Subject: hole sisters

From: "Akiva Werbalowsky" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 16:13:53 PDT

Learning that I've been growing maize, beans, and squash for many years, 
someone asked me about planting, in the same hole, seeds of all three 
"sisters."

I'm not sure I've ever done this, though I do plant them in proximity based 
upon varietal habit.

Have you practiced, or can you report reliably, on this "3-sisters one hole" 
approach?

Many thanks,
Akiva
Ojai, CA

"Faith is incremental"

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From: "Lee Flier" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 00:15:24 -0400

>Have you practiced, or can you report reliably, on this "3-sisters one
hole"

Yeah, kinda.  They can't normally be planted at the same time though,
although some folks swear they can - probably different varieties, climate,
the usual variables.  Here is what I do: put down a layer of aged manure (I
can get all the horse manure I want from a local riding stable), then a few
sheets of newspaper on top, wetting down the newspaper so it stays put.
Before it dries up and blows away, cover the whole lot with a layer of straw
or wood chips.  Take a stick and poke a hole in the paper (which should be
very easy if it's wet, drop presoaked corn seed in.   Repeat throughout the
bed (I use slightly raised mounds small enough to reach the center).  Water
the whole thing well.  Wait a couple of weeks.  When the corn is up, add a
bean seed in each hole.  Add a squash seed every 4th hole or more.  As the
beans come up they will tend to twine around the cornstalks.

This method is pretty easy and ends up requiring very little weeding, which
is one thing most people seem to despise about growing corn. <G>  One thing
in Southern Cal (I usedta live there) that may be different is you may not
be able to use the raised mounds - too dry.  The Hopi use sunken beds in
fact.  Still, the newpaper and mulch should help you conserve moisture, so
it may work as well as it does here!

Hope it works... and say hi to everybody out there in Ojai for me...

--Lee

***********************************
Lee A. Flier
[email-masked]
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
http://lflier.home.mindspring.com

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