SISTERSGARDEN

HOW TO GROW THE

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How To Grow The3 Sisters Garden

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ShortcutsA Brief HistoryWhat are the Three Sisters? Benefits of the Three Sisters Nutritional Aspects The Practical StepsPlant Selection The Location The Layout Planting Further Reading

A Brief History.

What are the Three Sisters? The traditional planting of the Three Sisters garden, consisting of corn, beans, and squash, creates a self-sustaining ecosystem that balances the needs of plants and animals.

Three Sisters gardening serves as the model for a wide variety of inter-cropping systems that thrive throughout the world. The successful system augments agricultural productivity in areas that face acute food shortages, without requiring the use of environmentally harmful pesticides and herbicides.

A small experimental three sisters garden.Photo: Abri le Roux, CC BY 2.0

Benefits of Planting the Three Sisters In addition to eliminating the use of harmful chemicals that destroy the soil and damage the living environments of other plants and animals, Three Sisters planting provides you with an efficient way to grow crops on less land.

The interconnection of each of the Three Sisters reduces the amount of row cropping that takes up most, if not all of a planter’s land. Farmers who use the Three Sisters method of planting report they use the saved farmland to plant other crops or raise livestock in areas that were once covered with crops.

A Three Sisters garden in early May. “I think I may have over planted this bed.”Photo: Phil Calvert, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Don’t have much space? No problem.

The Three Sisters garden can get by with very little space, yet still produce an abundance of food.

It can get a bit crowded though, so watch out so you don’t over plant the bed as this example illustrates.

Photo: Phil Calvert, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Nutritional aspects Growing your own vegetables also ensures you reap the benefits of land to table nutrition.

• Fresh corn kernels burst with antioxidants and vitamins that ward off illnesses, as well as comprise a vital source for minerals.

• String beans represent one of the best food sources for dietary fiber, vitamin C, and folate.

• Squash contains the highest level of vitamin A and carotenes.

Together, the Three Sisters fill the nutritional void experienced by a vast majority of Americans.

Photo: net_efekt , CC BY-NC 2.0

See the Three Sisters at the bottom right of photo. In this example he uses a trellis in the middle.

The Practical Steps.

Plant SelectionCorn: Most gardeners grow sweet corn simply because it’s delicious, but you can also grow popcorn or any other corn variety.

Beans: You’ll want pole beans, rather than bush beans. As their name implies, pole beans are ready to run up trellises and corn stalks. Common pole beans include pinto, black, kidney, and navy beans.

Squash: Summer or winter squash both work well, as do pumpkins. Summer squash are ready to eat in six weeks. Winter squash take longer, from 2 1/2 to four months.

Photo: Sarah Braun , CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A three sisters garden in July. “So far it's working good. I'm just worried about the beans outgrowing the corn.”

The Location Plant the corn in several mounds that span several rows within a 10 by 10 foot garden space.

Your Three Sisters should grow in a space that receives a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight every day during the growing season.

You must plant corn in several rows to encourage sufficient pollination, and creating mounds is preferred because they drain better than flat soil.

Enhance the soil by adding compost to negate corn’s propensity to devour nitrogen. You can mark off the corn rows with strings to provide you with more clarity.

The Layout To illustrate how you can plant your Three Sisters garden we’ve included two example layouts on the next two pages.

However, there are no fixed rules so if you want to improvise then feel free to do so.

When you search around the web for examples you’ll find that not many Three Sisters gardens are alike, and all are adapted to their specific location and circumstances.

So experiment, try new things, and if it fails try again!

Source: Cornell University

Source: Cornell University

Planting You should plant the seeds of the Three Sisters when spring nighttime temperatures consistently remain above 50 degrees. Next lets look at how to plant each of the three vegetables to maximize your yield.

Plant the corn about one inch deep. Once the corn attains a height of four inches, clear the garden of any newly arrived weeds and plant the bean and squash seeds.

Photo: macdonalder , CC BY-NC-SA 2.0A young Three Sisters garden

Further Reading Harvesting the Three Sisters Garden for Self-Sufficiency

http://waldenlabs.com/three-sisters-garden/

Growing a Three Sisters Garden

http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/recipes/growing-a-three-sisters-garden

How to Plant the Three Sisters

http://blogs.cornell.edu/garden/get-activities/signature-projects/the-three-sisters-exploring-an-iroquois-garden/how-to-plant-the-three-sisters/

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