How To Grow A Three Sisters Garden At Home

iStock-1256010942 The Three Orchard Sisters, corn, peas, beans, pumpkin and 3 sisters wooden label

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The Three Sisters Garden follows the American tradition of growing corn, beans and squash, so these three growing vegetables benefit from being close together. Although they are not actually related by blood, they support each other like brothers and sisters.

Today's gardeners may want to remember that the native farmers who founded the Three Sisters farm grew corn, stone or flour, not sweet corn. They will also allow the pods of the pea plant to mature to produce pods, rather than harvesting them first like chickpeas or pods.

What is Three Sisters Park?

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History says: “To the Iroquois, corn, beans and squash were three brothers, supporters of physical and spiritual life. These hardy plants were agricultural gifts to the Iroquois, and all three were given to humans when they miraculously grew from the body of Princess Skye.

Therefore, it is appropriate that these countries grow this type of plant together. The corn was first planted on a hill and the seeds were added to a place where the corn could climb. Meanwhile, kayote or gourd plants occupy the ground between the base and the hill and serve as cover for the other vegetables.

The last friend of the plant

Maize, chickpeas and squash were the main support crops; Beans grow corn plants and add nitrogen to the soil, while squash makes a living mulch. Its broad leaves shade the soil, suppress weeds, repel pests such as raccoons and keep the soil moist.

corn

Flint grows corn and grinds corn for use in johnnycakes, cornbread and similar foods. While they can theoretically be used as sweet corn in the soft milk arena, they are not as sweet or thin as modern sweet corn varieties (and can be disappointing in that regard). Flint corn takes 110 days to germinate and the ears must be left on the tree until the tree withers and the eggs die.

Corn stalks act as a living cage for their sister beans. While you can grow sweet corn, such as the flint variety, avoid popcorn. The stem of this plant is very short, so it can be hit by other plants.

Our recommendation: Tresh Seed Company Rhode Island White Cap Flint Corn for $8.89 on Amazon .
Narragansett corn produces long, thin ears with large "white" kernels.

Related: Best Fertilizer for Corn

peas

Young peas can be harvested to eat the pods (just like your regular green peas) or cooked on the vine to make peas or soup. Like most legumes, they add nitrogen to the soil, but "in the first year, most of the nitrogen is unavailable to corn and squash; pea roots must break down to release the nitrogen," says the College of Agriculture and Life or Cornell. the sciences.

Mung beans can be ready to harvest in 50 days, the pods take about 85 days to mature and can be harvested when the pods start to turn yellow. However, do not try to replace the cork nut with a stud type as it will not come off.

Our recommendation: Tresh Seed Company's Cherokee Black Shelling Beans at Amazon for $8.89 .
This variety of black bean was adopted by members of the Cherokee nation when they were driven from their homeland in 1838.

Pumpkin

For this sister plant, you can choose any type of kayote or pumpkin that suits your needs. Note that summer squash tends to be more luscious than vines, so it doesn't make the best ground cover. As mentioned below, winter squash usually ripens within 105 days. Once the strips are dry enough not to burn the nails, remove them from the vines and let them dry in the sun for a week.

Our recommendation: Everwilde Farms Chowder Green Sliced Pumpkin for $3.25 on Amazon .
The pumpkin is native to the Americas, and this white pumpkin with green spots produces a yellow-orange flesh.

other plant sisters

In addition to the three sisters, you'll want to plant tall plants like sunflowers, Jerusalem artichokes, or mid-hill amaranths. There, pumpkin vines cover the ground. In addition to attracting pollinators, these complementary crops can produce crops. Plant them at the same time you plant the corn to start the squash.

RELATED: Bad Neighbors: 11 Pairs of Plants That Don't Grow Together

Plant three sisters step by step

Since you can't predict how many seeds will grow, it's a good idea to plant twice as many as you need in your Three Sisters garden design and prune any extra plants. Follow these steps on how to grow a three sister garden for best results.

Choose a location that receives at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day.
When nighttime temperatures rise to 50 F and dogwood leaves are the size of shell pores, build a 12-inch, 2-foot-tall mound.
Plant corn seeds 1 inch deep and 6 inches apart in groups in the center of the hill, planting each in seven holes to ensure that at least seven seedlings emerge.
When the seeds germinate, leaving the strongest seedlings in place and removing any excess at ground level, space the bushes 6 inches or more apart.
Following Cornell's Three Sisters planting chart, wait until the corn stalks are at least 6 inches tall before planting beans 1 inch deep in the four corners of the corn circle.
After the seeds have germinated, leave the four strongest bean plants in the four corners, and cut off the sprouts.
Plant four squash or pumpkin seeds 1 meter from the hill, spacing the seedlings evenly across the hill.
As the plants begin to grow, the beans train to climb the cones and cover the soil beneath the cones.
Place the additional hills so that the distance from the center of one to the center of the other is 4 meters.
Make sure your third sister plants get at least 1 inch of water per week through rain or irrigation.

Final thoughts

These three "siblings" tend to be the kind of garden that grows best with friends. Although the Three Sisters growth style described here generally works well in humid climates such as the Northeast, it can be more problematic in the dry Southwest.

If you want to try this method in a desert area, you may need to remove the hills and plant crops, as the vegetables on the hills dry out quickly. Also, if you're not looking for authenticity, try the Three Sisters garden vegetables with sweet corn, as well as beans and cucumbers.