The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters is a native american planting method where corn, beans, and a winter squash are grown together. The reason these three are grown together is so that each can provide aid to the other: the corn provides a tall stalk that the beans can twine up, the beans fix nitrogen into the soil to feed the other plants, and the squash or pumpkins shade the ground, keeping it cool and preventing weeds from growing. I also recently read that the hispid (or bristly, rough) leaves of the squash keep raccoons away from the corn.

A few weeks ago I dug 15 smalls hills (about 3' x 4' and about 8 or 10" tall) and transplanted pumpkin seedlings and planted miniature popcorn seeds into alternating hills. The corn has just come up, and is now about 2 inches tall. I will wait until the corn is between 4 and 6 inches tall before I plant the beans. Because beans grow so much faster than corn, it is important to give the corn a good head start.