The big sister of Three Sisters.

Seven sweet corns are gripping down. Days are a little bit windy now, 

so I imagine corns are developing roots quickly to stand their ground.

These corns are growing steadily. I saw two little winged bean seedlings, emerging from the ground. In a week, the seedlings will be big enough to make appearance in this blog but then I am no more in Putrajaya to view and take pictures. Pumpkin is no where to be seen. I will not germinate new pumpkin seeds, since the little garden is in the process of winding down. Too bad I have leave for Kelantan and not able to see the eventual look of Three Sisters. It is alright, I can always try it out over in Kelantan soon.

So to make up for the unfinished Three Sisters, I put a few flowers to brighten up today's post. They have grown well after the first appearance of these Periwinkles or kemunting china. The early morning rain freshens up periwinkles, and just look at them, they are winking with bright, heavy and cheerful colour.

 periwinkle white

 periwinkle white

 

  periwinkle pink

  periwinkle purplish pink

 periwinkle pink

bangchik

Other elements with Three Sisters.

Too early to tell passersby about my Three Sisters. haha. We can only see corns and some other little plants. It's about self seeding, the great powerful element in survival. Most plants do not really need men to grow them. They are able to handle themselves, to grow, to flower, to bear fruits. Very funny with my little vegetable garden, because for most veggies, mother plants never have a chance to see their own babies growing.

a close up of three sisters: corns growing well, but the other two,

winged beans and pumpkin are not really there yet.

Weeds, amaranth all over. Time to get up and do weeding!

Now these are babies within my own Three Sister plot. Corns the main players, winged beans has not appeared yet, pumpkin remains at  second pair of leaves and not getting any bigger. I know, I am going to have problem...

pumpkins germinating

Just to be on the safe side, I sow four pumpkin seeds. 

One seed rooted first, the rest are still working on it. I have to wait for the others to really come out before putting them into the Three Sisters garden to join sweet corns.

pumpkin germinating, root first

pumpkin germinating, 
stem becoming green and leaves about to break open.

I do hope the eventual fruits 

will look like those in the seed cover.

bangchik

sweet corns, first to join.

Sweet corn is not new here. We grew sweet corns during the first half of  last year with some measure of success. Now sweet corns are coming back with a new role to play.  They form a major component as in the Legend of Three Sisters Garden. 

I am facing this problem again and again. Ten  old corn seeds failed to germinate except for one. Then I quickly rush to Mydin supermarket to purchase a new packet of sweet corns seeds.  Now the new seedlings join the sole representative of the earlier batch in the garden bed that was once filled with Ulam Raja, Marigolds, Amaranth tricolour, Spinach, peanuts and raddish. They are transplanted as in the design of Three Sisters Garden.with a little bit of modification.

 

the first trio of sweet corns.
Notice the bigger plant as the sole representative of the old seeds batch.
All sort of seedlings appear as a result of self seeding, mainly spinach, amaranth, and ulam raja. These will be pulled out and some will be scooped out to another location.

the second trio of sweet corns

Peanut plants are visible at the top. I think some peanuts 

from the earlier plants are still in the ground and they germinate. 

I am going to leave those in for a while 

before winged beans really grow.

So corns are the first to join the Legend of Three Sisters. 

Winged beans were sown direct into the ground and so far nothing happen yet. The third component is pumpkins, which are now in tiny pots. One seed has rooted and is pushing the first pair of leaves up. The rest are still quiet.

There will be regular updates on the development of Three Sisters.

bangchik

Putrajaya Malaysia

Creating a Three Sisters Garden

 Marigolds are getting tired of flowering, ulam raja has gone high reaching the sky with little flowers and seeds. The bed will be empty soon after each plant has completed their stay. I thought giving three sisters a chance here will be an adventure. I read about mirror image in Matron's Season of Fruitfulness, and put that concept in here too. 

 

A pair of three sisters, mirror image

 I think winged beans will fit well there, and pumpkins because I have grown these before. I would rather leave the edible sweet peas aside first and plant them separately somewhere on their own.  It would not be easy to include them, since sweet peas are first timers in our plot.


Corn and pumpkins have their own platform to grow, one going vertical and the other  horizontal. Beans will be in between somehow. The way I figure, beans has to be restrained from climbing and should be forced to stay low by pruning branches and shoots that might venture out, not least not until we harvest the round of sweet corns.


Soon the bed will be  ready, and the clock will be ticking to try out what the American elders had perfected for thousand of years, a Three Sisters Garden.

bangchik

three sisters garden