Did you know that corn, beans, and squash are called the āThree Sistersā? A number of Native American tribes interplanted this trio because they thrive together, much like three inseparable sisters. Here’s how to plant your own Three Sisters garden.
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What Is a Three Sisters Garden?
The Three Sisters method is companion planting at its best, with three plants growing symbiotically to deter weeds and pests, enrich the soil, and support each other.
Instead of today’s single rows of a single vegetable, this method of interplanting introduced biodiversity, which does many thingsāfrom attracting pollinators to making the land richer instead of stripping it of nutrients. In a sense, we take no more from nature than what we give back.
By the time European settlers arrived in America in the early 1600s, the Iroquois had been growing the āthree sistersā for over three centuries. The vegetable trio sustained the Native Americans both physically and spiritually. In legend, the plants were a gift from the gods, always to be grown together, eaten together, and celebrated together.
Each of the sisters contributes something to the planting. Together, the sisters provide a balanced diet from a single planting.
As older sisters often do, the corn offers the beans necessary support.
The pole beans, the giving sister, pull nitrogen from the air and bring it to the soil for the benefit of all three.
As the beans grow through the tangle of squash vines and wind their way up the cornstalks into the sunlight, they hold the sisters close together.
The large leaves of the sprawling squash protect the threesome by creating living mulch that shades the soil, keeping it cool and moist and preventing weeds.
The prickly squash leaves also keep away raccoons and other pests, which don’t like to step on them.
Together, the three sisters provide both sustainable soil fertility as well as a heathly diet. Perfection!
Image credit: University of Illinois Extension
Which Seeds to Plant
In modern-day gardens, the Three Sisters consists of these three vegetables:
Pole beans (not bush beans). Common pole beans such as Scarlet Runner or Italian Snap should work. The āOhio Pole Beanā is our favorite. We’ve also heard that some very vigorous hybrid pole beans clambering up skinny hybrid corn stalks can pull them down. So if you want to be extra cautious, look for less vigorous climbers. If you’d like to try traditional varieties, look for Four Corners Gold Beans or Hopi Light Yellow.
Corn such as sweet corn, dent corn, or popcorn, or a combination. Your favorite sweet corn variety will do, although Native American gardeners traditionally used a heartier corn with shorter stalks or many-stalked varieties so that the beans didn’t pull down the corn. Varieties include the pale yellow Tarhumara corn, Hopi White corn, or heritage Black Aztec,
Small-leafed squash such as summer squash (zucchini) or winter squash (Hubbard). Note: Pumpkins are too vigorous and heavy; plant in a separate bed. Native American squash was different, but a yellow summer crookneck is similar enough.
If you do wish to investigate pure strains of native seeds, reach out to experts such as Native Seeds/SEARCH, a nonprofit headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, or Native American cultural museums.
How to Plant the Three Sisters
There are variations to the Three Sisters method, but the idea is to plant the sisters in clusters on low wide mounds rather than in a single traditional row.
Before planting, choose a sunny location (at least 6 hours of full sun every day). This method of planting isn’t based on rows, so think in terms of a small field. Each hill will be about 4 feet wide and 4 feet apart, with 4 to 6 corn plants per hill. Calculate your space with this in mind.
In the spring, prepare the soil with plenty of organic matter and weed-free compost. Adjust the soil with fish scraps or wood ash if needed.
Make a mound of soil that is about a foot high at its center and 3 to 4 feet wide. The center of the mound should be flat and about 10 inches in diameter. For multiple mounds, space about four feet apart.
Plant corn first, once danger of frost has passed and nighttime temperatures reach 55°F (13°C). Don’t plant any later than June 1 in most areas, since corn requires a long growing season. See local frost dates.
Sow six kernels of corn an inch deep in the flat part of the mound, about ten inches apart in a circle of about 2 feet in diameter.
Don’t plant the beans and squash until the corn is about 6 inches to 1 foot tall. This ensures that the corn stalks will be strong enough to support the beans. The beansā role is to fix nitrogen in the soil, which is needed for strong corn production. You can grow several pole bean varieties without worrying about hybrids, but just plant one variety per hill. (Tip: Another option is to plant corn transplants; in this case, you’d plant them at the same time as the beans.)
Once corn is 6 inches to 1 foot tall, plant four bean seeds, evenly spaced, around each stalk. (Tip: If you coat your bean seeds with an inoculant before planting, you will fix nitrogen in the soil and that will benefit all of the plants.)
About a week later, plant six squash seeds, evenly spaced, around the perimeter of the mound. See the spacing for squash on your packet; usually this is about 18 inches apart. You may wish to put two seeds in each hole to make sure that at least one germinates.
Sometimes a fourth sister is included, such as a sunflower or amaranth, which attracts pollinators and lures birds away from the seeds. Sunflowers can be planted at the cross section of the spaces between the corn hills, and harvested for seeds. Amaranth could come up among the squash, and could be harvested both for greens and for seeds.
Watch our video demonstrating how to plant a three sisters garden.
I'm wondering about the sunflowers. Sunflowers typically kill most things planted around them due to some weed suppressing chemicals used by sunflowers to drown out the competition. I guess you could plant them several feet away and they would be ok.
Well, I see that although this article is dated May 2020, the comment thread goes all the way back to 2013. Questions about the type of corn appear to be addressed in the (presumed) update to the article last year. Questions about the mound, however, received only vague comments about drainage, and to Iroquois mythology.
I first heard about three sisters in the Southwest, far from Iroquois territory, and use of a mound appears to be hit or miss; even the included video might be slightly mounded but it sure isn't a foot high. And I don't understand the description of where to put the optional sunflowers (I'm trying mine in the center of the corn circle). On your next update it would be helpful to clarify these ambiguities.
The how-to video included in this post literally gives no information on how to plant these three things together...you just reiterate the same information you gave in the text. Pretty please add an actual demonstration of building the mound and planting the seeds. In the meantime I guess I am just winging it. Thanks!
1. What is the purpose of the mound? Why build it up at all? Couldn't you just plant the same layout at existing ground level?
2. Your math doesn't add up. Step 2 says to make the flat top of the mound "about 10 inches across." Step 4, however, says to plant the corn kernels on the flat top "in a circle about 2 feet in diameter." Step 4's dimensions make more sense - assuming there's a reason for the mound at all - but which is it?
I grow this every year and it works... The purpose for the mound is 1. you actually bury your fertilizer under the mound. Native Americans used fish parts but you can use whatever.. I use rabbit manure as it's plentiful here. 2. it elevates the corn and beans above the squash so you can get to the beans for picking later. Once you plant this garden harvesting is difficult but as the article states a great producer on small land. You train the squash vines (the best you can) to stay around the mounds...You should give it a try...
Good luck
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