Two Sisters ...

Being rather taken with the idea of having squash scrambling around the base of corn, I decided to adapt the idea and plonked 4 courgette seedlings into the corners of a 1m by 1.5metre bed in late May and put a couple of rows of sweetcorn down the middle. Obviously the idea was that if the sweetcorn got on with it, they'd be standing proud whilst the courgettes fawned at their feet. All I can say is two words: sibling rivalry. The courgette leaves are like dinner plates whilst the sweet corn languish in the shadows. I'm now testing whether a bit of cloche protection will help. (Oh, alright then, cut down pop bottles.) Only time will tell.

(And if anyone's interested, I've finally got round to posting the June end of month update on my blog, with more pics on Flickr.)

http://urbanvegpatch.blogspot.com/2011/07/midsummer-veg-patch-view....

Tags: End, June, Month, of, patch, veg

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Comment by Carolyn on July 8, 2011 at 23:30: Yes, they're great wind protection I've found and I have a ready supply as we've got two big plastics recycling bins on the estate! I wish I could get some of those big water containers though ... Any ideas?

Comment by Sarah Rideout on July 9, 2011 at 11:50: We tried the 3 sisters bed and had to stake the Beans because the Sweetcorn 'posts' where smaller than the beans and squash too. I think you just have to get the Swetcorn going as early as poss and pot it up so it can get quite big before planting out. The Native American Indian technique of making a nutrient rich mound and planting the seeds in doesn't quite work here I think because of the extraordinary speed of growth that plants are capable of in the North American summers.

Comment by Sarah Rideout on July 9, 2011 at 11:53: That should be 'were smaller' - Saturday morning spelling!

Comment by elaine rickett on July 10, 2011 at 13:48: It seems a good idea in principle, shame it didn't work out - maybe next time.

Comment by Carolyn on July 10, 2011 at 13:55: Yes, I'm thinking beans scrambling up sunflowers for next year! They're the tallest in the patch at the moment.

Comment by Sarah Rideout on July 10, 2011 at 21:49: Big water containers - not sure how big you mean but we got the office water bottle size from local recycling centre. have also spotted an enormous cooking oil square container in a sort of wire cage at the dump - I mean Civic Amenity site, but would need to talk nicely to friend with big van.

Comment by Carolyn on July 11, 2011 at 0:35: Hi Sarah, yes, it was the office water bottles that I'd had in mind. I'd better pop down to the our local recycling depot a bit more often!

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