Rewilding My Lot

The Three Sisters Garden was supposed to be a cooperative planting of corn, beans, and squash. The corn stalks would support the beans, the beans would feed the soil with nitrogen, and the squash leaves would shade the soil. And theoretically the three could be harvested together. Soup, anyone?

In reality, my experience has been a little different. The corn stalks were prone to blow over so I had to stake them, and they were finished before the other vegetables were ready. Bean plants did grow and climb (up the stakes that I had placed), but although I have many flowers I have yet to see any beans. The squash vines grew and produced a few squash that we ate, but I suspect that the yield was reduced by the influence of Squash Vine Borer pests.

The mounds of earth in which the Three Sisters grew were watered every day, but probably what I gave them wasn’t enough.

So now I need to make a decision. Do I do this again next year? I suspect that a second year outcome could be improved due to more experience on my part and improved soil health. Or do I call this an interesting experiment, conclude that I am not well suited for vegetable gardening, and dismantle the mounds?

I will take option #2. It’s tempting to try to improve the process, but in reality, growing vegetables is just something that I don’t seem to have the knack or heart to do well. In particular, I don’t have a convenient watering system set up here, which is entirely intentional because everything else in the garden is designed to be drought-tolerant. Also, in general (with a few exceptions), I welcome insects eating plants because this is supposed to be a diverse ecosystem. Defending vegetables against pests requires a level of vigilance (and perhaps action) that is not something I am used to doing.

I am continuing to water two of the five mounds, where there are still sizeable bean plants (although no beans!). But the soil from the three other mounds will be moved to another part of the garden. At that time, I will be able to discover what happened to the fish that were buried at the time the mounds were formed — several of my readers have asked about that!