It's not an actual drainfield if that's what you mean... we apparently have a holding tank or an overflow tank above the actual septic tank and that was where I was thinking. It leaks or overflows or something to send more nutrients downslope. All I know is there is no drainfield there, but the grass grows faster than everywhere else in the yard. Or is the septic runoff itself the problem? I can search the forum tomorrow when I have more time... just wondering what the issues are. So, am I reading correctly that if I plant two types together, this season's corn may not develop true to type? The sweet corn (golden bantam) is 83 days and the popcorn (SA yellow) is 105-115 days. Does this mean the sweet corn is likely to pollinate earlier than the popcorn? Would it be reasonable to stagger the planting more to make sure the popcorn pollinates later? My growing season is 170 days, so I should have time, right? I am doing some SFG, but not entirely... I give my tomatoes a little more room, I give my broccoli and cauliflower more room, etc. Beans and peas are easier to set up in a long row for trellising, so that's what I do. I don't try to squeeze my zucchini into a square foot, but I do stake them (makes dealing with powdery leaf mildew much easier), so they don't take up nearly as much room as they would if I just let them grow on the ground. Basically, if it works well in a SFG set up, I'll do it... otherwise, I do what works best for the plant - but I don't have a large plot set up for rows. I'm mostly working in my expanded front flower beds, former weed beds along the sides of the house, and this year expanding into my hilly back yard (for large things that don't work in a SFG). Slopes? We live outside of Pittsburgh, so flat ground is an uncommon find. We have steep slopes and slight slopes, I have no idea of actual % grade. Good for sledding, not great for teaching a young child to ride a bike, lol.

I have been using this Copy Kat Deer and Rabbit Repellent for the last 3 years to keep the deer out of my garden, The deer will stand together in a group about 40' away, looking at my corn, but then never touch it. You can almost hear them saying"I will try it if you will". I also have found that deer don't like blood meal. There is a version of "Liquid Fence" on the market. I found this works just as well, just you have to use it more quickly due to it not having the preservatives in it. It smells bad when you apply it--this is your warning!! You will need 5 one gallon containers to mix this up. Fast and easy. 4 to 6 eggs 1 lg head of garlic, chopped 5 gallons of water Any hot pepper you may have in the house Put eggs, garlic and pepper in a blender with some water and blend until well mixed. Empty mixture in one of the gallon containers. Fill the container with water and mix well. Distribute the mixture into the other 4 containers until all 5 containers are equal. Fill all 5 containers with water and set in the sun for 3 days to "ripen". Sprinkle around the perimeter of the area you want to protect. You can also strain some mixture and put it into a spray bottle to spray on plants that might need extra treatment. Retreat every month or after a hard rain. I have also mixed in onions. I donÂt know if it helped or not. I think the eggs and garlic is enough. From what I have read, it helps to change the recipe every once in a while, so the deer donÂt get used to it. You can add milk, dish soap or salad oil in to help it work better.

strawberry - the 3 sisters garden fad is often discussed here and generally does not work. The search will pull up previous discussions about it if you want to read them. It appeals to new gardeners and can teach you some valuable lessons about what NOT to do in the future if you want to try it but most experienced gardeners will tell you it is a waste of time and energy and results in very poor production. It worked for the Amerindians because they were gardening very differently than the average home gardener does. They used large open fields. And they used very different varieties - field corn left to dry on the stalk before harvest, dried beans left to dry on the vine, and winter squash left to mature on the vines until late fall. That isn't what you will be using and what you'll end up with is broken or falling over corn stalks, a tangled mess of a garden that is almost impossible to pick in, and poor production of both the corn and the beans because they have different nutrient needs. Try it if you wish but you'll do much better if you plant your corn and pole beans normally - separate locations. Dave

Common, I am familiar with the given reasons for this "mixed planting." However, I don't necessarily think they are entirely accurate. First of all, the beans feeding the corn: while the beans are actively growing, they are not contributing any extra nutrients to the soil that the corn could use. Not in any significant amount anyways. The "nitrogen boost" comes in following seasons after the prior years beans have decomposed. It is far better and more beneficial to follow a rotational planting structure rather than a companion planting one. Of course native people didn't know about bacterial colonies fixing atmospheric nitrogen a thousand years ago. I find it far fetched to say the least that they would have come up with the idea that growing beans on their corn stalks was feeding the corn (regardless of the fact that it is erroneous) without that knowledge. However they could have noticed that corn planted in last year's bean patch grew better, but that would lead to following the more practical rotational scheme. Abd what about using corn as a trellis? Bean vines can easily overtake a corn stalk, robbing it of airflow and light and likely diminishing yield. Not something a culture that is fairly dependant on corn for their very existence is likely to be beholden to. The notion of squash providing a mulch of sorts does work, but again, that is something we would expect to at least ALSO find in the agricultural societies of the South West where the water saving benefit of this "living mulch" would be a tremendous benefit. But we don't find this to be the case, at least not as far as I know. So why not? If the Three Sisters planting works as well as purported, why are the other native cultures that are growing the same crops not utilizing it? Where are the records of early Europeans coming in contact with Indians who use this system? I have never seen or heard of any, not that that means they don't exist of course. I believe that the Three Sisters is a historical fallacy. The much more likely reality is that this style of gardening is a much more modern development that was fancifully attributed to the American Indian. The reason that it doesn't often work well for people is because it never has really worked, it has only ever "looked good on paper" and given the fun story that "this is how the Indians did it." Of course that is purely my opinion, which I freely admit is only of marginal worth ;).