The Three Sisters

Many of you may be planting a vegetable garden soon. Here is a suggestion from the Old Farmer’s Almanac that we carried a few years back in the Austin Gardener:

Vegetable gardeners have long observed that many plants grow better when planted with companions than each individual plant would do if grown alone. The classic example of this is the legendary “three sisters” - corn, pole beans, and either pumpkins or squash. This trio is one of the easiest and most satisfying to grow.

To try them in your garden, in spring, when danger of frost has past, plant six kernels of corn an inch deep and about ten inches apart in a circle about two feet in diameter. As the corn grows, mound up the soil around the base of the stalks until a hill about a foot high and three feet wide is formed. When the corn is about five inches tall, plant four bean seeds, evenly spaced around each stalk. About a week later, plant six squash seeds evenly spaced around the perimeter of the mound.

Each of the sisters contributes something to the planting. The corn offers the beans needed support. The beans 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 vines and wind their way up the cornstalks into the sunlight, they hold the sisters together. The large leaves of the sprawling squash protect the three by creating a living mulch that shades the soil, keeping it cool and suppressing weeds. Together the sisters provide a balanced diet from a single planting.

By the time European settlers arrived in America in the early 1600s the Iroquois had been growing the “three sisters” 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. 

Editor