Cathy Isom has taken you through when to consider gardening, as well as planting, the “Three Sisters”. Now, Cathy walks you through how, and when, to harvest the “Three Sisters” in your garden. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
How, and When, to Harvest the “Three Sisters”
Corn takes about 3 months to reach maturity and provide some food. The ears will develop a little wispy, often colorful, tuft of silk at the outer end. After about 20 days the silk will turn brown but the husk around the corn will still be green. The final test will be to prick a kernel of corn with a pin. Milky liquid means it is ready. Clear liquid means it is to soon, and no liquid 
means it is a bit later than optimal.
As for the other crops. When growing dry beans for storage, the process is different than green beans. The entire bean should be allowed to remain on the plant until the beans rattle audibly inside of the pod. The plant should be pulled, held upside down, and rattled inside a larger container so that the hulls open up. Then, the debris should be blown away from the beans with a hair dryer, fan, or air compressor. Store them in an airtight container out of the sunlight.
Lastly, squash should be allowed to fully mature, and be picked, right around the first frost.
I’m Cathy Isom…
Small space garden three sisters success!
Rick Larson
Beans fed the corn, corn trellised the beans, squash protected the ground from evaporation.
You will see actual picking of the squash, plus the corn and beans up drying for storage. Then you will see a schematic of how I planted the Three Sisters and future plans.
Rick Larson