Planting Native Three Sisters Crops in Desert Areas: Corn
One result was that this hill frequently had moisture in the morning when the other hill looked dry. A permanent windbreak would benefit any farmer growing in this area.
The hypothesis that deep planted corn do better is based on the assumption roots of the corn have another few inches to grow in and to get water from. This has two noteworthy affects: 1. Theoretically the corn will need less additional water since it can reach further and find more on its own, and 2. The corn is sturdier in the winds. I haven't read that the winds are increasing, but it is reasonable to think they will with the increasingly drier temperatures. If you remember the dust bowl, it was the winds that came after and during the dry weather that did most of the damage.
The natives in these parts had another trick up their sleeveless shirts: They planted companion crops. The traditional companions to corn were squash and beans. The beans grew up the stalks and didn't have to be staked. The beans and squash formed a living mulch for the corn. The beans even fixed nitrogen in the soil.
That looks to be beneficial to the corn. I planted all three crops inside of the cup so I could conserve water, which I carried to the two hills I planted in plastic milk cartons. The Navajo planted their squash on the outside of the cup. The squash loved their location and grew a nice dark green leaf in the shade of the corn before venturing outside of the cup with their vines. I planted the beans about three to five inches inside of each corn plant, although not all of my sprouts survived. I do not know what killed a couple of the bean sprouts; all sprouted, but two of them lasted only a couple of days.
Both the one inch corn and the corn planted much deeper grew additional stocks. The deeper corn developed the stalks earlier and were better able to tolerate the hot afternoons. The more shallow corn was regularly the first corn to wilt during our first very hot days of summer.
The natives in my area of the southwest were some of this world's first farmers. They farmed this land, not just for centuries, but for five millennia. Using their methods, I think I'll be able to continue doing as they have done throughout this next, much
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