Here is where I would put my squash emoji, if I had one

September 28, 2024 12:41 PM

The Three Sisters are a set of plants that some Native American tribes have historically grown together to great agricultural benefit. Corn, beans, and squash nurture each other to produce a bountiful harvest: the corn provides a trellis for the beans, the beans fix nitrogen in the soil, and the squash provides ground cover to prevent weeds and hold in moisture. This is a type of companion planting that saves space and improves garden health. Cornell University has instructions for planting a Three Sisters garden here.

Post inspired by our local Native community garden, which has distributed over a thousand pounds of produce to community members this year. 🌽🫛🍅🌶️

posted by brook horse (9 comments total)

Took a tour through xochimilco in Mexico City today, we toured a couple of farms that are still operating in much the same way they did before the Spanish arrived. Lots of talk about the three sisters. Super cool.
posted by youthenrage at 4:40 PM on September 28 [5 favorites]

We live in a city. We are serious gardeners, but we don't have the acreage to grow corn, beans, or squash. (OK, we've grown squash before, but those things really really grow. Not as much as melons, but, still.)

Nevertheless, corn, beans, and squash are in our kitchen, a lot.
posted by kozad at 7:32 PM on September 28

I have a feeling it also matters which beans and which squash.

A guy in my community garden told me he was going to try a "three sisters" garden last year, with beans, corn, and squash. The only problem is - the beans he chose were fava beans, which are seasonal to spring. And corn is a late summer crop. The beans coming into season several months before the other two just threw off the whole symbiosis and his project kinda failed.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:26 PM on September 28 [5 favorites]

Whereas "Two Sisters" is a murder ballad about a jealous dark-haired older sister drowning her younger blonde sibling.
posted by Foosnark at 8:36 PM on September 28 [2 favorites]

Also a dang fine filter.
posted by q*ben at 9:03 PM on September 28 [1 favorite]

This article talks about how to choose the right varieties! Typically the beans are pole beans, which fava beans are not, so that could be part of it too. It also suggests a vining rather than bush variety of squash, with winter squash working best. Pumpkin is often used. As someone who knows very little about gardening myself, would those specifications result in less of the “squash sprawl” that can become an issue?
posted by brook horse at 7:02 AM on September 29 [2 favorites]

I also don't have nearly enough space to try this system, so I check YouTube every year or so for videos of hapless white gardeners trying out the Three Sisters. The biggest problem, I think, is that the mainstream white American vision of a garden is as a source of fresh vegetables (sweet corn, green beans, Halloween pumpkins), whereas the Three Sisters are meant to provide staple foods that can last all winter (flint corn, dried beans, squash for eating). So wrong varieties are chosen, and many complaints are made of the squash sprawl that makes it hard to get to the beans and corn. But keeping squishy mammals away from the corn and beans is a feature, not a bug!
posted by McBearclaw at 9:22 AM on September 29 [2 favorites]

I’ll have to check precisely what varieties our community garden uses, they’ve been growing strong while staying in their little square all year! I know it’s flint corn, and some kind of non-pumpkin squash. Not sure about the beans other than being a pole variety.
posted by brook horse at 11:52 AM on September 29 [2 favorites]

The corn was actually Oneida White! I thought that it was a flint corn because the cobs I saw had multicolored kernels. Apparently they have no idea where that came from, some kind or cross-pollination must have happened and they had some come out multicolored, but all of the kernels they planted were Oneida White. And the squash is acorn squash. Still unsure on the beans.
posted by brook horse at 3:41 PM on September 29 [2 favorites]