This Week in the Garden...

Last week we wrote about one of our companion planting schemes we are currently using at the farm. This week we’re featuring a scheme called the Three Sisters. This is a traditional Native American way of growing, which also works well here.

The first sister of the trio to be planted is Corn. We’ve started ours off in modules, or containers, to let the plants get strong and healthy before planting them in the ground. We’ve planted them in relatively deep containers, to encourage deeper roots, which will improve stability when they are planted out. We’re growing Sweetcorn ‘Golden Bantam’, a sweet and tasty variety.

The other two sisters are climbing beans and squash. These are planted around the corn once it has established. The corn will provide support for the beans to climb, so they won’t need supporting by other means. The beans will fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, to provide nutrition for themselves, the corn and the squash. The squash leaves will grow around the base of the corn and beans, covering the ground and suppressing weeds that would compete with the crop plants.

Planting these crops together should decrease the amount of work we would otherwise put in when growing, such as weeding, and building supports for climbing plants.

We will prepare the soil by adding some well rotted manure and forming mounds for the crops to grow on. These will be spaced out, such that harvesting will be easy as and when the crops are ready. In each mound, there will be a block of sweetcorn planted, as it is wind pollinated, and needs other plants of its kind close by for pollination to occur (and therefore fruit, or sweetcorn, to form).

This week, we’ve also been transplanting tomato seedlings, preparing them to sell to the local community, so they can grow their own tomatoes at home this summer!

We start by filling modules with compost, then using a dibber, making holes in each module for the seedlings to go in.

From the seed tray where we have previously sown tomato seeds, we take seedlings, handling by their seed leaves rather than stems and roots, and separate them. Then, with the help of a dibber, the seedlings are inserted into the hole in the compost, and the compost gently firmed around them. Once the tray is full, they are watered from the bottom, to encourage the roots to grow downwards, towards the water.

Some of these tomatoes will go in our beds at the farm as well, but we’ll wait until they have grown a bit more, and are hardened off before planting outside in their permanent position. They will go in amongst the onions we planted last week!