Here is raised bed #1 in my garden plot. After importing three-way garden mix and two batches of compost, my Three Sisters Garden was ready to plant this last weekend. Three mounds of soil were created, and I planted corn, beans and squash in each mound. In a month, all three plant varieties will emerge, and the 'three sisters' will care for and nurture each other through the growing season. They share and exchange the exact nutrients that the other plants need, and the corn shades supports the beans while the beans shade the squash. This is an excellent example of companion planting, and it's also a method that the Indians taught the settlers in the 1800's when they came out west and settled here.
Here are the heirloom varieties I planted.
1) Corn = Country Gentlemen Sweet Corn
2) Bean = Contender
3) Squash = Butternut Rogosa Violina Gioia and Waltham Butternut
"In late spring, we plant the corn and beans and squash. They're not just plants- we call them the three sisters. We plant them together, three kinds of seeds in one hole. They want to be together with each other, just as we Indians want to be together with each other. So long as the three sisters are with us we know we will never starve. The Creator sends them to us each year. We celebrate them now. We thank Him for the gift He gives us today and every day. " --Chief Louis Farmer (Onondaga)
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