Topic: 3 sisters - intrigued

[campanula]

hello, i know this has already been mentioned somewhere but only getting a chance on the PC every week or so means missing loads of stuff. Please, someone, enlighten me or direct me to right place. Just the name 'three sisters' (which I have) sounds thrilling.
cheers. suzy

[philcooper]

Apparently it's an old american indian trick to provide maximum crop from a single area. The plants are mutually benefitial and the produce provides a fair part of a balanced diet.

The 3 sisters are:
sweet corn
squashes
climbing beans.

The squashes grow between the corn plants, which offer some shading and the squashes provide a living mulch to retain moisture.

The beans use the corn to grow up

Have a look at http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/tips/27tip3.html

[kingkano]

Another site with interesting info on this topic - which I loved just for the read to be honest  ;D - http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html


I found it from cruising the site of a member here (leeds allotment site -sorry I forgot who your are - I found your site before this forum :))  Great read tho.

[philcooper]

That site seems to address most of the issues on this site around beans, squashews and corn!!!!

I thought the native indians were organic until I read page 117 on horse and cow dung - "we did not like to have any dung on our garden lands, and we therefore removed it (we carefully cleaned off the dried dung, picking it up by hand and throwing it ten feet or more beyond the edge of the garden plot :o)" the reason being that it caused the weeds to grow -

"Now that white men have come and put manure on their fields, these strange weeds brought by them have become common. In old times we Hidatsas kept our gardens clean of weeds. I think this is harder to do now that we have so many more kinds of weeds."  - this I can relate to!!