The 3 Sisters in the Garden

 

Some years ago I got into quite a heated skirmish with an old Indian over the 3 Sisters. I told him the Indians were out of their minds when they planted the 3 Sisters: Corn, Squash and Beans together. As one would guess, he took exception to my comment.

 

I told him; 1) The green beans wrap their vines tightly around the ears of corn as they grow up the corn stalk, making it impossible to take ears of corn without killing the bean vine. 2) If you try to harvest either beans or corn, you must step on your squash and squash plants, causing them irreparable damage. 

 

This old Indian apparently had never gardened, because he couldn't enlighten me on why it didn't work for me. But I did, finally, figure it out. 1) The Indians let most of their corn mature, for grinding into corn meal for the winter. They didn't ruin their beans to take ears for fresh corn on the cob. 2) Beans were also not lightly steamed, or used fresh--they too were harvested only after they had fully matured and dried, to be cooked throughout the winter. 3) They didn't grow much, if any, summer squash (Zuchhini, Patty Pan, Crook Neck, etc.), but grew Winter Squash. Winter Squash (Butternut, Banana, Acorn, etc.) are those varieties that fully mature, get a hard shell and can be stored for many months.

 

If you plant the 3 Sisters like the Indians did, you'll no doubt have great crops. You have no need to go into your garden at all until you're ready to grind your corn into meal, shell your dried beans, and take your squash into your storage bin.

 

But to expect fresh corn on the cob, fresh green beans and summer squash, all grown together, to be a happy growing experience, you're going to find yourself cursing Sitting Bull-- just like I did!

Mulch: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: Every gardener knows that mulching is a very good thing: 1) It reduces the amount of watering a garden needs. 2) It insulates the soil so that it maintains a more even temperature. 3) It reduces the quantity of weeds in the garden.

 

The Bad: 1) Since most U.S. gardeners don't have to water much in the early spring, it really isn't necessary for water conservation. 2) Putting down mulch before the soil has fully warmed up will keep the soil colder, not allowing it to warm up as well as the days grow longer and warmer.

 

The Ugly: Putting down mulch at planting time in the early spring provides a haven and a breeding ground for slugs, pillbugs and other such ugly creatures.

 

Solution?: 1) Put mulch down after bug breeding season, and 2) Put down mulch after the soil has nicely warmed.

 

I've been applying that theory for the last few years, wanting to be sure I wasn't over-looking something important before I wrote about it. From the beginning, it's worked perfectly! I have almost zero pill bugs and slugs eating my seedlings as soon as they emerge from the soil. I've not had to re-plant anything at all because of bug damage. I've not had to use any pest controls over the entire season for soil dwelling pests in 3 years.

 

Imagine my embarrassment at figuring that out after a lifetime of gardening!

 

Good luck!

To Mulch, or not to Mulch?
In the spring when we plant the weather is cool with higher humidity. We usually get some rain, even here in So. Cal.
The common wisdom is to put down a layer of mulch at that time.
We don't need it, but we just do it because we're "supposed to."
Our biggest pest problems, slugs, earwigs and pill bugs, love us for our labor and our consideration of their needs. We provide a haven and breeding ground for them. They'll devour our seedlings as they sprout and give us problems throughout the year.
I've had to take almost no pest control measures at all for the past few years. I don't create that breeding ground in the first place. Later, when the weather warms and the humidity drops, mulching is a good idea for holding moisture in the soil--if I can get to the soil. Most of my plants are so spread out and enormous by then that I can't put down mulch without damaging the plants. I put it where I can, but mostly I can't get to the soil.
Where I used to have an ongoing battle with all my obnoxious little friends, it's now rare to see one. I don't use any more water than I did when I was providing a protective haven for my worst enemies.
Keep your bed surfaces clear of debris and mulch in the early growing season. You'll stop most of your pest problems before they start.

Tomato Preparation

I planted these legumes in November. They're a mix of woolypod and purple vetch, Bio Master Peas, Bell Beans, and Cayuse Oat seeds. Just before that, I spread fish bone meal, kelp meal and guano over the bed before turning the soil.

After I turned the soil, I broadcast-ed the seeds, raked them a bit to try to cover most of them, and tried to keep the surface damp for a week or so, until they set down roots. I've ignored them since then.

On 13 March, I chopped them with my hedge trimmer, spread 150 lbs. (about 2 lbs. per square foot of bed surface) of Alfalfa Meal over the top, and dug it all well into the soil.
I left the drip system on for about 5 hours, until the bed was thoroughly saturated, and covered it tightly with 6 mil. plastic sheeting,

Today, 15 Mar., 48 hrs. later, the temp of the soil is 120 F. It will easily reach and exceed 140 F. over the next few days. That will kill any possible diseases that might be in the soil.
Around the end of April, I'll remove the plastic and let the soil cool down to about 80 F. I'll turn the soil once more, and I won't find but a few traces of legumes, or anything else other than incredibly rich soil.

About the 1 of May, or a week before, I'll lay in my Tomatoes and hope for a warmer summer this year, than our record cold last summer!

This Morning’s Haul

I was worried that I’d crowded my Japanese eggplants in the bed. I needn’t have been concerned. The 7 plants are in a bed 30” wide and 5 ft. long. We picked 51 of them on Sat. morn, just before the photo was taken. I could have picked another dozen, but I’ll get them tomorrow and another 30-40 in addition. They grow fast. Each plant produces over 100 of the lovelies over the season.

