I have three “Tree Sisters” patches, with 10, 15, and 25 squares. In all the patches, I planted or I am planning to plant 2 beans in each corner, then either 2 corn in each square or 4 corn in every even square, and either 1 pumpkin in each square or 1 in every odd square.
So I crunched some numbers to see how much of the full capacity of these areas I am using concerning each plant:
~80% for the beans
~90% for pumpkins
~30% for corn
So overall, I am using only half the area that I would need if I were growing each of the crops separately at optimal spacing. Which is one of the points of using the companion-plant system.
I do not know whether this ratio is good, bad, or ugly. To be completely honest, I did not look it up, and I am playing it by the ear. I planted the beans as a main crop because I have marginal soil, and I know beans thrive on it and will improve it. Then I planted only as much corn as I had receptacles for. And I might plant even more pumpkins than I initially planned because one of the seed suppliers had almost a miraculous germination rate and I loath to toss a viable plant.
That last point is still not entirely decided. I already planted 10 marrow squashes, and so far they have survived and started to grow. Today I also planted the first 3 Hokkaido because they had three true leaves and thus should, hopefully, be sturdy enough to survive slugs (I will add slug pellets around them anyway). The butternut squashes still have a huge question mark over them, but if they survive, I might have to establish a solitary patch for some of them. I do have the place, although I do not know if I will have the strength.
I will probably have to add some liquid fertilizer to the irrigation water due to the marginal nature of my soil. The improving effect of beans will only show up in the subsequent years. I do not know if the plants will grow to their full capacity or if the capacity of each species is going to be diminished. Unless it is reduced by more than half, the patches should produce more than separated ones would.
Based on past experience, if grown separately, I should get around 70g of beans, 50 g of corn, and 5000 g of pumpkin on average from one plant. So if all plants grow well, I might be looking at about 30 kg of beans, 5 kg of sweet corn, and 150 kg of pumpkins. I will only believe those numbers when I see them, and out of all of these, I am most inclined to believe the first and the last one. Of all these, it is usually the corn that performs the poorest.
I did try corn as a companion plant to potatoes about five years ago. I did not write about it, but it was a success – the potatoes grew at 100% capacity, and thus all the corn was extra, albeit a small amount. Shame that it is so much more work to grow everything here. I could get a lot more use out of my garden if I could just toss seeds in the ground and let them grow. It is one of many downsides of living in a semi-mountainous area. Sigh.
Now I’m going outside again.
Howdy Charly,
I appreciate your previous responses to my questions about the Czech Republic in preparation for our visit there in a few months. But I have another question relating to translations from English of Czech words. My wife has some strange allergies and we’ve taken to printing up business cards we can give to waitstaff at restaurants so they can check if those ingredients are used in the food. Her allergies are not dangerous, she gets itchy and her face tingles, and it’s quite uncomfortable, but there have been no signs of a tendency for her throat to close and they only affect her if she ingests them. Having the ingredients in the same kitchen has not been a problem.
We were preparing our cards for our trip to the Czech Republic and some words did not look right when we translated them to Czech and then back to English. If I could impose on your good nature to help us find Czech words which would inform the waitstaff of her allergies I would greatly appreciate it.
My wife is allergic to:
Basil
Mint
Nutmeg
Coriander/Cilantro
Squash (zucchini or courgettes) We are uncertain about pumpkin, acron, or winter squash, but she is avoiding them.
It’s the Czech words for mint and a generic word for squash which we are having trouble finding exact translations for.
I have been reading your articles about gardening, the problems and decisions you have been making, I just don’t have much to add. I grew up with large kitchen gardens, but we are not working on one now. Maybe once I retire I may have the time.
No problemo:
Basil -- Bazalka
Mint -- Máta
Nutmeg -- Muškátový oříšek
Zucchini/courgette -- Cuketa
Squash/pumpkin -- Dýně. This is the generic word for all pumpkins; the Czech language differentiates between the various kinds by adding an adjective to this word, for example: butternut squash = máslová dýně, etc.
