Three Sisters

Have you ever heard of the Three Sisters Companion Planting technique? It is a Native American practice to maximize growing space and promote strong growth and sustainability.

The three crops planted together would be corn, beans, and a variety of squash or pumpkin. The corn would be planted first, then around two weeks later the pole bean and squash. The corn provides stability for the growth of the climbing bean and the squash planted at the same time of the bean would provide shade to the soil. It was a practice that is still used and feeds communities.

We gave this very method a try except I didn’t know at the time the meaning or truly the best practice behind it. What I mean by that is I didn’t take the time to research how to actually use its fullest potential.

We planted everything at the same time and used a pea vs a bean at the peak of summer. If you are new to gardening like I was, planting a pea at the peak of summer is like throwing money out the window. Peas do not grow well in the summer heat. The corn and squash took off but the peas didn’t grow as fast because of the summer heat and were choked out by the squash. We had a few plantings that worked out okay but not ideal. When we do this again we will plant the corn first, then the climbing bean and then the squash after we of course research the best varieties to use!

I couldn’t understand at the time why our companion planting wasn’t thriving but stepping back I realized that had we of taken the time to do the proper research we would have spent less time trying to troubleshoot our lack of an abundant harvest.

Moral of the story… Try new things! It may not be an instant success story but imagine all the great chapters you get to add until it becomes your greatest story told!

-Jamie