🌸 companion planting? 🌸

🍎 companion planting? 🍎

Plants like to be together. Look at any forest, overgrown yard, prairie, or jungle. Green is everywhere.

An ecology is a community, always changing, ephemeral. Moving always towards stability and dynamic health.

Weeds pop up in the garden because your vegetables are lonely. When you plant something tall, like Corn, you will have vining weeds that crawl up the stalk. You will have wide, low weeds, which cover the ground between the Corn. Pulling and cutting these weeds takes a lot of work.

Companion planting is a way to fill those niches with fruits and vegetables before the weeds sneak in. Many plants have reliable companionships with other plants, mutually beneficial relationships that grow together and leave no room for unwelcome invaders. Perhaps the best-known companion guild is the Three Sisters.

🐛 three sisters! 🐛

🦋 three sisters! 🦋

The Three Sisters are Corn, Beans, and Squash. Together, they nourish each other, shade out weeds, and provide space for the others to grow. Practiced all over the American continent since the beginning of time, these three plants are reliable and mutually loving.

🌱 corn 🌱

🌳 corn 🌳

Corn! Maize! Soups and tortillas, grilled with butter, popped. Corn is the best. To plant a Corn seed, poke a hole in the ground with your finger, drop in the seed, and fill the hole with some dirt. Each Corn can be spaced about a handspan apart from each other.

Corn can't handle the cold, so plant after the last frost is well over. For me in the upper midwest, that usually means somewhere in late May or early June.

Dried Corn is cheap and plentiful. Buy a lot, if you have the means. Get creative. Plant in rows, circles, along riverbanks, and in wiggly lines through abandoned parking lots.

🌱 beans 🌱

🌳 beans 🌳

When the Corn starts poking through the ground, plant some Beans! In the same way you did with Corn, poke a hole and bury the Bean seeds. I've had success planting two Beans for every Corn, as close to the stalk as you can get. The Beans will climb up the Corn stalk and both plants will support each other!

Bean roots provide a home for nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which bring nutrition into the soil and support all the nearby plants, funguses, and creepy-crawlies.

🌱 squash 🌱

🌳 squash 🌳

Once the Beans start to sprout, it's time for the Squash! The leaves and wandering vines of Squash will shade out any weeds that might want to follow Corn and Bean up towards the sun and down towards the water. Squash take up a lot of space, so you only need to plant one every two feet or so!

In the same way you planted the Corn and Beans, poke a hole and bury the seed. Once all three are growing well, you shouldn't be bothered by too many weeds.

🌸 traditions? 🌸

🍎 traditions? 🍎

Joseph Marshall III, a Lakota elder, bowmaker, author, and leader, told me that his family would traditionally plant Three Sisters seeds along the banks of small streams. Then, they would leave for the whole summer, and return for a bountiful harvest in the fall. Try it. Corn and Beans are easy to buy in bulk, and one good organic Squash from the grocery store will give you all the seeds you need for a big healthy patch. Scatter seeds in a sunny, wet place and watch the Sisters thrive.

🐛 sunflower forest! 🐛

🦋 sunflower forest! 🦋

...

🌱 sunflower 🌱

🌳 sunflower 🌳

Sunflowers! Giant sun-loving monsters. They grow up quick and can be planted right around the time of your last frost! Firm and strong, sunflowers provide wonderful shade and a lovely structure to any garden space. I planted my Sunflowers this year about a foot apart from each other - they take up a lot of space for a single-stalked flower!

🌱 pea 🌱

🌳 pea 🌳

I love Peas! Eating a fresh green Pea right off the vine is a sublime treat, especially on a hot day. Like sunflowers, they can be planted right around the time of the last frost. Peas grow quick and will vine beautifully around Sunflower stalks, which are rough-textured and easy for the legumes to grab. Peas like shade and wilt in high heat, so the big leaves of the Sunflower provide a perfect habitat for the little Peas!

Peas, like Beans, fix nitogren into the soil. Nitrogen is essential for abundant growth, and Peas will provide that nutrient for all the other nearby plants! The best practice, or so I have heard, is to mulch the dead Pea stalks into the soil at the end of the season so all that lovely captured nitrogen sticks around.

🌱 radish 🌱

🌳 radish 🌳

Radish! Perhaps the most satisfying treat in the garden, if only because they grow to maturity so quickly. I've seeded and harvested the same Radishes within a single month!

Radishes can be planted in abundance, right alongside the Peas and Sunflowers. Radishes can even be planted earlier, up to a month before the last frost if you're feeling anxious to begin the growing season! I love to munch on Radishes throughout the garden workday.

More than likely, the Peas will finish their life cycle before the Sunflowers and the Watermelon. It's okay to let them get dry and brown! Dried Peas store great and make an excellent soup.

🌱 watermelon 🌱

🌳 watermelon 🌳

When the Radishes are ready to be made into salad, pull thme all out and plant some Watermelon seeds in their place! Watermelon needs a lot of water, so make sure they don't get too thirsty.

Like the Three Sisters gang above, the Sunflower and Peas and Watermelon all grow in different patterns and compliment each other spatially as well as nutritively. Watermelon will spread across the ground, shading out other weeds and keeping the wet soil from evaporating. All together, the Sunflower Forest works together for healthy soil and happy vegetables!

