[chris mutter]

My second year of Allotmenting, last year we had notice of building to take Place, but still hanging in there. My question is planting Sweet Corn at 2 feet apart, would it be possible to put Cabbage or Spinach between the crop. Thank You Chris.
                                                                                         

[Goosegirl]

Mmm, I doubt it as their roots will probably compete but it's worth a try if you have no other option.

[Ivor Backache]

Traditionally there was the 3 sisters. Sweetcorn, cucumber on the ground and climbing beans around the sweet corn. That way there was little competition for light and nutrients. I still grow cucumber between the rows and let  them crawl all over the place but climbing beans have their own frame. I think cabbage would compete but spinach and lettuce and other salad catch crops should do well.

[snowdrops]

3 sisters approach was I believe used by Native American Indians using a corn for drying -maize & beans for drying with squashes. From what I’ve read about this approach it doesn’t particularly work in this country & for the types of varieties we tend to use. Having said that I think I’m going to have plant my squash in between my corn this year as I’ve run out of space 

[New shoot]

I have used the 3 sisters method of planting with success, but you do need to plant drying beans and make sure the sweet corn is where you can reach it, so you are not having to wade through the squash foliage on a regular basis to get to either.

This year I have a new idea that I have seen someone else do.  New Zealand spinach which you soak the seeds of overnight, then sow direct between your sweet corn plants as ground cover and to eat.  I have the seeds ready to go, so we will see how it goes 

Another one I have used is to sow a climbing bean seed or two at the base of sweet corn plants once they get to a decent size.  The beans climb up and you leave the sweet corn stalk standing as a support even after you have picked the corn itself.  You can get a pretty decent crop of beans without affecting the corn.

I would say as a proviso that for all the above, the sweet corn on my plot would be growing either on a ‘bean’ trench that I would have prepared over the winter or on soil which as had a good layer of home made compost added to it as a mulch.  No point trying to interplant on hungry soil 

[jambop]

Sounds like an explosive mixture 

Down here growing beans in with maize is traditional for growing Haricot Tarbais a highly prized and costly dried Haricot type bean which has a particularly thin skin and is superb cooked with goose or duck fat.