Three Sisters Garden Spacing
By planting corn beans and squash together you can reduce pests and disease while increasing the bounty.
Three sisters garden spacing. I plant the corn in short rows with every row being just wide enough for me to work in comfortably. Ive used the three sisters method for several years although i didnt know it was called that to save space in my garden. The three sisters method is companion planting at its best with three plants growing symbiotically to deter weeds and pests enrich the soil and support each other. This should only be planted once the corn is five inches in height.
Some combine all three sisters in a trinity planting per mound while many have squash on a separate mound. Watch our video where tricia shows how easy it is to plant using the three sisters method. The three sisters a legend diversity how to plant the three sisters activities information evaluation experience a haudenosaunee garden in this section you will learn how to plant the three sisters according to haudenosaunee custom. Now that you know the basic three sisters garden layout feel free to experiment with the shape and size of your three sisters garden and find a layout that works best in your garden space.
The knowledge of the three sisters garden comes to us via indigenous american agricultural traditions existing in many nations practice in different forms for a long long time. One involves working inside a bucket sized ring roughly 12. The next plant to add to your three sister garden space is the pole bean. Maize corn that you grind to a nutritious flour beans and squash were grown together in this three sisters system.
Once all mounds have been planted water the garden space to settle the beans and soil. Some use 18 mounds some suggests 3 5. Companion plants in the three sisters. Instead of todays single rows of a single vegetable this method of interplanting introduced biodiversity which does many thingsfrom attracting pollinators to making the land richer instead of stripping it of nutrients.
If you are looking to learn more gardening check out the class below or we have some free gardening mini classes. There are a lot of planting plans out there for three sisters now. Companion planting is a useful gardening technique of growing certain veggies together to take advantage of their natural tendencies and relationships. That way i can easily weed between the rows.
In terms of varieties you can preserve the historic dimension of the three sisters by using heirloom varieties or you can add updated varieties to the mix. The three sisters is a traditional form of companion gardening first developed by native americans. I plant sweet corn kentucky wonder pole beans and whatever pumpkin varieties that catch my eye that year. How to plant the three sisters.