Reason for a Change-Mitch’s Blog

After reading about the Three Sisters Garden in James Alexander Thom’s book Red Heart, I decided to give it try this year. I happened to run into Mike Andrews and Nancy Rheinhart, and started talking about the idea as Mike was the person who got me started gardening at the Wild Grove Garden at Rogers and 10th St back in 1980. It was the first community garden in Bloomington, created by and for the westside neighborhood. The lot was (and is) empty, owned by IU and nothing but tall weeds and wild garlic when it started. There was a diagonal path across the garden, everyone who walked downtown from the hill passed through. We did well there for several years, till IU in its wisdom cut down everything, destroying the crops without notice.

So I Mike and I have some history in gardening, and he offered to let me garden at a house near mine, he and Nancy have been caretaking the home for several years, but do not have time to garden there as they live in Canada during the summer. So I took it on, wanting to learn more about gardening naturally. I haven’t watered yet, I always try to get seeds and plants in the ground just before a good soaking rain, this always works. Anyhow, there is no water at the house, so I have little choice.

My 3 sisters garden is doing well so far. I got the corn in quite late it seemed, the rain just keep on coming, but as it is on a hill, it never really flooded. The corn seemed so puny when it came up, but it is now over waist high, and it’s not yet fourth of July. The squash is beginning to send out runners, and beginning to shade out the weeds. I gave it a good start on this with straw mulch, as well as some early weeding and hoeing. I planted Kentucky Wonder beans about 2 weeks after the corn sprouted, and they are just starting to send out vines, they will be climbing the corn by next week.

I’ve had some rabbit trouble, they eat the growing ends of the squash, and they set back the growth of my little Jerusalem Artichoke patch, but once they get established, they will be fine. The neighbors along Hunter warned me about deer in the neighborhood, but I’ve found no evidence of them in the garden. I placed a couple of surprises from Wireless Deer Fence around the property, but I don’t know if they were activated by deer or not.

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