The Three Sisters
Native American Gardening

Author: Eve Pranis

Although native peoples from different parts of North America used a wide range of agricultural techniques, perhaps the best known is the interplanting of corn, beans, and squash together — a trio considered by the Iroquois Indians of the east as "The Three Sisters." Numerous school gardeners in our network have experimented with Three Sisters and other Native American plantings, and others have expressed interest in doing so.

This well-conceived planting system features three crops that benefit one another and together nourish the people who plant them. The corn supports the bean vines as they grow upward, and the squash covers the soil, helping control weeds and deter animals who might feed on the corn. The beans can convert nitrogen from the air into a form that plants can use. (The nitrogen remaining after the beans have grown will be available for the corn, which requires a good deal of the nutrient, the following year.) The sisters also complement each other nutritionally, with the corn supplying carbohydrates, beans contributing protein and additional vitamins, and squash offering lots of vitamin A.

It's hardly surprising that these crops­­, considered by many to be special gifts from the creator, played such an important role in the agriculture and nutrition of most of the native peoples of the Americas. Because of the Sisters' central role as "sustainers of life," a host of stories, customs, celebrations, and ceremonies are associated with them. Each native culture that grew the Three Sisters had a unique planting system. Here we feature guidelines for a design often used in the Northeast.


Starting Your Own
Growing your own three sisters garden or planting the crops in a small patch outside your home or school can provide a springboard for tying in studies of Native American customs, nutrition, and folklore, as well as investigating plant growth and relationships.

Select and Prepare a Site

You'll want to plant your Three Sisters Garden in late spring once the danger of frost has passed. Choose a site that has direct sunshine for most of the day and access to water. Once students have determined their site's dimensions, challenge them to plan their Three Sisters Garden on paper. They can use the layout suggested below or research others and try them out.

First, break up and rake the soil. Next, build a mound about 12 inches high and between 18 inches and 3 feet in diameter. If you're in a dry area, flatten the top of the mound and make a shallow depression to keep water from running off. The number of mounds your students create depends on the size of your growing area. Mounds should be 3 to 4 feet apart in all directions.

Plant the Site

Corn. Soak four to seven corn seeds per mound overnight and then plant them about 6 inches apart in the center of each mound. (You'll eventually thin to three or four seedlings.) Many native people honor the tradition of giving thanks to the "Four Directions" by orienting the corn seeds to the north, south, east, and west. By doing the same, students can learn to use compasses and observe the sun's movements. (Note: popcorn doesn't usually grow tall enough for this system and may get overwhelmed by the beans.)

Beans and squash. After a week or two, when the corn is at least 4 inches high, soak and then plant six pole bean seeds in a circle about 6 inches away from the corn. (You'll eventually thin to three or four bean seedlings.) At about the same time, plant four squash or pumpkin seeds next to the mound, about a foot away from the beans, eventually thinning to one. If you are planting a large area, you can also sow the squash in separate mounds (1 foot in diameter) near every few corn and bean mounds.

To enrich a three sisters planting project, you might research some of the folklore and customs surrounding planting these crops. For instance, the Iroquois planted the seeds "with kind thoughts three days before the full moon." Garden consultant Judy Isacoff Thomas had students in Castleton, NY, create and use "magic planting sticks" from felled trees, decorated with yarn, cornhusks, and feathers.

Consider Other Additions Consider planting other traditional crops, such as sunflowers or jerusalemc artichokes (a tuberous perennial sunflower), around the Three Sisters Garden. Put these tall crops on the north side so they won't shade your other plants. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other native crops are often planted in nearby plots. Some of the many other indigenous plants used by native North, South, and Central Americans include melons, tobacco, chili peppers, cotton, blueberries, wild rice, and hazelnuts. Your students might let their creative juices flow as they create a unique scarecrow. A number of native cultures' gardens incorporate these familiar figures.


Help the Three Sisters Grow Stronger
As corn plants grow, weed gently around them and mound soil at the base of each stem for support. When the corn is knee-high and again when silks appear on the husks, it helps to "side-dress" by putting a high-nitrogen fertilizer (such as aged manure or fish emulsion) on the soil surface near each plant. If beans aren't winding their way around the corn, youngsters can help by moving tendrils to the stalks. (Keen observers may notice a pattern in the direction in which the bean vines wind.) To allow room for corn and beans to grow, gently direct squash vines into walkways, garden edges, or between mounds. Once students observe young fruits, side-dress the squash plants with aged manure or compost. If you pinch off the tips of squash runners after several fruits have started to form, the plants will devote more energy to producing squash.


Three Sisters in Miniature
"We had talked about the three sisters, but didn't have the room outdoors to plant them," reports fourth grade teacher Wendy Maynard, in Daly City, CA. "So students suggested trying to grow them right in the GrowLab." Using a large pot, the students figured out that based on planting distances, they could only plant one corn plant, two bean plants, and one squash plant.

Although they never expected to grow these crops to maturity indoors, they were able to see the pole beans twine around the corn, the squash forming a lower mat, and began to get a sense of how the three sisters grew together.

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