The Three Sisters: Planting Corn, Beans, and Squash Together (2024)

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The Three Sisters: Planting Corn, Beans, and Squash Together? ›

The Iroquois and the Cherokee called corn, bean, and squash “the three sisters” because they nurture each other like family when planted together. These agriculturalists placed corn in small hills planting beans around them and interspersing squash throughout of the field.

Did you know corn, beans, and squash are called the “Three Sisters”? Many Native American tribes planted this trio together because they thrive like three inseparable sisters. Here's how to perform a Three Sisters Planting to have your own Three Sisters garden.

Sky Woman buried her daughter in the “new earth.” From her grave grew three sacred plants—corn, beans, and squash. These plants provided food for her sons, and later, for all of humanity. These special gifts ensured the survival of the Iroquois people.

-Success with a Three Sisters garden involves careful attention to timing, seed spacing and varieties. In many areas, if you simply plant all three in the same hole at the same time, the result will be a snarl of vines in which the corn gets overwhelmed.

Winter squash is the “other sister” in the Three Sister planting method, but it benefits the growth of beans in a different way. Winter squash has large leaves that can shelter the soil around the base of bean plants, suppressing weeds and slowing down evaporation rates so beans don't need to be watered as often.

Who are the three sisters? The crops of corn, beans, and squash are known as the Three Sisters. For centuries these three crops have been the center of Native American agriculture and culinary traditions. It is for good reason as these three crops complement each other in the garden as well as nutritionally.

Cucumber and Squash

Cucumbers and squash come from the same family and both need nutrient-rich soil in order to thrive. "Planting cucumbers and squash together increases the competition for vital nutrients and will quickly exhaust the nutrients in their soil," says Spoonemore.

To the Iroquois people, corn, beans, and squash are the Three Sisters, the physical and spiritual sustainers of life. These life-supporting plants were given to the people when all three miraculously sprouted from the body of Sky Woman's daughter, granting the gift of agriculture to the Iroquois nations.

The Iroquois believe corn, beans and squash are precious gifts from the Great Spirit, each watched over by one of three sisters spirits, called the De-o-ha-ko, or Our Sustainers. The planting season is marked by ceremonies to honor them, and a festival commemorates the first harvest of green corn on the cob.

Typically, Winter squash will work best. The traditional choice would be a Pumpkin, but you can also go with Spaghetti, Butternut, or any other vine-growing Winter squash that you prefer. Once you have chosen your varieties of each of the Three Sisters, it's time to plant!

What is the three sisters planting myth? ›

The first academic description of the Three Sisters cropping system in 1910 reported that the Iroquois preferred to plant the three crops together, since it took less time and effort than planting them individually, and because they believed the plants were "guarded by three inseparable spirits and would not thrive ...

The Three Sisters planting method is a traditional agricultural practice used by Native Peoples where corn, beans, and squash are planted in a symbiotic triad to enhance soil fertility and plant growth. Graphic by Grace Rodgers/USFWS.

Runner beans can be too vigorous but climbing French beans should work perfectly. Pumpkin or squash plants are set out at the same time. Work to one plant per square metre/yard given over to the scheme. Keep on top of weeds until the pumpkins/squash cover the soil, and keep well-watered through the whole season.

When the corn is about 6” tall, plant 2-3 bean seeds about 6” from the base of each corn plant. Finally, plant 2-3 squash seeds (spaced about 6” apart) in their own hills between the hills of corn and beans. 6. Keep weeded until squash vines grow to cover the ground.

CORN – one of the most common companion planting schemes is that of the three sisters, which includes planting corn, beans and squash together. Zucchinis are a type of squash. Corn and zucchini do not necessarily benefit one another but they do grow well together and enjoy similar soil conditions.

Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans fix nitrogen on their roots, improving the overall fertility of the plot by providing nitrogen to the following years corn. Bean vines also help stabilize the corn plants, making them less vulnerable to blowing over in the wind.

Beans, however, contain all the essential amino acids but one, methionine, which just happens to be the amino acid that corn does have. Together, a mixture of two parts corn and one part beans is almost equal in protein quality to fresh milk.