![]() This should be a tall variety to give the beans plenty of room to climb (and to make sure the beans don’t overcrowd the corn). The Three Sisters method entails the following companion plants working together: Corn Varieties to plant in a Three Sisters garden ![]() If you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission. ![]() Disclosure: All products on this page are independently selected. In our current world of monocropping and overworking the soil, we can still learn a lot from this system to practice companion planting and improve soil fertility. While these traits are less important today, they were so important in the past that they became the major cultivated crops of Indigenous peoples. These three crops could also be dried and used as food year-round. Corn was a source of carbohydrates, beans were rich in protein, and squash provided vitamins and minerals-a well-rounded diet to supplement the hunter/gatherer life. The Iroquois believed that the Three Sisters could only grow and thrive together in community, as they complemented each other not just agriculturally, but nutritionally as well. This ancient method of closely interplanting three companion crops created a sustainable ecosystem, in which the corn grew tall to provide the beans a structure to climb, the beans stabilized the corn stalks and fixed nitrogen in the soil for heavy-feeding squash, and the squash vine sprawled across the bed to shade the soil and suppress the weeds (in effect, acting as an edible ground cover). The Three Sisters were the main agricultural crops that sustained the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois) for centuries before European settlers ever arrived: maize (corn), beans, and squash. Rooted in Native American history, the Three Sisters garden is the original basis for companion planting, a useful technique in gardening where certain vegetables are grown together to take advantage of their natural tendencies and relationships-a form of mutual aid society, if you will. Sample garden layouts for planting a Three Sisters garden.Varieties to plant in a Three Sisters garden.
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