Tales of a Wannabe Urban Gardener: My Garden Sisters
Over the course of the last several years I have continued to add, remove, and modify to my home based garden with a variety of results. 2022 is no different in that I have made a number of changes from last year.
Among the changes I have made include expanding the plot on the side of the house and embarking on a "three sisters" experiment, as well as adding cucumbers and a variety of melons to the front.
First, the cucumbers. This one cucumber vine has been a resounding success. I have barely even watered this creature and it has been my best producing plant so far. This is a good thing for me because I really enjoy cucumbers; they are, perhaps, my favourite vegetable.
The melons that I have planted near the cucumber are certainly growing wildly but have yet to begin to sprout. The vines are certainly everywhere though!
Last minute in the spring I decided to plant a green pepper. I may have planted it too late, but I don't think I'm going to get more than the one. Interestingly, one of my neighbours is also growing peppers but in pots, not in the ground. I may need to try that next year.
Along the side of the house I have attempted a 'three sisters' experiment, and that is to grow corn, peas/beans, and squash in the same mound. To date the corn stalks are growing and I have managed to harvest a few squash, but the peas and beans are nowhere to be seen. I suppose it's better to have two producing sisters than none, at least, right @plantstoplanks? The third sister is just evil, anyway.
In the back yard I have a couple bushes that are a bit of a surprise to me. Many years ago I had planted some grape vines which have so far not done anything, so I gave up on them. And lo, what do I see now? Grapes. And they are everywhere. There are huge amounts of them. I guess they thrive on neglect.
Once again I am also trying my hand at pumpkins. They are flowering at least! Last year they began to flower then withered and died. It was sad. I think I need to keep them fertilised and watered; these, apparently, do not do well with neglect.
Oh, I'm also growing a watermelon vine, which was also a last minute thought in the spring. OMG, if I can grow watermelon that might be all I need to eat all autumn long.
The final thing I have to share is the blackberry bush in the back. The chain link fence the separates my yard from my neighbours is, in my mind, pretty ugly. Now, ugly is always in the eye of the beholder (except for that form of ugly which cuts right down to the bone), but my neighbour happens to agree. Neither of us want to be bothered with changing it, however, so I decided to do something about it. I figured that if I planted a bush or vine that would grow through the fence it would then turn from ugly into rustic.
So, is it rustic yet?
If one looks close in the first of those two pictures, you will also see in the background the raised garden beds I have made from disused window shutters and a broken set of attic stairs.
Also in the back, on the deck that I built from leftover pallets, I have growing some onions, lettuce, and okra in pots (leftover cat litter buckets with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage - I hate throwing good utilities out)
So with what I am experiencing this year, I am already planning my garden for next year and it will probably include only cucumbers and tomatoes in the front, three sisters (again - maybe the third sister will step up) on the side, watermelon in place of flowers, and probably berries and lettuce in the back. My daughter has suggested throwing zucchini into one of the raised beds on the grounds that it grows like a weed.
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
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Your garden is looking good :) The "3-sisters" concept seems to be working except that the peas and beans might not want to be there :)
Zucchini sounds great. Also wanting to have some in our little garden but we always forget to buy seeds, lol! All the best on your gardening :)
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Thank you! Seeing it successful certainly gives me some encouragement to keep it going. I may have over-crowded all the sisters - they need their space after all! I'll be a little more respectful of that next year. :)
You're welcome and thank you too. It's a nice experiment what you did and lucky me to have read it too so I will remember to give more space when growing things in my garden.😊
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I guess I am still in the R&D phase. Discovering what can grow from seeds, what can survive on its own, what greater evil can sprout in place of the lesser evil I removed, etc.
I am enthusiastic about the walnut saplings that sprouted under the adult walnut tree in double digits and I want to spread them across some space come Fall. But I also know that if I do it, we'll have a Mirkwood at some point.
Walnuts would be a lot of fun, too. I've given some thought to hacking down all my trees to replace them with a few fruit trees, but the effort involved is prohibitive.
I'm finally, just this year, past the R&D phase. I know exactly what I need to do and what I am going to do next year, and it'll be glorious. it helps that I found a neighbour who is able to grow what I cannot, so we'll trade. Good old barter.
That's why I don't plan on growing tedious things, myself. Let others produce that stuff. Also, from a barter standpoint, it's amazing what people would trade for a few pieces of colored paper.
You have an amazing garden sir @wwwiebe. I love the concept of three-sisters which is very applicable and effective.
I also hate throwing good utilities if I can still use it for other purposes like in gardening. Your okras will start blooming perhaps 2-3 weeks from now.
Thank you very much!
personally, I don't like okra at all, but my oldest son loves it. It is the only vegetable he'll eat; it'll be fun to have some of our own.
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your garden is doing so well, at least two of the three sisters decided to play the game and produce
Two sisters are definitely better than one!
👍😎👍
There's always that one sister. 🤐
Lots of stuff looking good up there! I'm finding my cucumbers dealing well with neglect, among some of the other items, haha. We've finally had some good rain again lately, so I think that's helped a lot.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my one pumpkin that's still hanging on. Hoping it hasn't been too much rain because I'd hate for this one to rot, too!
It's the evil sister.
I think my cucumber vine has finally told me that it's had enough. We'll see. I'm going to hold out hope, but not much more. I'm really hoping for some pumpkins! The vine is huge and with some great flowers right now. We shall see!
You know, I could take or leave cucumbers until I grew my own and then - wow! Next level. Just a whole different taste to supermarket ones!