The Three Sisters Garden Heirloom Seed Collection

Throughout the year, we produce as much food for our family table as possible.  Through the years that we have lived here at 1840 Farm, we have covered the calendar year from maple syrup to summer’s garden produce to fall and winter’s fresh eggs from the coop and milk from our dairy goat herd.  Each season and crop has a purpose. While our goats are now companions and retired from their dairy days and the last few years haven’t been conducive to collecting maple syrup, the garden continues to put meals on our table.

Each year, the beans, corn, and squash grown in our garden are featured on our dinner table.  These three crops can be grown in a variety of ways in the garden, but I like to use an interplanting technique that has been used since long before our farmhouse was built in the 1840s.   Planting a Three Sisters Garden provides delicious produce for our family and allows us to participate in an American history lesson right outside our farmhouse door.

The Three Sisters Garden may very well be the first instance of the companion planting technique that gardeners still use today.  There is a wonderful old legend about the Three Sisters Garden that involves a Native American woman who had three daughters who struggled to peacefully coexist.

The legend tells the tale of her brilliant method for showing her daughters the value of diversity and peaceful coexistence.  She planted the three crops of corn, beans, and squash together to show her daughters that together, they could support each other yet retain their own individuality.  As members of the group, they were stronger than they could possibly be as individuals.

While some historians disagree regarding the historical accuracy of the story, the legend of the and its gardening technique have endured through the centuries.   In fact, artwork of a woman tending a Three Sisters Garden appears on the reverse side of the Sacajawea US Dollar coin that was released in 2009. 

This year, we are offering a collection of three heirloom varieties used by the Wampanoag Tribe in our Three Sisters Garden Collection.  Each collection includes one packet of heirloom, non-GMO seeds in the following varieties:

+  Long Island Cheese Squash
+  Stowell’s Evergreen Sweet Corn
+  Sunset Runner Bean

To plant a Three Sisters Garden, prepare a mound of garden soil approximately 48 inches wide.  Amending the soil with compost will help to improve the productivity of each of the crops during the growing season.  After the danger of frost has passed, plant the corn in the mound, making a circle about 24 inches in diameter.   Plant four to six seeds in each inch deep hole.   Space the corn plantings about 8 inches apart along the perimeter of the circle.

Once the corn has grown to between 4-6 inches tall, plant the bean seeds.  Evenly space the beans around the base of each corn stalk.  Seven to ten days after planting the beans, plant the squash seeds.  Plant 2-3 squash seeds in each of three or four holes inside the circle of corn and beans.

Planting corn, bean, and squash together is a sustainable method of companion planting, allowing each plant to help contribute to the success of the other varieties.  The towering corn stalks serve as a trellis for the climbing beans, allowing them to be grown without the need for a supplemental support system.  As the beans grow, they help to enrich the soil.  Their roots produce nitrogen which feeds the corn and squash plants throughout the growing season.

In the Three Sisters Garden, the large leaves of the squash plant shelter the soil, suppressing weed growth and discouraging pests from damaging the trio of crops.  The prickly vines of the squash plant deter pests from the garden and help to protect the developing crops.  The flowery blooms of the bean and squash plants help to attract pollinators to the garden, increasing the productivity of the entire garden.

I can’t say if the legend has a basis in historical fact.  I can tell you that we will once again be planting a Three Sisters Garden this year.  I enjoy thinking about the legend and watching as each crop grows strong within its mound of garden soil far too much to plant these delicious crops any other way.

You can shop all of our Heirloom Seed Collections by visiting The 1840 Farm Mercantile Shop on Etsy.  We can’t wait to grow our favorite heirlooms along with you this year!