Transplanting the Corn

Today marks the beginning of some nice, warm weather.  It's a perfect time to set out the corn.  I started the seeds in the potting shed - actually 2 plantings as the first one had spotty germination.  Only one section of my 32-section planter has failed to produce a corn seedling but I haven't given up on that one yet.

The bed was started a while ago with 3 wheelbarrows of soil removed.  The soil was put on top of composting vegetation to grow squash on, but that's another post!  Today I raked 2 wheelbarrow loads of finished compost on the bed.

This year, I'm going to plant the corn in a different pattern.  It seems to me that it will grow more stably if I plant the seedlings in small bunches with a bean in the centre.  I drew 8 rough circles in the soil, each of which will hold 4 seedlings and one bean.  My planter has large holes in each section, which allow me to poke a finger up to help ease out the seedlings.  Corn isn't really meant to be transplanted, but I do it anyway!

After the circles were planted (one has only 3 seedlings) a Fortex bean seed was planted in the centre of each.  The beans will grow up the stalks of corn and give them stability while adding nitrogen to the soil - a happy pairing.

Finally, the bed was given a good watering.  Tonight I'll put Remay cloth over the corn to give it extra protection.  In the background, you can see that the Italian heritage beans are flourishing and almost ready to start climbing the bean frame.

In the rest of the garden things are growing well.  The snow peas are in flower and within the week I will be picking the bounty.

A Bonica rose which came from my daughter, is in full bloom.  It always puts on a great show.  Too bad it's unscented.

Not to be left out, Abraham Darby, a David Austen rose, is in full bloom giving us beauty and lovely scent to boot.

Corn and Beans

After a couple of years of growing a Three Sisters garden, I decided to disband it.  I've always, however, grown an abbreviated version, planting corn and beans in the same bed.  I also decided that growing some beans in amongst the corn stalks is a good idea as it provides stability for the corn in the wind.

Today I got the bed ready for the corn and beans.  Actually - beds - as I plan on a new framework for the beans.  I have a framework 4' wide and 8' high that I've always grown pole beans on, but I can never reach the beans at the top.  This year, I though I'd try something different.  My husband will make me 3 rectangles 4' wide and 5' tall.  I'll site these with one one the lip of one bed and the other two on each side of the bed next to it.  The 4'x8' rectangle with wire stapled to it will rest on top.  The beans will grow up the sides and spread out over the top and I'll be able to go underneath to pick the beans.  At least that's how the theory goes!

Bamboo poles where beans are planted and corn waiting for its turn

I started by planting the beans - 5 where each 4x5 rectangle will sit.  Each bean was protected with a water bottle collar and given a bamboo pole to clamber up.  5 more beans were planted in the potting shed as "just in case" a bean or two fails to germinate.  The beans planted are the heritage Italian ones given us by a friend.

Next was the corn.  I've already started the corn in the potting shed and this year I managed to outwit the mice.  29 Bodacious seeds germinated.  The bed was prepared by spreading homemade fertilizer in the rows where I planned to plant the corn.  This was scratched into the surface and watered well.  I dug holes to receive the corn and again watered.

Next, the corn was removed from the cells being careful not to disturb the roots and firmed into the ground, leaving a slight depression where water can pool around the plant.  Then I planted 6 Fortex beans in amongst the corn plants which will grow up into the corn and knit the bed together.  I use Fortex for this purpose as the vines aren't as heavy as the Italian heritage ones which broke the cornstalks when I planted them in the corn!

Finally the whole bed was watered well and will receive a covering of Remay cloth for protection.  Once it has gotten over the shock of transplanting, you can practically see the corn grow!  When this bed is truly moist, I'll top it off with a good layer of chopped maple leaves to help keep in the moisture.

Planting Peppers

We're in the middle of a mini heat wave.  Today the temperature got up to 27C in the shade, when normal for this time of the year is 15C.  I decided that the peppers could go outside as long as they were protected.