I’ll use about 200 of them in making 50-60 lbs. of Eggplant Parmesan. I make about 20 lbs. at a time, cut it into 1 lb. squares right in the pan after it’s cooked. I put the whole pan right in freezer, pop it out and wrap the individual one lb. pieces, and it’s totally a comfort food meal throughout the winter. We just heat it up one of the 1 lb. squares, and in January or February, there’s no finer dinner.

The corn is always a problem. I only plant 40 seeds in the 5’ x 8’ bed, which gives us about 100 ears—but it all comes ready over about a 10 day period. We don’t much like frozen or canned corn, so we feast on it every night for those 10-14 days. That leaves about 60 ears for our daughter’s family.

What about all the cucumbers? Melissa has made about 30 quarts of various kinds of pickles—the best!

Yellow zucchini is everybody’s favorite, so I planted 3 seeds early in a bed 5’ by 8’. The 3 plants are so big that it’s hard to walk on the sidewalk around them, and one side is completely cut off. We’ve taken at least 100 lbs. from the 3 plants.

This year I planted about 20 pole bean seeds. We’ve taken about 15 lbs. already, and the plants haven’t yet reached their peak. Pepper, our dog, is a green bean freak! He loves all the vegetables, but picking beans with him nearby—and he’s always nearby, is an ordeal. He fixates on what you’re doing with an intensity it’s almost scary. He dances around, focused, and makes it very clear that he wants nothing more than one of those beans. It’s impossible to not give him 2 or 3 during the course of a bean harvest.

If you aren’t growing a few-or literally tons of vegetables like I, you might be surprised at the enormous array of personal rewards that come with growing your own pure, fresh food.

Kook Fringe

I find it interesting—and hilarious, that organic farming and gardening methods fully developed and used over the last 10,000 years have now been dubbed “unconventional.”

Around 1910, German scientists first learned how to chemically make nitrogen, cheaply, and in quantity. From that point until about the 1950’s, with the help of the boys in the chemistry labs, cheap chemical products—fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, “---cides” (as in sui-“cides”) of all kinds became the order of the day. During those 50 years all the farming and gardening wisdom of the past 10,000 years was tossed aside in favor of fast and cheap. Very slowly over the last 50-60 years we’ve been becoming more and more aware of the destruction we’ve heaped upon ourselves, our plants and animals, our water and air. The chemical and drug companies would have us believe these are “conventional” methods -- and that organic methods are “unconventional.”

Yes, I find that very hilarious. Sickening, but hilarious. You can be sure that the more the petro-chemical industry feels the loss of sales of their poisons, the more ridicule will be heaped upon those of us who grow, buy and demand pure food. They can campaign against organics with funds that would be the envy of any political candidate. There's big money in poison. The media are not going to want to offend their biggest advertisers. We'll be more and more the butt of criticism, false data and false reporting.

I'm seeing more of that nonsense and lies every day. I don't mind being in this "kook fringe" that doesn't want poison on my dinner table. In fact, I take a lot of pride in it!

Potatoes and Zucchini

Zucchini's are sometimes eaten raw, although they have a very mild flavor-my take on that is, 'why bother?'

Sometimes I'll grate part of one, raw, or slice off thin strips with a potato peeler and add them to a salad. You can't much taste it, but it really adds a beautiful color to a salad.

Sometimes we just slice and steam them until soft in a steamer basket, add butter, salt and pepper--really excellent. Mostly I slice them and quartered slices of my Walla Walla onions-any onion will do, put them in a frying pan, add some olive oil, a little salt and pepper, turn the burner on high and toss them a bit, letting some of them get browned on one side, then cover the pan, turn it down to medium or low, and let them soften. Wonderful stuff! We usually have it every night for a week or two when it first starts coming in.

I think one could steam it for a few minutes, plunge in salted ice water and then pack them in zip lock bags for the freezer. I've never done that, but it should work okay. Mostly we have so many from 2 or 3 plants that we give away far more than we use. My daughter's family will take all they can get, but even sometimes she cries, "No mas!" I usually try to keep a couple of plants going into the late fall, and I've just started some more seeds to take over when the current plants have run out their life-span. Everybody raves about how good they are--and everyone is amazed at how fast they grow.

I started growing potatoes many years ago. We've always kept our potatoes in a cupboard, along with onions. Onions, bananas or apples will all give off a gas that makes potatoes sprout much faster than they might. I didn't know that back then. I simply buried them in the garden--found fresh dug potatoes to be about the best food on earth, and I've been growing them ever since.

When I'm doing potatoes on purpose, I put them on the shaded patio for a week or two, to let the skins turn green. Then I put a couple bananas, apples or onions along with them in a brown paper bag. In a week or two, they sprout. I sometimes plant them whole, but if I'm going to cut one into 2 or more, I dip the cut end in wood ashes and let them dry for at least a day. Dig a hole about a foot deep, put one in the bottom, put about an inch of dirt over it. When it comes up 2-3 inches, I push dirt up to just under the leaves, and keep filling in the hole as the plant grows. By the time the hole is filled back up, the potato is growing very rapidly. I sometimes dig them right after they blossom, but usually I wait until the plant is dying or dead, at which time they're as big and fully developed as they'll ever be. Baked or boiled, if you've never had a freshly dug potato, you're in for a very nice surprise.