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Just wondering if anyone here has tried this method and if so how it worked out?

http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html

I've always wanted to, but corn just won't go here in the cool maritime climate. My last attempt was substituting sunflower for the corn, and it started well, but rodents ate my beans.

I'm going to be trying it this year as part of my no-till under hay plot. I've just planted the potatoes under a 100ft row of hay that has been sat out all winter. I have three more rows and one of them will be the three sisters row. The other two will be tomatoes and amaranth. Lots of experimenting this year so I will try to keep you all updated with it all.

That sounds like a great plan Graham. The three sisters program has been used by native Americans for many years. It should work well for you.

Graham, the reading I have done on corn and the 3 sisters planting technique have stressed that you don't want to plant just one row. A grid is required for the pollen to get from one corn plant to another. If you take the three rows you have left, and use one end for this purpose, while using the rest of the rows for other plants, you will have a better chance of success.

Thanks for the info Lolly, I do that. It will actually make things easier to manage if I use those three rows in blocks. I had an email through Mother Earth News this morning from Heirloom Solutions. They are offering $20 of the first order if you send for their catalog. It costs $2 for the catalog, but I ordered one anyway. I'm going to grow as much as I can get into the garden this year, and I would like it all to be heirloom if I can.

I grew a 3, 3 sisters type plots a couple years back. The results were less than spectacular. One thing I did wrong was planted into a mound which was correct per some recommendations. Seems, after further research, that only some Indians planted into mounds. The mound technique is best suited to where growing seasons are short and water is plentiful. Mounds, in that instance, were used to help warm the ground earlier than otherwise would have been the case.

(In retrospect, I think the results might have been better had the corn and beans been planted into depressions to accumulate water. As it was though, the mounds caused water to drain away from where it was most needed.)

Seeing my "results", Youngblood suggested planting rows of corn interplanted with peas/beans (the way people have been doing here for ages) but separating the rows by 5' and planting squash between the rows. We were going to try that last year but life got in the way.

We may try again this year.