I've been reading up on peppers lately as I've only recently started growing them.  They are members of the same family as tomatoes and potatoes, so I've had to readjust where I was planning on growing them because I'd thought to plant them where potatoes had been last year.  Not the best idea, so I've moved their location.

I also discovered you can plant them up to the seed leaves.  I don't think they will produce roots on the buried stem as tomatoes do, but it probably gives them a bit more stability.

You can plant them quite close together, although I haven't done that.  Each plant went into the ground with a good half-cup of my fertilizer which had been mixed well into the soil.  Seven plants went into one space - 2 Jalapeños, 2 Ancho, 2 Salsa and one Hungarian Hot Wax.

You should keep hots and sweets separate.  Gypsy, which is a good one for the west coast, is going to go into pots.  There are 4 of them, and because they'll go into pots, I'm keeping them in the potting shed a little longer.  Apparently if you mix hots and sweets, the sweets will get hotter and the hots sweeter.

Today's planting of the hots went into a bed that had onions last year.  The bed is nicely fertile and as I said above, each plant got a good dose of fertilizer.  Also in this bed are Red Sails Lettuce, the celery and garlic.  I located a piece of Remay cloth which would just cover the peppers.  I'll keep it in place until June.  This will keep off breezes, provide a bit of protection at night and allow any rainwater to go through.  At that time, I'll give each plant the support of a tomato cage.

For now, they're tucked into their loose covering, which is held in place with a few rocks.  The heat we're expecting over the next little while and their Remay protection will give them a good start.

Elsewhere in the garden, things are springing up in the good weather.  The snow peas are starting to climb their zig zag fence and before you know it, will be sprouting flowers.  How I love the spring!

Three Sisters - Year 2, Planting Beans

Today has turned out to be a gorgeous hot day - in spite of the weatherman!  We were forecast to be cooler today and indeed, this morning was breezy and cool, but the wind died down and this afternoon it's lovely and warm.  As we're expecting at least a week of nice weather, time to plant the rest of the beans.

This year, I'm not planting nearly as many beans with the corn.  I have the Italian heritage beans planted in two spots elsewhere, but this year I'm planting Fortex beans in with the corn.  This is a bean I've grown every year except last year.  It produces an abundance of filet beans about 10" long which freeze well.  While the vines are vigorous, the leaves aren't nearly as large as on the Italian heritage beans and since I'm only planting 6 beans per bed, there shouldn't be nearly as much strain on the corn.

The corn germination has been quite disappointing.  As noted earlier in this blog, I usually start the corn in the potting shed and transplant it.  A mouse (or mice) destroyed all my Bodacious seedlings so I've had to plant directly outdoors and then didn't have enough corn seed left to completely plant the beds.  A final row was seeded with Peaches and Cream.  I now have 34 Bodacious plants and 15 Peaches and Cream.  As I'm not saving seeds, there should be no problem growing the two varieties together.

Bean seeds protected with a water bottle collar

To plant the beans, I pulled back the Remay cloth and seeded 6 Fortex beans per bed, 3 on each side.  Four of the seeds were protected with water bottle collars and 2 were planted without.  It's an experiment!  As I pushed each seed into the ground I could feel how hot the soil was - perfect! While planting the seeds, I discovered an extra butternut squash plant.  I had seeded 2 seeds per pot when I started them in the potting shed and once they were up, discarded the weaker one.  I guess a seed was late coming up!  One of the beds has a bare spot at a corner, so - waste not want not - I transplanted the little squash there.

Three Sisters beds with the transplanted squash seedling in the closest bed bottom right

Now the Three Sisters beds are complete.  For now it's just wait and watch.  For the next little while, I'll continue to cover the beds with Remay cloth at night and remove it during the day so that the soil can get nice and warm.  Next year these beds will be dismantled as the wood in these old beds is rotting.  We'll replace them with one big concrete raised bed but this time without a bottom as cedar roots don't seem to have reached this far - yet!

Three Sisters Year 2

Last year, the Three Sisters garden was quite successful and so warranted trying again - with some changes.

