3 sisters!

[isabella]

Sorry if this has already been talked about but is anyone going to have a go at the 3 sisters planting that Carol Klein was on about?
Sweetcorn with climbing French Beans growing up it and bush Squashes at the bottom.
I think Carol said native American Indians call this method The 3 Sisters.

I would love to try it but don't know about OH

[isabella]

That's a 'No' then

[Deleted]

Hi I did 2 sisters - sweetcorn and squash a couple of years back. I think the RHS research showed that in our climate at least the beans end up strangling the corn and harvesting is a nightmare. Plus by late June my climbing and runner beans are several feet high, whilst the corn is still puny.

I prefer to grow (butternut) squash upwards now as well as I can get it ripening in the sun better.

But why not experiment anyway?

[isabella]

Hello CC, One of the allotment holders grew Sweet Dumpling up canes - they were set up as for Runner Beans.

Did you do well with your Butternuts growing upwards?

[lottielady]

I'm going to try pumpkins and sweetcorn Pam - My runner beans were a lot higher than my sweetcorn last year so I didn't think it would really work.

Crikey CC how do you manage to get butternuts to go up? Mine covered half the lottie almost.

LLx

[isabella]

I suppose that would be right - the french beans do grow quite tall - it just seemed like a good idea

Maybe I will just do what you are going to do LL

I was soooo impressed with those Sweet Dumpling - I must try it ;D

[Deleted]

This is how I grew my butternuts. The date is 5 August 2006. I know I have better later pics, but cannot find them. Ignore the bamboo canes they are actually supporting chillies....

[isabella]

How many plants CC?
Is it an arch?
They certainly look good ;D

[Deleted]

Yes they are £4.99 arches from Wilkos. 3 plants. There's also lemon cucumbers in the pics. I'm trying natural twine in a spiders web this year as the support.

I'm not an expert with butternuts, but my observations are. Loads of sun. 2 to 4 fruit per plant. Snip off foliage near the fruit. Disbud all small fruits by August. Leave on the plant for as long as possible (Last weekend in October for me). Crucially (and this is where I've gone wrong in the past) is leave them to "cure". The one we had this weekend was the best so far. I now understand why they are called "winter" squashes.

Cobnut butternuts are supposedly better as they are smaller, so you get more and they mature quicker in our climate.

CC

[roxann57]

I only caught up with Carol's veggie programme a couple of days ago and was impressed with her idea. I think CC is right though, as my sweetcorn don't grow anywhere near the rate of climbing beans. I liked the idea that the foliage from the squash plants covered the soil so will be giving the 2 sister bed a go

No Wilko in my area CC, those arches were a great bargain.

[Chuckles]

any good roxanne www.wilkoplus.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=40056&langId=-1

[roxann57]

Ta very much Chuckles <thatsahugehugbytheway)