[Apostrophes]

I have a bed with squashes already in. It would be all right, would it not, to grow sweetcorn in the same bed amongst the squashes? They go together in the three sisters method but I just wanted to double check. It would free up a whole other bed, which I am in desperate need of!

Rivhard

[Robster]

I tried this last year.  It was too shady underneath the corn for the squash to do that well.  Could just have been my plot

[Apostrophes]

The way I will do it, the sweetcorn will grow inside two lines of squashes, so the squashes will be on the outside and getting lots of sun. I am going to give it a go. I know it ought to be okay but I get nervous doing things differently because if it doesn't work you have another year to wait.

[mumofstig]

I grow squash around the edge of the sweetcorn, not inside the sweetcorn area. If you plant either too near to the roots of the other then nothing much does well as they are both hungry crops.
sweetcorn question aside, your forecast is for 3C tonight, can you cover your squash?

[Kristen]

My suggestion (probably the same as the other) would be to let the Squash grow into the sweetcorn.  Squash tend not to do a great deal, and then later on to "sprint" ... so they will be growing into the Corn at a time when its done / nearly done.

I don;t think the 3-sisters is appropriate for the UK.  Where it originated in the USA was on poor soil, and consequently they planted them a fair distance apart, thus everything had room to grow. They probably had longer / hotter Summers too.

[Apostrophes]

Thank you all; and yes, I have covered my squash plants with bell cloches. This evening at my allotment site it was teeming with people turning up with bundles of fleece. I wish I had taken shares out in the stuff.

[Yorkie]

I tend to grow squash around the corn.  So long as you water and feed them, I've not had huge problems.

[Apostrophes]

By the way, will two rows of sweetcorn be all right? Or do they need to be in blocks of four? If so, I don't have the room.

[JayG]

By the way, will two rows of sweetcorn be all right? Or do they need to be in blocks of four? If so, I don't have the room.

You could say that each pair of plants in neighbouring rows forms a block of 4 with the other row; trouble is I don't think 4 really constitutes a block, although it's better than a single row!

Are you sure you can't squeeze them in to form either 1 large block or at least a 3X3 if you've only got a few plants (I get away with spacing them 1 foot apart if they are kept watered and well fed.)

[Apostrophes]

I could put three in the row and, at a squeeze, four, but that would mean crowding the squashes. Complicated this gardening lark, isn't it.

[TheSpartacat]

I could put three in the row and, at a squeeze, four, but that would mean crowding the squashes. Complicated this gardening lark, isn't it.

I've always read that for proper pollination of sweetcorn, the blocks need to be a minimum of 9 plants. I would choose not to grow them in the same bed if  it means having to split the corn - you don't want to run risk of poor production from both crops?

Either way, whatever you decide to do... perhaps hand pollinating your sweetcorn might help.... run your fingers through all the tassles every day just to make sure they are doing what you need them to

[JayG]

I could put three in the row and, at a squeeze, four, but that would mean crowding the squashes. Complicated this gardening lark, isn't it.

Do you have scope for growing them using Mum's "half-sisters" technique? (mentioned earlier in this thread; the squashes can be allowed to meander through the sweetcorn but both crops still have the space they need.)

[Apostrophes]

I think I will go with Mum's idea and also cross pollinate by hand.

[Kristen]

and also cross pollinate by hand.

I find that's easier said that done;. In the greenhouse, with no wind, I can shake the plants to release the pollen - and then "steer" the silks into the descending cloud of pollen.

But outside the wind, even if slight, keeps dispersing the pollen, so when I shake the plants there is no cloud of pollen - indeed, no visible pollen to be seen (there must be some, of course, but I can not see it well enough to guide it on to the silks)