Gardening When it Counts - Planting Corn - Three Sisters Garden. 18 April, 2011

[gardenbytom]

One for the worm,one for the crow,one to rot and one to grow ! You do a fine job and like hearing you talk.You are always welcome in the great state of South Carolina. Keep shooting those videos.

[therealvirginiawind]

@gardenbytom Well, I wish I could shoot more videos about this garden, but right now its sleeping under a nice bed of winter rye.I'll be tilling that in about March I expect.

[skoggit]

@therealvirginiawind, Hope you are in good health and your crops are plentiful! Yesterday, as I worked in my garden I asked the Great Spirit to bring rain to nourish my crops! We are in a drought. The weather called for hot, windy with no chance of rain! At 5AM this morning my wife woke me up and told me the Great Spirit had answered my prayer! It was pouring rain! I got dressed and just went out to my garden and thanked the Great Spirit standing in the rain! Take Care!

[therealvirginiawind]

@skoggit Yeah! That's great news. My corn is growing fairly well. I need to replant a few places. My beans haven't come up yet, but expect they will in a few days. Once I see them, I'll plant the squash. Once that's done I'm thinking maybe I'll burn some sage over them.

[skoggit]

@therealvirginiawind, I was pleased to hear your homestead was spared from the tornados and the Great Spirit looked out for you! My family is from the Choctaw Nation around Durant, OK. If your great grandfather was from Bartlesville, OK there is a possibility he was from the Delaware (Lenope) Tribe. Take Care of yourself my friend!

[therealvirginiawind]

@skoggit Family oral history tells it that this man was Cherokee. Since he was the grandfather of my grandmother (born 190x) I think that would put him born as one of, or a child of, the the trail of tears. No one really knows anymore. It makes me sad that his story has been lost to us.

Side note: I've passed many times through Durant when I lived in the DFW area. My parents are both still living in SEK and it was a regular thing for me to travel the Indian Nation TPK to visit them.

[skoggit]

@therealvirginiawind, I'm Half Choctaw Indian and I plant the Three Sisters every year! I know the Great Spirit will help me with my crops however where I live we are in a drought! The Great Spirit has not sent any rain our way in a long time but I know he will look out for me! I will ask the Great Spirit and The Elders to look out for your garden and to help make your garden plentiful and prosperous! Take Care!

[therealvirginiawind]

@skoggit Near my home near Basye, Virginia tornadoes hit in the wee hours last night. As that freight train howling passed over my home last night and touched down just down the mountain a little ways I couldn't help but think of your kind words to ask the Great Spirit and The Elders to look out for my garden. It seems they looked out for more than just my garden. Thank you friend. 1/16th from an Oklahoma grand-grand... father for me. Roughly Bartlesville.Tribe unknown for sure.

[Onlymanolos]

You can send a soil sample to Clemson University and their "agricultural department" will run tests on it so you know what your garden is lacking prior to planting. They used to provide this as a public service. They may charge to do so now. If they do, it is probably less than $10.

[therealvirginiawind]

@Onlymanolos I had my soil tested a couple of years ago through Virginia Tech I believe it was. I'm guessing it's a similar service as Clemson University, and it sounds like the price is about the same. This is a good recommendation for anyone gardening and I found the results helpful. Unfortunately, the main problem I have is that my soil is only a few inches deep and then I hit the rock of the mountain. I think my big challenge will be providing enough water without topsoil to hold it.

[Onlymanolos]

@therealvirginiawind I don't know the name of this...but it is where one takes large and long tubes of pvc pipe and drill many holes along the top of the tube and the bottom remains solid. You can bury them just under the ground around your garden, and any rainfall that may fall in that area, would slide down the tube to where you placed the end at in your garden. I've even seen people places these on an angle resting on two sawhorses so the water trickles down directly over the area you need.

[Onlymanolos]

@Onlymanolos As most people do, I dig two long trenches down the width of my garden to catch the rain and I build a mound/hill in between those two trenches to plant my squash plants. This way they have water access from both sides and the sun's warmth is able to surrond the plant down toward it's roots. Have you used a border of some kind, wood, in order to keep the top soil in place? There are also these clear"squishy beads" that absorb water an release it over time. My herbs love those.

[therealvirginiawind]

@Onlymanolos I've started my trenches by using a hoe to cover the seeds that didn't get covered. When the sprouts hint at coming, I plan to begin planting the beans, or maybe I won't wait. Don't know yet due to crazy weather. For the squash, I'll do them by hand using a peat moss coin thing. I've had good luck with those in the past. Its still been too wet to get cow manure, but I hope it can come soon to aid in building mounds. Last night's rain and tornadoes will surely be a set back.

[liabatud67]

Thanks for the "Three sisters" idea. I appreciate that.

[therealvirginiawind]

@liabatud67

I spoke with a friend in St Louis this morning and he said he had seen something about the 3 sisters method on television a week or so ago. It seems method might become popular again. I'd never heard of it until reading Gardening When it Counts.

[liabatud67]

@therealvirginiawind Those little "nuggets" of wisdom can be a Godsend. We all need to help each other in times like these. I think it may get "trying" soon here and abroad and your sharing of ideas helps us to learn here. Should it ease one persons plight, you have done your part and done it well.

[therealvirginiawind]

@liabatud67 Thank you for the kind words. You've just made my day. There are lots of nasty things going on in the world now, and individually we prepare for what we think will be worst case scenarios. That's OK I guess, but I prefer the idea of building communities through the sharing of experiences both successful and those not so successful. If my stumbling along can help others learn what to do or not do, then I think I have made at least some small contribution to making things better.

[knyquol]

3 sisters was something I was REALLY looking into but I'm not sure I'm drawing up some other plans to see what will make the best use of our space! Sort of Biointensive meets square foot gardening ;)

[knyquol]

@knyquol Sorry daughter hit enter I was going to add that I cannot wait to see how yours comes along and hopefully your seeder will go along better next season!

[therealvirginiawind]

@knyquol

If I can get a few loads of cow manure compost into this garden, my seeder should do a lot better - not to mention having more soil and nutrients to work with. I just went to talk to my neighbor down the road about this, and we're still on. It's too wet in the field right now, and looks like it may be so for a couple more weeks.