the three sisters

yes, i'll admit it: when you live in one climate zone too long, it's easy to get complacent. you know which plants will grow and which won't, you find the ones you love and you stick with them.

which i did, with the exception of my complete unwillingness to give up on the idea of garden-fresh tomatoes despite the fact that they failed every year until i discovered the resilient little "stupice" (whose nick-name "the apocalypse tomato" only made me love it more). but then, i suppose that's only further proof of my stubbornness.

so here i am, my second planting season away from my beloved fog belt, and what am i doing? dreaming of artichokes. not that i've actually moved that far -- 25 miles, 1 zone (from 10 to 9), and from the ocean to the bay, but micro-climate-wise, i'm in a whole different world. my huge, tree-shaded yard has been replaced by a covered cement porch surrounded by a parking lot. where before, ocean breezes kept temperatures a near-constant 55 degrees and cool fog kept even the tenderest lettuce from scorching, here, afternoon sun piles the heat into my little convection oven baking everything that wasn't designed for the heat.

luckily i do have some measure of shade to protect the ferns and pygmy date palm i brought with me, but i also realize all this heat and sun open up a whole world of possibilities that i was denied all those years in the fog, most excitingly for me: corn. even more exciting, you can now buy dwarf varieties suitable for growing in small spaces, including containers.

and that corn brings us back to the subject of this post: the three sisters. according to native american legend, the three sisters, corn, beans and squash grow best when inter-planted, providing support and nourishment for each other and, when eaten together, a complete protein for the person eating them.

now the fog did yield a bounty of squash and even a few beans, but this will be the first time i've lived somewhere i could grow corn so the sisters can finally come together in my garden, even if it's just in one large pot.