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Growing squash with corn ... any experience and tips please

DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
edited March 2020 in Fruit & veg
OH wants to grow some Uchiki Kuri squash ... our veg patch isn't huge,  and we're wondering about growing them with the sweetcorn in a 'version' of the Native North American practice known as 3 Sisters (only ours would be 2 Sisters).

Has anyone here grown squash and corn together?  Do you have any tips? 

Thanks  :)

Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    I had some beans growing up the sweetcorn. All it did was make it impossible to pick as they were all tangled up.  On the other hand, a self set mini squash grew quite well trained along the wigwam with the sweet peas.  If you can train the squash  up a frame it will enable you to grow something underneath.

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I would stick to growing teh sweetcorn in a block as it can then be easier to maintain and need less space.  I have grown Uchiki Kuri up obelisks and also trellis and it is very happy like that and takes up just a small space on the ground and the fruits ripen better as they're up in the sun and away from slugs.  Just make sure it is well fed and watered and stop the plant once you have 4 or 5 fruits so it can concentrate on a few good ones rather than lots of poor ones.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    That’s very helpful ... thanks @Obelixx  😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Have fun.  They're also decorative up an obelisk as you can see the flowers and then watch the fruits forming much more easily.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I've grown butternut squash with sweetcorn. Was a failure, the squash took up too much room but didn't do as well as usual because the corn was making too much shade. Both were happier on their own the year before.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I grow sweetcorn, courgettes and cucumber together in a bed, but each has their own third. Needs an enriched soil and lots and lots of water as they are all hungry, thirsty plants, the same would apply to squash. The sweetcorn always in a block at the front, furthest south, as this is where my wind comes from, to aid pollination. The courgettes and cucumber appreciate some shade, here so that order works well. Monty grows squash as Obelixx does, up supports, he must have got the tip from her  :)
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,847
    I grew small decorative gourds with my sweetcorn last year the sweetcorn did well but the gourds didn't but that may have been my doing. The three sisters planting sounds good but the native Americans did it to get beans and corn (maize not sweetcorn) to store over winter, they let them dry out on the plant then they could harvest the whole lot at the same time. If you do it to harvest beans and sweetcorn separately it can become one tangled mess.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited March 2020
    Right, I think that decides it ... our usual block of sweetcorn (approx 3 rows of 10 plants) at the end of the patch ... next to it will be the squashes and courgettes  (replacing the broad beans which are already flowering) ... the runner beans will go in at the other end of the garden.  

    Thank you all  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I did this last year, course the squashes are huge, then I learnt a trick, too late for me, but might help you, wind the squash leaves round into a circle as they grow, put a stick behind to keep them in order or a bit of wire to peg them down.
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