Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi there,

I was wondering, has anyone tried growing sweetcorn with cucumbers?

I've read about this is a new places. ie:
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/plant-cucu ... 50273.html

I'd be interested to hear if it actually works and if there is a down side.

Hello M C
This is a US idea similar to the Three Sisters plan - sweetcorn, beans and squash.
I don't think that it would work over here as the growing season for sweet corn is so short. I sow sweet corn for planting out in early June and it takes them some time to reach any sort of size that might support cucumbers, squash or beans. By this time my early beans have been cropping for some time. Also I guess the weight of cucumbers or squash will drag the sweetcorn plants to the ground.
I think US sweetcorn grows much taller and stronger than ours - the corn is as high as an elephant's eye, An' it looks like its climbin' clear up to the sky (Oklahoma)!
In the US spring is measured in a few weeks - they quickly go from winter to summer so in most regions its possible to make a much earlier start than here.
A ggod idea but not suitable for the UK.
John

Interesting - thanks for that

That three sisters approach doesn't work well either. The original native American idea worked, but only if you are growing the beans and maize for drying. Then you can sow, go away and forget about it, and come back in autumn and harvest the lot together. Trying to pick seetcorn without damaging the beans, and trying to push in amongst maize planted close enough for good pollination whilst trying not to tread on your squashes is otherwise a problem.

I did once plant butternut squash just outside and surrounding a square of sweetcorn and they ran along the ground under the sweetcorn. Can't say it altered the cropping one way or the other but it did save space. I had no problem picking the corn and the squashes seemed to like the part shade.

MW

Yes, I have found that squashes work well with beans, and with sweetcorn. In fact that is what I normally do. The beans and the sweetcorn are the pairing that doesn't work so well for me.