Green Living Library
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • The Sustainable Life Shop
    • 16 oz. Stainless Steel Insulated Drinking Cup
    • 4 Piece Silicone Bowl Covers
    • Silicone Storage Bags with Slide Closure
    • 10 piece set of bamboo handled toothbrushes with nylon bristles.
    • Dental Floss Holder with Compostable Dental Floss
    • 33 yards Eco-Friendly Dental Floss Refills
    • Stainless Steel Drinking Straws with Cleaning Brush
    • Teak Wood Cooking Utensils
    • Plant Based Scrub Sponge 8 Pack
  • Green Living with a Kid
  • Lifestyle
    • All Natural Health
    • Books Worth Reading
    • Composting
    • Green Documentaries
    • Green Transportation
    • Green Landscaping
    • Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
  • Food
    • Organic Farming
    • Composting
    • Extra Resources
    • Food Storage and Preservation
    • Gardening >
      • Companion Planting
      • Seed Starting
      • Weed Control
    • Soil >
      • Soil Health
      • Soil Science
      • Soil Building
      • Soil Tests
  • Home Building
    • Adobe and Earthbag Building
    • Cob
    • Log
    • Rammed Earth
    • Straw Bales
    • Heating and Cooling >
      • Home Heating External Links
  • Frugal Living Library
  • Renewable Energy
    • Solar Power
  • About
  • Contact
  • Green Living Photo Gallery
  • Product
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • The Sustainable Life Shop
    • 16 oz. Stainless Steel Insulated Drinking Cup
    • 4 Piece Silicone Bowl Covers
    • Silicone Storage Bags with Slide Closure
    • 10 piece set of bamboo handled toothbrushes with nylon bristles.
    • Dental Floss Holder with Compostable Dental Floss
    • 33 yards Eco-Friendly Dental Floss Refills
    • Stainless Steel Drinking Straws with Cleaning Brush
    • Teak Wood Cooking Utensils
    • Plant Based Scrub Sponge 8 Pack
  • Green Living with a Kid
  • Lifestyle
    • All Natural Health
    • Books Worth Reading
    • Composting
    • Green Documentaries
    • Green Transportation
    • Green Landscaping
    • Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
  • Food
    • Organic Farming
    • Composting
    • Extra Resources
    • Food Storage and Preservation
    • Gardening >
      • Companion Planting
      • Seed Starting
      • Weed Control
    • Soil >
      • Soil Health
      • Soil Science
      • Soil Building
      • Soil Tests
  • Home Building
    • Adobe and Earthbag Building
    • Cob
    • Log
    • Rammed Earth
    • Straw Bales
    • Heating and Cooling >
      • Home Heating External Links
  • Frugal Living Library
  • Renewable Energy
    • Solar Power
  • About
  • Contact
  • Green Living Photo Gallery
  • Product

Three Sisters Companion Planting

8/8/2015

0 Comments

 
The Three Sisters Planting method is a technique that groups up three different types of plants to form a healthier planting system.  They work together to support each other in a variety of different ways.  It originates from Native Americans and has been a time honored technique to growing successful gardens.  The basic technique technique works because of the underlying facts of how plants prefer to grow together and with a variety of other types of plants.  


Picture
The three sisters consist of three different types of plants that when combined form a better performing unit.  To build a three sisters garden you will need some sort of tall sturdy plant, a ground covering plant and finally a nutrient gathering plant.  


Tall Sturdy Plant



To plant a true three sisters garden the plant of choice here is corn.  Corn has many great attributes that make it a great choice for the sturdy plant of your garden.  It will typically be planted in May before your other two partners and be allowed to grow to a height of around 6 inches.  Once the corn is at this height you can then plant the pole bean of your choice around the base of each corn plant.  You will typically plant 2-3 beans seeds for each corn plant.  Some texts will tell you that this is when you plant your ground cover plant as well but I have found they can be planted at the same time as the corn will little ill effects.  

The corn provides a support network for the beans to grow up but you don’t necessarily need corn for this.  Other options you can plant could include sunflowers or any other tall stalked plant that could provide a sturdy base for the beans.


Ground Covering Plants


The ground covering plant is some type of vining plant that spreads and covers the ground.  This provides weed suppression and helps retain moisture in the soil by shading the ground.  The options here are very versatile as there are many types of plants that you can grow.  I personally have grown pumpkins, winter squash, watermelons and cucumbers in this particular niche.

To plant this in a three sisters garden you pretty much grow them just like you would by themselves.  Make a mound, plant the seeds and water regularly.  One of things that you have to do is make sure they vine into areas where you want them.  This is easy to do with a little vine training and positioning.  


Nutrient Gathering Plant


Beans if you did not know are a type of plant called a legume which is capable of taking atmospheric nitrogen and incorporating into the soil.  This feature makes beans a very useful addition to the three sisters as they can help supply nutrients to the corn and vining ground cover.  So by planting a pole bean which will grab onto the corn stalk and grow up it.  At the same time the bean is growing it fixes nitrogen into the soil which can help the growth of all the plants.  


Planting Layouts

How you arrange a three sisters garden is something that can be determined by the gardener to fit your specific situation.  I personally will plant two ground cover crops surrounded by the corn and beans in my 4x3 garden plots.  With my limited space I find that this technique works really for my situation.    

It really depends on what you want and the space you have available to you.  If you have any questions about this check out other articles on the Green Living Library and the sources in this article.


Sources:


http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/vegetables/native-american-gardening-zm0z13fmzsto.aspx 

http://extension.psu.edu/plants/master-gardener/counties/susquehanna/penn-state-master-gardener-articles/good-neighbors-make-good-gardens-companion-planting

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/viewhtml.php?id=72
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Hello my name is Josh Larson and I am the creator of the Green Living Library.  Here on the blog you will find updates to content found in the Green Living Library as well as stories from those living the sustainable life already.  

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Categories

    All
    Climate Change
    Companion Planting
    Composting
    Cover Crops
    DIY
    Documentaries
    Financial Independence
    FIRE
    Food Forests
    Food Preservation
    Gardening
    GMO
    Green Cleaning
    Health
    Heating
    Home Heating
    Homesteading
    Human Population
    Industrial Agriculture
    Mulch
    Organic Food
    Organic Matter
    Passive Cooling
    Permaculture
    Plastic
    Pollution
    Recycling
    Renewable Energy
    Reuse
    Seed Starting
    Soil
    Soil Compaction
    Solar
    Solar Power
    Species Extinction
    Tillage
    Trees
    Trellis
    Tweaks
    Urban Agriculture
    Windbreaks

Photos used under Creative Commons from andrew_ross, Scrap Pile, USDA NRCS South Dakota, mikecogh, mikecogh, rmkoske, UnitedSoybeanBoard, naturalflow, Rennett Stowe