Highlights in the 2022 Garden

The ​Annual Twilight Garden Tour is on Tuesday, August 23 from 4-7 p.m. To be held at the Station’s Teaching and Display Garden, located at 780 Orchard Lane off Highway 70 .

Three Sisters Garden: This space located near the south end of the vegetable garden displays the
“Three Sisters” combination of Corn, Beans and Squash. For centuries these three crops have been 
the center of Native American agriculture and culinary traditions. While planting styles varied, 
the concepts for planting these three vegetables near each other were as follow. The corn provides 
tall stalks for the beans to climb so they are not outcompeted by the sprawling squash.
Beans being legumes, fix nitrogen through their symbiotic relationship with rhizobia bacteria, and 
provide nitrogen to the corn, and the large vining squash leaves shade the ground which helps 
retain soil moisture and reduces competition from weeds. The vegetables seeds for this planting 
were gifted to us by the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe tribe and include Cherokee Trial of Tears black 
pole beans, Bear Island and Mandan Bride flint corn and the Gete Okosomin (big old squash).

In this garden the corn was planted in early June in a swirl with space between rows approximately 
two feet. The inter swirl is Mandan Bride and the outer part of the swirl is Bear Island. When the 
corn was about 6 sinches tall a single bean seed was planted near the base of each corn plant. 
About a week later after the beans germinated the squash seeds were planted several feet around the 
edges of the outer swirl of corn.

Seed to Kitchen Collaborative/Organic Seed Alliance vegetable trials: For many years the Spooner 
Research Station has conducted field scale organic vegetable variety trials for the SKC project. 
The goal of this research is to evaluate new and promising vegetable varieties that have improved 
flavor and direct market qualities. These plots are typically 1/8 to over one acre in size and 
include replicated and randomized plantings. To increase participation and feedback, gardeners and 
fresh market growers can now participate in evaluating select breeding line in their own gardens.

Participating gardeners are sent all the seeds they need for their trials, labels, planting maps 
and datasheets. They agree to start the seeds and plant a minimum of 3-4 plant and manage them as 
they normally would other crops and provide feedback on how plants grew. In the Display Garden we 
have a pepper breeding trial, four different tomato breeding trials, and several potato breeding 
trials. More info at https://seedtokitchen.horticulture.wisc.edu/

Children’s Garden and Little Free Library: We now have an officially registered Little Free Library 
located in what is now being called our Children’s Garden Area. This Little Free Library features 
kids’ books and will be incorporated into our summer Kids in the Garden program.

Organic Mulches in the Garden: Keeping the soil covered is one of the guiding principles of 
improving soil health, and mulches are one option. Shredded bark and wood chips are being used in 
walkways and under perennial plants, and various locally sourced plant materials are used under and 
around annual plants. Organic mulches suppress weeds, help retain soil moisture and enrich the soil 
with organic matter and nutrients.

​The Teaching & Display Garden is a joint effort between UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life 
Science Spooner Agriculture Research Station, UW-Madison Division of Extension and Master
Gardener and Research Station Volunteers. More info at https://spooner.ars.wisc.edu/