This year, I planted the corn in the potting shed as I've done for years now.  As can be seen from earlier posts in this blog, mice have decided I'd given them a banquet!  I therefore had to plant the seeds directly in the garden and after trying twice in the potting shed, didn't have enough Bodacious corn seeds to fill the beds.  Unable to find any of that seed, I planted a row of Peaches and Cream.  It will be a week later than the Bodacious, but this year I'm planting my rows in diamond pattern so hopefully if they tassel out at different times, there won't be much of a problem with pollination.

Remay protection on cool days and at night

The first seeding of corn is up and about 4" high.  I'm covering it at night with Remay cloth and opening it up during the day.

Remay off on sunny days until the weather is reliably warm.

At the same time that I planted the corn, I set out 3 butternut squash plants.  2 of these are at the south ends of the beds and 1 is in the centre.

Bodacious corn seedling

As I said above, the corn is about 4" high now.  When it reaches 6", I'll plant the Fortex beans and protect them with water bottle collars.

So what am I doing differently?

Last year the beans were so lush and heavy that they broke the corn stalks.  This year, I'm growing Fortex beans in the corn.  It's not as big-leafed as the Italian heritage bean which I'm growing elsewhere.  I planted it at the same time as the corn last year, but this year, I'm giving the corn a head start - which I was supposed to in the first place.

Last year, I grew too many squash plants and the ones at the back of the beds didn't do nearly as well as the ones in sunnier spots.  This year,  I'm only growing 3 plants and all are placed in the sunniest spots.  In addition, I didn't seed corn to the end of the beds at the inside where the 2 beds meet.  Hopefully this will give the squash enough room to grow.

I grew zucchini in the tires at the back of the bed last year.  This year, the zucchini is planted in a concrete bed in front of the Italian heritage beans seeded at the bean rack.  I'll plant impatiens in the tires as they like a bit of shade - and we always need flowers in our lives!

Get the water boiling!

Peaches and Cream Corn

The silks are drying on the corn and today it was time to take a peek.  And it's ready!  I really like to pick corn just before plunging it in the boiling water as the sugar starts turning to starch on the sweeter varieties as soon as they're picked, but I just couldn't wait to see what was hiding under the husks.

The next week or two will be a surfeit of corn on the cob.  This seems early to me, but it'll all be due to the Remay cloth.  I notice that the little corn plant left out in the cold while the rest of the plants were covered is only just now forming cobs.  Remay works!

Three Sisters - Beginning of July

Already it's the beginning of July and the Three Sisters Garden is waaaay ahead of schedule!  The corn is well over my head - and I'm 5/8"!

Three Sisters Garden fronted by 3 zucchini plants

The tassels are fully extended now and cobs are starting to peep out of the stalks.

It won't belong before we start boiling the water!

The beans are running riot through the cornstalks and busily fixing nitrogen into the soil.  There are no flowers yet, but I'm sure they'll be present in the next few days.

Beans and corn well joined

Squash vines are escaping the beds.  All of the vines have little squashes forming.  I can see I'll have to find a lot of friends to gift with presents of butternut, delicata, pattypan and spaghetti - as well as zucchini!  We'll never be able to deal with all this produce - especially since my husband is a confirmed squash-hater with the exception of butternut squash pie - recipe coming later.  I'm searching out zucchini recipes and will post the ones which are successful.

Butternut squash escaping its bed

I put a lot of the credit for this amazing growth to a couple of factors:  SeaSoil generously added to the beds and the Remay cloth which protected them at the beginning of the season when the weather was cool.  The little corn plant which was excluded from this protection is considerably behind it's brethren.

The excluded corn plant is drooping to the far left.

 So far, this experiment seems to be an outstanding success.  I'm not sure how it will play out next year since the bed will have to be dismantled this fall - the wood is rotting through as you can see from the picture with the squash vine.  At this point I'm thinking of using all three 4x4 concrete beds to house the Three Sisters Garden for next year.  There's lots of room for squash to roam in back there.  We'll replace the wooden beds with one long concrete bed over the winter.