The Three Sisters Garden and One More

The Little Known Fourth Sister

Renee's garden offers instructions for planting on their website. This is their packet of seeds.

Many garden lovers know about the Native Americans' Three Sisters Garden (corn, beans and squash).

According to Native American legend, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who grow and thrive together. The Sisters are known to Native Americans as the “mothers of life” but they all need each other to survive - the corn stalk serves as a pole for the beans, the beans help to add the nitrogen to the soil that the corn needs, and the squash provides a ground cover of shade that helps the soil retain moisture. The prickly leaves of the squash also provide a deterrent from four legged raiders of corn.

Diorama at New York State Museum

And an added bonus- the large amount of crop residue after harvest can be incorporated back into the soil to build up the organic matter.