How to Plant a Three Sisters Garden

According to many Native American legends the three sisters are corn, squash and beans who can only grow and thrive if they are planted together.

The technique of planting these three different plant seeds together is one that has been used by Native Americans long before the Europeans arrived. It is interesting to see how the wisdom of the Native Americans can now be explained by science of intercropping.

Planting the three plants together allows the corn, beans and squash to work together in a process called companion planting. Each plant helps the others to grow, creating a beneficial relationship, hence the stories of the three sisters working together.

The tall corn provides a natural trellis that the beans can climb up on. The beans provide nitrogen in the soil to help the corn grow. The low-growing squash grows along the ground, protecting the roots, suppresses the weeds and helps to conserves water.

In addition when corn and beans consumed together or within a few hours of each other, they make made a complete protein, or you get all of the amino acids that you need for the day. By eating complete proteins Native Americans (and others who eat grains and beans) are less dependent on animal sources of protein.

You may want to pick up a copy of The Resilient Gardener to learn more about how potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs can be grown in the home and help you be more self-reliant on your own food sources.

Three Sisters Print available on Amazon

From Renee's Garden shares information about the Three Sisters on the seed packet:

• According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. This tradition of interplanting corn, beans and squash in the same mounds, widespread among Native American farming societies, is a sophisticated, sustainable system that provided long-term soil fertility and a healthy diet to generations.
• Growing a Three Sisters Garden is a wonderful way to feel more connected to the history of this land, regardless of our ancestry

In late spring, we plant the corn and beans and squash. They're not just plants. We call them the three sisters.

We plant them together, three kinds of seeds in one hole. They want to be together with each other, just as we Indians want to be together with each other.

So long as the three sisters are with us we know we will never starve. The Creator sends them to us each year.

We celebrate them now. We thank Him for the gift He gives us today and every day.

Chief Louis Farmer (Onondaga)

Source: Marykirk Cunningham, David McDavitt, and Beth Romero. Native American Three Sisters Gardens. Webquest. New Mexico State University.

Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan officially kicked off an Earth Day celebration at the U.S. Dept of Agriculture's Whitten Building with Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Brings Plenty by planting corn, beans and squash in the traditional Native American way in the People's Garden.

The People's Garden is on a corner of USDA property that has been dug up to bring organic gardening methods to greater awareness. In addition to the 3 Sisters Garden, it includes raised beds, container gardens and other planting demonstrations. The USDA says the food grown there will go to local food banks.

When Native people speak of the "Three Sisters," they are referring to corn, beans, and squash.

Known as the "sustainers of life," these are the basic foods of sustenance. They are seen as three beautiful sisters, because they grow in the same mound in a garden.

The corn provides a ladder for the bean vine. The squash vines shade the mound and hold moisture in the soil for the corn and beans. The well-being of each crop planted is said to be protected by another.

Many a legend has been woven around the Three Sisters-sisters who should be planted together, eaten together, and celebrated together.

Shelia Wilson

Source: Wilson S. Legends and Myths: The "Three Sisters." Tar Heel Junior Historian 45:1 (Fall 2005)

This video was created by the 2009 spring plant physiology class at Plymouth State University as part of a video contest. Learn the legend and the science behind this method of planting.

The 2009 Native American $1 Coin is based on the theme of agriculture. On the back side it features a Native American woman planting seeds in a field of corn, beans and squash.

The US Mint offered the following additional information about the Three Sisters:

• Three Sisters symbiotic agriculture-planting corn, climbing beans and squash together in the same plot-also originated in central Mexico and probably spread simultaneously with the corn.
• In this efficient planting method, corn stalks provided support for the bean vines, which added nitrogen to the soil. Squash provided ground cover, which discouraged weeds.
• Productivity was much higher (by some estimates as much as 30 percent) for the three grown together than each grown separately.

Companion planting what the Iroquois valued as the sustainers of life: beans, corn, and squash. Watch the video from GardenGirlTV and learn how to plant them in a raised bed.

The Three Sisters (corn, squash and beans) when eaten together comprise a nearly perfect protein.

The Park Seeds Company describes how these three sister plants work together to protect each other and to result in a higher crop yield than if either were grown separately.

1. Corn - the oldest of the three sisters stands tall and strong. She acts as a support for the climbing vines.
2. Beans - the middle of the three sisters leans on her big sister for support. She helps to bind the three together.
3. Squash - the youngest of the three sisters crouches at the other sisters' feet. She shades her sisters feet and protect them from pests.

Corn is the oldest sister of the three who stand tall and acts as a support for the other two.

Bean is the middle sister who binds the three sisters together, but leans on the others for support.

Squash is the youngest sister who crouches beneath the feet of her taller sisters, protecting and shading their feet.

Park Seed company offers a great tutorial on how to plant your three sisters.

Corn

• Once the soil has warmed up in May or June plant the corn.
• Start by making a flat-topped circular mound of soil one foot high by two feet across.
• Plant a circle of 5 - 6 Corn seeds on the very top of the mound and water well.
• Space the mounds 3 or 4 feet apart in the garden.

Beans

• Two weeks later once the corn has reached about 5 or 6 inches high, plant 6 - 8 bean seeds around the edges of the flat top or about halfway down the sloping sides of the circular mound.
• Be sure to push the seeds down deep into the soil.

Squash

• One week later plant the squash seeds.
• Plant 6 - 8 squash seeds around the base of the mound on the flat ground.

For smaller gardens, adjust the size of the mounds, the number of seeds and the spacing of the mounds.

For more information and images, see the tutorial on the Park Seed company website.

The Casual Gardener, Shawna Lee Coronado and her family show how to plant a three sisters garden.

A stew made with the Three Sisters - Corn, Beans and Squash (Butternut)

Adapted from "The Three Sisters: Corn, Beans and Squash" from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Soups and Salads.

They recommend, "If time allows, let the stew stand for one to two hours before serving, then heat through again. The stew should be thick and very moist but not soupy. Add additional stock or water if needed."

Another recipe that lets you use the three sisters vegetable ingredients. This one works up as a casserole.

Adapted from the "Three Sisters Corn Casserole" from the Cookin' with the Three Sisters.

Various recipes using the Three Sisters - Corn, Squash and Beans

This vegetable soup features squash, several types of beans and corn.

Will you try it with your garden this year?