Three Sisters Garden

Plant a “Three Sisters Garden” as a final summer garden planting!

One of our summer garden favorites is a Three Sisters Garden plot, which follows a Native American legend about three sisters: corn, beans and squash. This “family” of plants can be planted at the end of spring until about mid-June, depending on your climate zone. The plants are called “sisters” because they help each other to grow. They provide a nice metaphor for how we can be in our human families.

How is this garden planted? First plant a circle of corn plants, about 8 plants. Let it get started for two weeks. Then add about 16 bean seeds around the corn, and a third circle of pumpkin or squash seeds around them.

How do these “sisters” help each other? The corn grows tall, providing a structure for the beans to climb. The beans, in turn, provide nitrogen for the corn, because of the nitrogen fixing bacteria that are on legume roots. The squash or pumpkins grow out over the ground, shading it, and helping to avoid the growth of other weeds. This story of complimentary plants is a metaphor for how we can help each other as human beings, each sharing our particular talents with our own communities.

Read more about the “Three Sisters” in chapter 15 of Growing Whole Children in the Garden.