Tui Garden Project - Three-sisters garden

A three-sisters garden is a traditional way of gardening that was practised by North American Indians and Mexicans. For a traditional three-sisters garden, plant sweetcorn, beans and squash together – the perfect ingredients for delicious Mexican dishes! Corn is planted first, then beans to grow up the corn, and finally squash. Here's a step by step guide as seen on the Tui Garden Project on Annabel Langbein's show Through the Seasons.

Tui Vegetable Mix
Tui Compost
Tui Super Sheep Pellets
Tui Quash
Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic
Tui Vegetable Food
Annabel Langbein Mexican Feast Seed Mix (if growing corn and squash from seed, start these approx. four weeks before following the below steps), or corn and squash seedlings, and bean seeds.

If your soil is looking a little tired, prepare the garden bed for planting by digging over the soil and blending in Tui Compost and Tui Super Sheep Pellets to condition the soil.
Add a layer of Tui Vegetable Mix.
Fill a bucket with water and add two capfuls of Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic. This promotes strong root growth and reduces transplant shock, to give you healthier plants.
Start with the corn, soaking each seedling in the bucket of Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic, until bubbles stop appearing.
For each plant dig a hole, approximately twice the size of the root ball of your plant.
Gently loosen the root ball of your plant and position in the centre of the hole.
Press soil firmly around the base of the plant.
Next plant the beans by gently pressing bean seeds a finger joint deep into the soil on either side of the corn plants.
Lastly, to plant the squash plants, start by making mounds of soil for each squash plant, approximately 20cm high.
Make a hole on top of the mound, approximately twice the depth and width of the root ball of your plant.
Gently loosen the root ball of your plant and position in the centre of the hole.
Press soil firmly around the plant.
Water all plants well with the remaining Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic in your bucket.
Sprinkle with Tui Quash slug & snail control to protect your plants from being eaten by slugs and snails.
Continue to water regularly, and fertilise with Tui Vegetable Food approximately every four weeks.

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