Legend of the Three Sisters – Companion Planting Technique
AllOutdoor Staff 05.19.14
If you are handpicking vegetables and looking to go natural with your garden (minimal fertilizer), then this would be a fun thing to try.
History And Science made a post about how the Native Americans grew corn, beans, and squash together to benefit one another.
These three sisters care about each other very much and when together, strengthen and help one another as they grow. These were also three staple crops of the Native Americans that were essential for their survival. Corn was a mainstay that could be eaten “green” or dried for storage and provided carbohydrates for them, beans provided protein for them and could also be eaten right off the plant or dried for storage, and squash provided many extra vitamins and minerals. The three together provided a well balanced and life sustaining diet for them, that could be stored to get them through the winter months.
This planting method is great if you’re looking for high yields with the least amount of our work, and with minimum space.
The Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham and Carrot’s Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte are good companion planting books if this is interesting to you.
This isn’t as popular today because fertilizer is fairly cheap and it’s a lot more difficult to use machines to harvest food grown in this way.
