It will depend a lot on the corn variety. Last year I made a 3 sisters garden with the hills of corn spaced 4 feet apart both ways and 4 or 5 plants per hill. The corn I chose was so tall and vigorous that it shaded the squash and beans too much. I got a good harvest of corn, enough beans for next year's seed and no squash whatsoever. A historic vegetable garden at the Old Manse in Concord, MA had a 3 sisters much like mine but at 6 foot spacing. Squash and beans were doing fine when I visited. In some sources I checked, such as the book Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden, squash was planted separately from the corn and beans. It seems to me that the spacing you cite in Cunningham's book would work well, although 7 corn seeds per hill seems like a lot. But then, not every seed will grow. I recommend removing the tillers (suckers) because they create shade, but not many ears. I wish I had removed them. Jim

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.

For a substitute for the 'Apothecary Rose', try the 'Portland Rose' (alias 'Portlandica'; but please don't call it 'Duchess of Portland'! No one called it that until the 20th Century). Here in coastal Southern California, it doesn't re-bloom (at least, it doesn't for me), but it does bloom dependably once a year with its big blossoms of a happy bright cerise. The leaves color nicely in the Fall. It's a modest and charming rose which somehow just has a more likeable personality than many of the more ambitious roses.

I have not done SFG with the Three Sisters, but I have done the Three Sisters Garden. I did it in previous years with hills (3 foot diameter) separated by about 5 feet on center. The corn (6-8) went in a center ring ~ 1 foot diameter. The beans (10-12) went in a ring outside the corn diameter ~ 2 feet, planted about 2 weeks after the corn. The squash goes in the outside ring, the side of the hill, planted at the same time as the beans. Some will tell you that the beans will rip the corn out, some will tell you that the beans will wrap too tightly around the corn. The Native Americans developed this method, so it DOES work. The issue is plant choice! The traditional method was for dried corn, dried beans, and winter squash. This was how they made it through the winter. If you want to use sweet corn, green beans and summer squash, know that you are making adjustments to the method. Expect to encounter difficulties. For myself, I did all three variations, and had some success. Enough that I have continued to try it. I got about 12 ears of sweet corn out of only 4 hills. I got a good supply of beans, for as long as I continued to pick the pods. I stopped picking the pods once the corn was finished, as I wanted to plant NEW things in their space. The zucchini that was at the bottom was AWESOME (as zucchini usually is)! It just kept coming and coming. Eventually, I got tired of zucchini. I pulled it at the same time as the corn and beans, so that I could plant some fall crops. It works, but be prepared for some bumps along the way. As far as doing it with SFG this is what I would do. Plant them in long rows. 1' x 4'. Plant in the center of the 1' - but...Try 3 corn stalks (plant 2 or 3 seeds per spot, and thin to 1) per 4 sq/ft (plant them where the dividers go). Plant 4 beans around each corn stalk, and thin to the strongest two. Plant squash in the ends of that 4 sqft row. Then repeat for as many row as you want. More rows will give you a better chance of germinating good ears of corn. You can plant corn closer than 1 foot, as close as 6 inches. The soil just has to be ready to handle that much corn!