Three sisters garden, day 1

[General Schvantzkoph]

I've planted the first sister (corn), the others will follow when the corn is 6" high.

[Suzanne D.]

My corn, planted about a week ago, is just now peeking through the soil!

--S.

[General Schvantzkoph]

Where are you located? I'm gambling a little, the usual planting time in MA is memorial day but this week is going to be very rainy so I figured it was worth the risk. I've only planted three tomato plants, they are the most vulnerable to cold so if I lose them it's not a big deal, but it they survive I'll have a head start. I'll put a few more in next weekend and a few the weekend after that.

[Suzanne D.]

I am in southern Utah, zone 8-ish. The corn is the last thing I planted (besides the other two sisters, who will come when the corn is about 5 inches tall). I probably could have planted it earlier, but I figured it would grow slowly if it was planted to early, and would be about the same height in a few weeks anyway. I planted it in my front yard! We can't seem to grow grass there (the sun parches it), so I figured I'd just do corn with drip irrigation! No point in wasting a perfectly good enormous front yard on useless grass that will cost an arm and a leg to keep watered.

--S.

[General Schvantzkoph]

Our climates are at opposite extremes, I have not enough sun and to much water. I've had a massive wilt problem and the places where I can't grow grass it's because there is so little sun that all that grows is moss. I'm hoping that the three sisters method will help me because it raises the plants up and the mounds are at a four foot distance between each other which should improve the air flow.

[Suzanne D.]

We'll have to keep each other updated on our progress, to see which climate ends up with better results!

--S.

[General Schvantzkoph]

Have you looked into Hopi dry farming techniques? Three sisters is a Northeastern American Indian practice. I live in Massachusetts so I figured that it must be well adapted to local conditions, what's good enough for the Wampanoags should be good enough for me. You live in the desert Southwest, the native farmers in Southwest are the Hopi, their reservation is fairly close to the Arizona-Utah border so their methods might be better fit for you.

I intend to document my progress as I go along this summer. I'll post new pictures to the picassa site every few weeks. If you were to do the same we could see how well things are working in each of our very different climates.

[Suzanne D.]

I only herd about it recently, and have not done much research on it, but it's something to look into in the future.

\> I intend to document my progress as I go along this summer. I'll post new

I don't know if I can keep up a picture diary, but I can certainly give written progress reports.

--S.