🐛 perennial pie! 🐛

🦋 perennial pie! 🦋

...

🌱 asparagus 🌱

🌳 asparagus 🌳

Asparagus, my favorite of all the spring vegetables. A perennial, Asparagus will sproing up in early June and provide a delightful raw treat or ingredient. Asparagus pokes out of the soil and grows straight up, reaching for the sun. Later in the summer, the stalks will fan out into tiny branches and go to seed.

Many greenhouses sell Asparagus "crowns", which are small sections of the root. You can bury these crowns to grow a healthy crop, but I prefer to plant new Asparagus plants from seed. It can take 3 or so years to really get established, but I much prefer the microbiodiversity that comes with planting from seed! Cloning any plant from the roots can be dangerous for the whole population, because of the lack of immune system diversity. The Irish potato famine is the famous example, and here in the Midwest we're gearing up for another catastophe with all our genetically identical corn fields.

Plant Asparagus seeds after your last frost and keep them well-mulched!

🌱 rhubarb 🌱

🌳 rhubarb 🌳

Rhubarb, of the elephantine leaves and tart stalks. Also a spring vegetable, Rhubarb grows outwards and provides lots of shade for the other plants nearby. I've seen Rhubarb leaves that are over six square feet!

Like Asparagus, Rhubarb can be grown from crowns but I much prefer to participate in evolution by planting from seed. The leaves of Rhubarb will shade out shorter weeds and provide a lovely soil cover to protect against evaporation!

Plant Rhubarb seeds after your first frost, no more than a foot from your Asparagus, and mulch them both well!

🌱 strawberry 🌱

🌳 strawberry 🌳

Ah, sweet Strawberry. There are so many good varieties and flavors, why not get them all? Of all the three plants in this guild, Strawberry is the most likely to be found at your local greenhouse or nursery. Take home some different varieties and plant them closeby to your Asparagus and Rhubarb!

Strawberry crawls around the ground and peeks out anywhere it can find a patch of light. Unlike the tall Asparagus or fanning Rhubarb, Strawberry stays close to the ground and provides shade for wee little bugs. Depending on the variety you choose, you might have fruit all the way through the whole growing season!

🌸 saving seeds? 🌸

🍎 saving seeds? 🍎

Save! Your! Seeds! Just one Rhubarb stalk will give many handfuls of seeds, likely more than you'd ever need for your own garden. Just one Squash or Corn is a bounty of seeds. Save them all, let them dry, give them to friends. Start a whole guild in a small pot during the wintertime and plant it in the spring.

Saving seeds is not only economical, but it also allows plants to evolve and grow comfortable in your particular growing area. I guarantee that the finest fruits and vegetables in your area are being grown from seeds that have been saved for years. The biggest flowers I've ever seen were the 20th generation of flowers grown and seeded in the very same patch of garden every year!

Save your seeds! Evolve your garden! Share your bounty!

this is a website for gardeners and the plants who love them

please listen to the album below, mingle, and photosynthesize freely

🌸 companion planting? 🌸

🍎 companion planting? 🍎

🐛 three sisters! 🐛

🦋 three sisters! 🦋

🌱 corn 🌱

🌳 corn 🌳

🌱 beans 🌱

🌳 beans 🌳

🌱 squash 🌱

🌳 squash 🌳

🌸 traditions? 🌸

🍎 traditions? 🍎

🐛 sunflower forest! 🐛

🦋 sunflower forest! 🦋

🌱 sunflower 🌱

🌳 sunflower 🌳

🌱 pea 🌱

🌳 pea 🌳

🌱 radish 🌱

🌳 radish 🌳

🌱 watermelon 🌱

🌳 watermelon 🌳

🐛 perennial pie! 🐛

🦋 perennial pie! 🦋

🌱 asparagus 🌱

🌳 asparagus 🌳

🌱 rhubarb 🌱

🌳 rhubarb 🌳

🌱 strawberry 🌱

🌳 strawberry 🌳

🌸 saving seeds? 🌸

🍎 saving seeds? 🍎

sunday sites
july 2022
made by jake

this is a website for gardeners and the plants who love them

please listen to the album below, mingle, and photosynthesize freely

🌸 companion planting? 🌸

🍎 companion planting? 🍎

🐛 three sisters! 🐛

🦋 three sisters! 🦋

🌱 corn 🌱

🌳 corn 🌳

🌱 beans 🌱

🌳 beans 🌳

🌱 squash 🌱

🌳 squash 🌳

🌸 traditions? 🌸

🍎 traditions? 🍎

🐛 sunflower forest! 🐛

🦋 sunflower forest! 🦋

🌱 sunflower 🌱

🌳 sunflower 🌳

🌱 pea 🌱

🌳 pea 🌳

🌱 radish 🌱

🌳 radish 🌳

🌱 watermelon 🌱

🌳 watermelon 🌳

🐛 perennial pie! 🐛

🦋 perennial pie! 🦋

🌱 asparagus 🌱

🌳 asparagus 🌳

🌱 rhubarb 🌱

🌳 rhubarb 🌳

🌱 strawberry 🌱

🌳 strawberry 🌳

🌸 saving seeds? 🌸

🍎 saving seeds? 🍎

sunday sites july 2022 made by jake

sunday sites
july 2022
made by jake