Keep in mind that Czech is an inflective language, so a word can change based on case or tense. And Czech has seven cases, so technically, every word has up to seven forms. It is quite difficult to learn, even for Czechs who grew up with it.
For example the seven cases of the word for singular pumpkin are: dýně, dýni, dýni, dýni, dýně, dýni, dýní and for zucchini: cuketa, cuketu, cuketě, cuketu, cuketo, cuketě, cuketou.
That might lead to the words not sounding right when you try to translate them in isolation, when you try to translate them in a phrase, or when you translate them back and forth.
Czech is also a gendered language; verbs, adjectives, and words can change based on the gender of the person who speaks or is spoken to. For example, “I am allergic to pumpkins” would be “Jsem alergický na dýně” (man speaks) and “Jsem alergická na dýně” (woman speaks).
I think you should come by with English just fine, especially in Prague, and when talking to the younger generation. I do not think one can achieve any level of meaningful fluency in the Czech language without a professional tutor. Czech is ranked among the most difficult European languages for English speakers. Having a card listing one’s allergies to hand out just in case does sound practical and wise, though, and if I ever have to travel to a foreign country, I am stealing that idea.
I sympathise with your wife. I am allergic to everything from the carrot family when raw (pickled or cooked is OK). It is one of the main reasons why I do not particularly like to travel and experiment with unknown foods -- I am tired of having to tell the waiting staff that I do not want parsley on anything, and once I even had to return the food and request a replacement because the waiter forgot. He accepted it was his mistake and was chill about it, but I still did not like having to do it.
Děkuji,
This will help quit a bit.
We came up with the idea of carrying cards about five years ago. Just as COVID was dying down I got a little stir-crazy and my parents offered to pay for trip abroad to get away for a bit. My job entails keeping the production lines running for automotive production, and my role includes identifying alternative electronic components which would be just as effective and as high a quality as those which we couldn’t get because of shortages. In normal times I might have to look at 2-3 components a year across all the OEMs we support. During the COVID shortages it was 3-4 a week, usually with no warning. I do this for braking systems and if I screw it up I am putting people in danger. While I could work entirely from home I was starting to lose it. I’m still not certain I’ve fully recovered from the stress.
However, we decided to go to London. The flights were absurdly cheap, as was the hotel, and for two weeks I was far enough away from work that I didn’t have to think at all about it.
We found, however, that every restaurant asked about allergies. Apparently a couple people had recently perished from eating food they were allergic to at a restaurant, and the waiter was shown to be at least partially at fault for not asking. So, every place we ate we spent several minutes explaining both the nature of my wife’s strange allergies and having the server write down each ingredient. That’s when we decided that we would make cards we could just hand to the server. We use them in the states too. We talked a little about how to ensure the restaurant paid attention to them, so they start with the phrase, “The bearer of this card is allergic to:”, printed in red. Then a red line. Then the list of allergies printed in black. There is a red caduceus to the side. It looks like something from a doctor. We never say it is, but it gets their attention.
As far as gendered languages go, I’m not all that unfamiliar with them. Close to 40 years ago I spent some time in Thailand and learned a little Thai. I’ve forgotten everything now except how to say thank you, “K̄hxbkhuṇ K̄hxb”, pronounced something like “Kop kun kop”, if you are a male speaker. It would be “K̄hxbkhuṇ K̄hx”, pronounced something like, “Kop kun ka” if the speaker is female. Looking at google translate, it looks like they translate it more to say, “Thanks” rather than “Thank you”, and drop the gendered part of the phrase. I’ve seen on-line translators do that to other languages too, where “Thank you” in Turkish becomes “Teşekkür”, which is really translating to “Thanks”, the full phrase should be, “Teşekkür ederim”.
But you don’t really want to read my blatherings, so once again I’ll thank you for all your help. I have subscribed to “The Honest Guys” patreon. Of all the places we’ve decided we want to visit, I think the Vyšehrad fortress may be the one I’m looking forward to the most. Of course we’ll hit the main tourist attractions as well as the concerts, galleries, and museums, but the Vyšehrad fortress just looks peaceful.
Děkuji