Rewilding My Lot

See this earlier post for a general summary of the Three Sisters Garden and preparation of the growing mounds.

On March 17, 2024, each of my five Three Sisters mounds received four corn seeds of the variety Ambrosia (Zea mays hybrid), and I marked the location of the seeds. The seeds were lightly watered daily.

All of the corn seeds germinated, although I see variable growth. Three weeks later the stalks varied in height from 2 to 8 inches. I have also had to patrol often to remove caterpillars.

If I do this project again, one thing I would do differently is to plant two corn seeds at each marker. Then, at the time of planting the beans, I would remove the smaller corn stalk from each marker point.

On April 6, 2024 the bean seeds were planted; I used the variety Blue Lake FM-1K (Phaseolus vulgaris). I put eight seeds 1-inch deep around the outside of the four corn stalks in each mound, and then for redundancy I put an extra two seeds in the center of each mound. The corn stalks should continue to grow, and two bean plants will be trained to climb each corn plant.

The daily watering and caterpillar defense will continue and hopefully bean sprouts will start to emerge in a week or two.