three sisters garden
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Decommissioning The Three Sisters Garden, And Lessons Learned
The Three Sisters Garden project has officially ended. The mounds have been dismantled, their soil moved elsewhere, and any remaining plant matter composted. It was an interesting thing to try, but I’m not going to do this again next year. Nevertheless, I’ve been collecting notes along the way as to what I have learned while Continue reading
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What Happened To The Fish In The Three Sisters Mounds?
Back in February 2024, I created five mounds of soil and compost in which to grow Three Sisters Gardens, a cooperative planting technique for corn, beans, and squash developed by Native Americans. Indigenous peoples would often bury fish in their soil as fertilizer, so by way of experiment, I buried an uncooked trout in two Continue reading
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Three Sisters Status, And A Decision
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 Continue reading
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Three Sisters Beans, And Her Siblings
The Three Sisters project has been an interesting one, although it is clear that I don’t have the dedication needed to be a good vegetable gardener. The mounds have been watered every day, although probably not enough, and perhaps I have not been vigilant enough to defend them from pests. Nevertheless, growth is still happening Continue reading
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How Are The Remaining Two Sisters Doing?
Soon after the Three Sisters corn harvest, the corn plants were pretty much dead. A big takeaway from this experiment for me is that vegetable gardening takes more water than does native plant gardening, and if I am to do this again next year, I will need to rethink my watering strategy. I still have Continue reading
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Corn Harvest
On June 7, 82 days after planting seeds, I harvested two ears of corn to test them. They were cooked and eaten. The taste was fine, although the kernels were a bit chewy. That was perhaps from harvesting them too late or not watering the plants enough. This was a bicolor variety (Ambrosia), so I Continue reading
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Three Sisters Garden Update
Experimenting with a Three Sisters Garden this year has certainly been an interesting project. Most likely I will try this again for one more year at least, so that I can benefit from lessons I’ve learned this year and perhaps improved soil maturity, but beyond that I don’t know. Vegetables take more work and water Continue reading
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Understanding Corn Plants
I had never grown corn before I started my Three Sisters Garden project this year, nor had I ever studied the structure and development of a corn plant. Once my plants started to grow, it soon became apparent that things were happening that I didn’t understand so of course there had to be research. I Continue reading
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Organizing The Three Sisters
This year I am experimenting with a Three Sisters Garden, which is a cooperative planting of corn, beans, and squash in mounds of soil. I have reached the point where all three vegetable plants are growing and the beans are beginning to climb, so it was time to get them a bit better organized and Continue reading
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Baby Squash Plants
Just over a week ago, squash seeds were sown in my Three Sisters Garden, and now they’re growing. I only need two squash plants per mound but I planted four seeds for redundancy. I see 18 out of 20 growing, and once we get to the point where the beans are climbing the corn I’ll Continue reading
About Me
Nature Lover.
Inquisitive Observer.
Student Gardener.
I invite you to join me on my journey to convert my sterile (from a nature point of view) new house lot to a healthy and diverse ecosystem, as I make discoveries, mistakes, and hopefully progress. I am not an expert or professional. The project started in February 2023 and the location is Seguin, Texas, USA.
Rewilding My Lot 