Introduction
I have always been interested in the history of people’s struggle to provide themselves with food and while sifting through a mound of information about such things I found something I could try out in my backyard. In his book about the domestication animal and vegetable foods called “Seeds, Spades, Hearths and Herds”, Carl Sauer talks about a complex of three food plants grown together that provided the ancient native Americans with most of their staples. It kept the Amerindians going for thousands of years and was grown very widely, as far north as southern St Lawrence and northern Missouri rivers, on the fringes of the Sonoran and Arizona deserts through to the highest patches of available soil on Mexican volcanoes. All things considered it is a fair bet that it could be readily adapted to most if not all Australian climates.
This amazing mix of plants is composed of maize, beans and squash, and in Permaculture terms this group of mutually beneficial plant species is called a guild. The term “guild” is defined by Bill Mollison in his book “Permaculture – A Designer’s Manual” as “an harmonious assembly of species clustered around a central element (plant or animal) . This assembly acts in relation to the central element to assist its health, aid our work in management, or buffer adverse environmental effects.” In this case that central element is the corn plant.
The Theory
Maize (corn)
This crop provides an upright stalk for the beans to grow up and the ears of corn themselves at harvest time, hard or dent corn being grown rather than sweet corn because of the storability of its produce., although some sweet corn could be grown if distances could be maintained to prevent cross pollination (approx 300 metres). Corn provides some protein in the diet and a small amount of fat but tis major contribution is carbohydrate.
Where the growing season is long the corn is planted first, then the beans and squash are planted into the hills of growing corn. If the growing season is short the three would be planted together with an early maturing variety of corn being selected. Only open pollinated varieties should be sued so you can grow the next years’ crop with the seed saved from last years’ crop.
Beans
These legumes fix nitrogen from the air which is then used by the corn and the squash, allowing for increased yields from those two crops. Climbing beans should be used rather than dwarf varieties so that they can take advantage of the corn stalks in getting their share of light and they also produce over a longer period. The beans can be eaten direct from the vine as a fresh vegetable or allowed to mature and dry out and the seeds harvested for eating at another time. Either way they provide valuable protein in the diet as well as fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Squash
The squash or pumpkins are prostrate growers, spreading over the soil and completing the ground cover reducing evaporation and acting as a mulch. The squash provide a variety of edible products –
• The male flowers can be picked and used in soups, stew and salads or stuffed with rice or cheese; battered and fried (which is how I like them).
• The immature fruits can be thinned out and used as a cooked green vegetable.
• The mature fruits can be picked and stored for later consumption of the flesh.
• The seeds of the mature fruit are rich in oil and protein and can be roasted and eaten.
In Practice
Well, so much for the theory, how does it work when translated into a backyard? Not as great as I hoped, but in my own defence I must say that the Amerindians knew their varieties and had refined things to a fine art over several hundreds or thousands of years. I also learned a lesson about this system: it is better suited to an extensive culture system than the intensive small plot system that I used. Now that I have finished justifying myself, this is what I did and these are the results that I obtained –
The area of ground that I used was about two metres by three metres and had previously had a cover of grass and had not been used to cultivate vegetables of any sort. I cultivated it to a depth of about 25 to 30 centimetres and dug in lucerne hay and chook poo as a fertiliser. I used the following varieties –
• Corn – Callan open pollinated sweet corn from Phoenix seeds.
• Beans – stringless blue lake
• Squash – Green button
The corn and squash were planted at the same time in early November, then after the corn had two weeks growth one bean seed was planted next to each corn stalk. The corn was planted with about 15 centimetres between each plant, the squash around the outside of the plot and the beans about two or three centimetres away from each corn stalk.
The Results
Corn – Yield from the corn wasn’t bad with most plants producing decent size primary cobs, but the secondary cobs were disappointing with none reaching edible size. This was possibly due to the close planting and the resulting competition or perhaps the late planting of the corn. Also, to provide lasting support for the long growing beans, the longest maturing variety of corn should be selected.
Beans – The beans have yielded consistently and well although some increase in yield may be possible with increased planting distances. Giving the corn a few weeks head start seems to be the correct idea and even leaving it a bit longer before planting the beans, say and extra two weeks, may be even better.
Squash – The results for the squash were very poor with less than half a dozen fruits harvested. The squash did have a chequered career from the outset with the seeds being dug up not once, but twice by marauding chooks and so requiring replacement. From this unpromising start germination was slow with only three plants coming up and only one of these attaining any size. I think if intensive planting is to be used the squash should be given a head start, with enough time to be up and growing a couple of weeks before anything else is being planted. As it was, byt the time it really got going, the squash was all but shaded out by the corn. In an extensive planting system with greater planting distance between the corn plants, the squash would have had a much better chance of surviving to play its part in the guild.
Overall – The corn and beans combined to give a dense layer of foliage which meant that the weeds had no hope, but also raised difficulties for harvesting. The corn cobs were easy to pick but trying to find the bean pods against the dense green background was like playing “Where’s Wally”! Apart from a few small beetles on the corn cobs and a bit of mildew on what little of the squash there was, problems with pets or diseases were non-existent.
Conclusions
• In an extensive cultural situation this system could be very productive.
• There is a need to experiment with varieties to establish the correct ones for your area.
• There is a need to establish the correct planting dates for each crop.
• With a bit more knowledge and (dare I say it) luck, this could even be productive in an intensive system, within limits.
