen according to my research.)

We had a LOT of rain just prior to adding the nitrogen, so I did not want to 'over water' the plants even though I know that it will need water to dissolve it into the soil.

Help me get them back to lush deep green, dear fellow gardeners! (The beans and the corn - the squash seems to be happier.) Please lend me any and all suggestions!!!

originally posted by: Gazrok

It's my understanding that the Native Americans buried a dead fish in the soil for added nutrients

I have my choice of horse, rabbit, and chicken manure to use, so no worries there.

Please read my post above... with this help with my 'yellowing' issue?

Dbl post... sorry!

Looks like the Lowes wooden half barrels I went crazy on this Spring.
Nice gardening work NH!

originally posted by: zazzafrazz
Looks like the Lowes wooden half barrels I went crazy on this Spring.
Nice gardening work NH!

Thanks, zazz!
Scroll up and see if you have any advice about my quite recent issue with the plants, if you don't mind!

a reply to: new_here

answers here
davesgarden.com...

a reply to: new_here

answers here
davesgarden.com...

a reply to: zazzafrazz

Cool, thanks!

originally posted by: new_here
a reply to: seentoomuch

Thank you, seentoomuch!
I will heed your advice.

But now, dear gardeners, I need your advice!
The plants have begun to 'yellow' ...first the beans and now the outer leaves of the corn. This happened of a sudden, in 2 days time from lush green. I have added nitrogen, as that is what I read could be the issue (corn sucks up LOTS of nitrogen according to my research.)

We had a LOT of rain just prior to adding the nitrogen, so I did not want to 'over water' the plants even though I know that it will need water to dissolve it into the soil.

Help me get them back to lush deep green, dear fellow gardeners! (The beans and the corn - the squash seems to be happier.) Please lend me any and all suggestions!!!

Hi NH!

I think the corn plants need sunlight and after a day or so of light I would apply seaweed/fish emulsion to the leaves only. Don't add water to an already saturated soil as you noted above. Are you using a good source of nitrogen? Some of the Miracle Gro blends are loaded with salt, not good. Organic fertilizers are best imho. A touch of compost tea might be helpful too, but not if the soil is saturated. Overall, sunlight, strong sunlight is needed.

Here in Austin, on the gardening programs people have been calling in about their yellow plants and the answer was almost unanimously more sunlight, and foliage applications due to 30 days of rain and low light.

ETA: Check the moisture in your pots to a deep level, I'm also worried about drainage in the pots and if they've turned anaerobic deep down.

I love your deck, its amazing, And corn is pretty tough to grow in perfect conditions, you've already done great.

STM

originally posted by: seentoomuch

originally posted by: new_here
a reply to: seentoomuch

Thank you, seentoomuch!
I will heed your advice.

But now, dear gardeners, I need your advice!
The plants have begun to 'yellow' ...first the beans and now the outer leaves of the corn. This happened of a sudden, in 2 days time from lush green. I have added nitrogen, as that is what I read could be the issue (corn sucks up LOTS of nitrogen according to my research.)

We had a LOT of rain just prior to adding the nitrogen, so I did not want to 'over water' the plants even though I know that it will need water to dissolve it into the soil.

Help me get them back to lush deep green, dear fellow gardeners! (The beans and the corn - the squash seems to be happier.) Please lend me any and all suggestions!!!

Hi NH!

I think the corn plants need sunlight and after a day or so of light I would apply seaweed/fish emulsion to the leaves only. Don't add water to an already saturated soil as you noted above. Are you using a good source of nitrogen? Some of the Miracle Gro blends are loaded with salt, not good. Organic fertilizers are best imho. A touch of compost tea might be helpful too, but not if the soil is saturated. Overall, sunlight, strong sunlight is needed.

Also, I am hopeful that you are successful growing corn in a container, I always thought the soil wouldn't be deep enough for their tap roots. Here in Austin, on the gardening programs people have been calling in about their yellow plants and the answer was almost unanimously more sunlight, and foliage applications.

I love your deck, its amazing,

STM

Thanks! My husband's dad just gave him a thingy to make compost tea with... a netting of sorts. (And I do have a compost pile!) Also, yes I stupidly used Miracle Gro... however, it's been there since planting and the yellowing just happened in the last couple days. (Well, yeah I did just added some some more, as I mentioned above, due to the yellowing.)

I'll get busy tomorrow with compost tea. Gotta save these babies before they get too unhappy!!!

P.S... My daughter moved to Austin last year! Check your U2U.

a reply to: new_here

Hi NH!

I've edited my post up above with a couple more thoughts on your containers. That's great that y'all are making compost tea, amazing stuff.

Give them time and the compost tea, it'll be all good.

STM

originally posted by: seentoomuch
a reply to: new_here

Hi NH!

I've edited my post up above with a couple more thoughts on your containers. That's great that y'all are making compost tea, amazing stuff.

Give them time and the compost tea, it'll be all good.

STM

Hey STM,
Saw your additions.. My father-in-law said to stick my finger in up to the 2nd knuckle and if I felt moisture, it was damp enough. Do you concur? (He grew corn in a field, tho... not in a pot. Not sure if his kind advice transfers.)

Also, the drainage seems to be adequate, because after it rains, I can hear water hitting the cement pad below the deck for a time. But can you tell me what you mean by anaerobic deep down? Like, it may be staying too wet at the roots? I put about 2 inches of small rocks in the bottom of the pots to also help with drainage. (Lord, I hope the roots aren't down there in the rocks 'starving' from no nutrition!)

a reply to: new_here

It still sounds like it is just a rain problem and I still think seaweed/fish emulsion and/or compost tea along with lots of good sunlight should fix them. The drainage sounds fine. That is so great that you put the rocks in. You'd be surprised how many people don't.

The taproots for the corn should be coming to about 37" about now. That's the main difficulty of growing corn in containers, they may not make it to full size and vitality, but I gotta say your plants have been doing great so I'd go for it if I were you.

It will take a couple of days to make the compost tea, you might want to pick some up at a local organic nursery in the meantime, just a gallon or so. Also ask them for some seaweed/fish emulsion, a bottle goes a long way. They'll give you good advice on your plants too. Maybe take a photo with you so they can see the set up and what would work.

Fingers crossed,

STM

a reply to: seentoomuch

Thank you so much!
I'm gonna head to the nursery tomorrow.
And taking a pic is a good idea... thx!