Please Email On Keswicklemon@gmail.com if you have any more photos to add to these
The Three Sisters Guild
An idea when you are planning your garden for next year is looking at companion planting and in particular Guilds. The most famous Guild that i learned about when i was doing my permaculture course is the Three Sisters Guild of Corn, Squash and Beans. I have been doing some reading about this guild and i'll copy and paste a little as some people have already written so much about this already and i can't really put it across any better than they already have !
Plant first the corn in the centre and then the Beans ring the corn, and squash is planted at the edges. The corn stalks create a natural trellis for the beans to climb, while the beans fix nitrogen in the soil, which nourishes the corn. The leaves of the squash vines ramble around the mound, preventing the spread of weeds and providing shade for the shallow roots of the corn. The symbiotic interaction of the three plants allow them to produce more food using less water and fertilizer.
With my friend Rachael's garden in mind i thought this might be a good way to go to create a more sustainable permaculture ecosystem. With the increased groundcover of the squash it will reduce weeding and make the garden a little more self sufficient.
have a look at this blog senda verde its got an amazing description of how its done properly !
the Permaculture Happens blog is also really interesting as its another alternative look at the idea permaculture happens blog
i found this diagram to show how to lay out the plants when you are planting in spring.
plant the corn first and let it grow waist high before planting the beans then plant the squash too. magic ! would advise looking into it a little and not just going by my description but its a good start for you and anyone who knows of any other guilds then i'd be very interested to hear of any that work well in Rossendales heavy soil !
happy autumn gardening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)