Topic: Anyone tried growng corn, beans and squash together?

[Jeannine]

It works fine if you give it lots of space and perhaps more importantly.. grow a corn for drying and a bean for seeds too, any pumkin or winter squash will grow below, when they are all dry, then pick them..otherwise it is too fiddly.

XX Jeannine

[Mortality]

I tried it this year in my small garden of two 1m by 2m raised beds.
I turned one of the beds over to french beans, squash and painted mountain corn, the painted mountain corn grew so slowly that i had to put in poles for the french beans and the squash tended to encourage lots of snails to shelter in it !  :-\

[lottiedolly]

Every year i grow corn with a drying bean growing up them corn and courgettes amongst the corn, it always seems to work well  ;D

[GrannieAnnie]

.  the use of squash rambling around the base of corn was to prevent it from being raided by raccoons a pest not found in the

Raccoon are so "handy" I doubt squash would deter them from getting the corn.
That said, I might try out the theory by growing some popcorn again surrounded by squash because I'd given up due to raccoon stopping by right when the cobs were ripened.

[pumkinlover]

We had badger problems last year they like the plants when they first go it and chew at the stems and leaves.  Then they  wait and take the cobs!! I erected a Badger barrier of pallets and that worked on my plot- but sent them to someone elses.  :-[

When another plot holders potatoes were damaged ( I am sure by badgers) he could not be pursuaded it was not a fellow plot holder and threatened to hit who ever it was. The joys of being secretary! ;)

Intresting to hear of a raccon though- I always have to remind myself you are over the pond GrannieAnnie

[GrannieAnnie]

I erected a Badger barrier of pallets and that worked on my plot- but sent them to someone elses.  :-[
Intresting to hear of a raccon though- I always have to remind myself you are over the pond GrannieAnnie

Liked your idea of a pallet barrier.
We know of a family that sets out doll sized tea set and other small props with food every year and takes night photos of the group of raccoon that come regularly to eat, then they send that out as their holiday greeting. A rather unusual card  :o but shows the raccoon dexterity quite clearly.

[Columbus]

Hi all,  :)

I tried this a few times, never successfully because everything grows at different
speeds. You can intersperse sweetcorn with squash to save space, I surrounded my sweetcorn in upturned planters with rat traps underneath (leaving a gap) but they never got attacked last year. I also tried growing my sweetcorn in clumps (like grass grows) which didn`t affect the yield.
I don`t have racoons and badgers.

Col

[pumkinlover]

[/quote]
We know of a family that sets out doll sized tea set and other small props with food every year and takes night photos of the group of raccoon that come regularly to eat, then they send that out as their holiday greeting. A rather unusual card  :o but shows the raccoon dexterity quite clearly.
[/quote]

Can you introduce them to A4A and get them to post them on here!

[GrannieAnnie]

We know of a family that sets out doll sized tea set and other small props with food every year and takes night photos of the group of raccoon that come regularly to eat, then they send that out as their holiday greeting. A rather unusual card  :o but shows the raccoon dexterity quite clearly.
[/quote]

Can you introduce them to A4A and get them to post them on here!
[/quote]I'll ask.

[tonybloke]

tony i am not expecting any till may 1. since variety i am over wintering is not a low tempature flower set variety like siberia. the variiety i am over wintering was a vollenteer from wayword seed.

please keep us posted on the results.
I'd love some seed if they prove successful.

[GrannieAnnie]

We know of a family that sets out doll sized tea set and other small props with food every year and takes night photos of the group of raccoon that come regularly to eat, then they send that out as their holiday greeting. A rather unusual card  :o but shows the raccoon dexterity quite clearly.
[/quote]

Can you introduce them to A4A and get them to post them on here!
[/quote]My son-in-law emailed me back that the raccoon-feeding- family moved from that locale and now has 9 cats instead :o 

[pumkinlover]

Well thanks for trying GrannieAnnie we are planning to have a night on the plot sometime to watch the wildlife (in summer) but don't think it would have been as entertaining as that sounds!!

[chriscross1966]

I think it's been mentioned before but the corn would be  a tall maize grown for flour/mealing and the beans would be a variety grown for dried beans..... Blue Hopi would be an obvious choice for the corn, Cherokee ToT for the bean, though any squash could be used I suspect.... but unless you have a use for a lot of dried corn (winter chicken feed?) then I can't really see the point.... if you do want to grow your own winter chicken feed then sunflowers would probably be more productive and certainly more nutritious...

[plainleaf]

the best use for meal corn is not chicken feed it is to  make corn meal. Which when  mixed it with they correct ingredients gives you corn bread. yummy!

[Robert_Brenchley]

What do you use to grind yours?

[Vinlander]

I think it's been mentioned before but the corn would be  a tall maize grown for flour/mealing and the beans would be a variety grown for dried beans.....

And squash are gigantic even in the UK...

No - I'm not the only person to spot this problem, but if you want to grow something through your (modern dwarf) sweetcorn corn then it has to be gherkins or other small cukes.

I think climbing french beans are OK with the other midgets but if you want to go the whole hog I've noticed that dwarf borlotti beans have a habit of sending up a few runners a month or so into the season - they never get quite as big as normal climbers - perfect!

Cheers.

[Deb P]

I have found that if you plant squash outside the sweetcorn block, and mark the stem with a plastic bottle threaded through a cane so you know where to water, sweetcorn and squash both do well.

The squash stems just meander through the corn, the advantage being the leaves suppress weeds and keep the soil cooler and moister. You can still get to the squash stems easily to water and feed this way so they do not suffer from competition with the corn for water as much. It is also worth trying a smaller squash; I found Baby Bear pumpkins worked really well by this method, they are about 2-3 lb (nicely meal sized) and I had as great crop from 4 plants.