How to Plant a "3 Sisters Garden"
Companion planting is a useful gardening technique of growing certain veggies together to take advantage of their natural tendencies and relationships. This is an idea that has been practiced for centuries, and most famously with the “Three Sisters” method. Most commonly: corn beans and squash. Watch our video where Tricia shows how easy it is to plant using the Three Sisters method.
Companion Plants in the Three Sisters Method
The three sisters is a combination of these three plants working together:
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Sister Bean Seeds
- Deposit nitrogen from the air into the soil, in a form that the plants can use.
- Plant pole beans such as Blue Lake, Scarlet Runner, or Italian Snap, NOT bush beans.
- Make sure to inoculate your seeds with nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium bacteria, such as the Garden Combination Mix.
- The beans will use the corn as support, so wait to plant the beans until the corn is about knee high.
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Sister Corn Seeds
- Provides support for beans vines to climb upon.
- Plant your favorite sweet corn, dent corn, popcorn, or even a combination.
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Sister Squash Seeds
- Shades the ground with its large leaves to provide a good growing environment for all the sisters and helps to prevent weeds.
- Winter squash or summer squash varieties, or a combination of both (squash vines can be directed to shade corn).
Sometimes a fourth sister is included: either Sunflower or Bee Balm. This sister also supports the beans, lures birds away from the corn with their seeds and attracts insect pollinators.
Garden Layout for the Three Sisters Planting
There are many variations on a Three Sisters garden layout. But all of them plant the sisters in clusters on low, wide mounds, rather than a single row, and make sure they are planted in full sun.
The Wampanoag Method
- This method is the best known because it was the planting method that the Iroquois taught the early colonial settlers.
- It is best suited to regions with wet summers.
- Planted in mounds to reduce rotting
The Hidatsa Method
- From the northern plains, used by the Hidatsa, Mandan and Arikara peoples who planted along the floodplain of the Missouri river
- This is where each Sister is planted staggered in small blocks
Zuni Method
- This is best for arid regions.
- Very different in that it is not planted in mounds rather in a large square with the edges mounded up to keep any water in the planting area
Layout for the Wampanoag Method
- Choose a spot that has at least 6 hours per day of direct sunlight.
- Soil should be rich in organic matter and free of stones and weeds.
- Build each mound so that it is 4" tall, and 18" diameter at the base, with a flat top that is about 10" across, see Figure 1.
- Space mounds so their centers are 4' apart.
- You can plant your garden as soon as the night temperatures are consistently above 55°F, and not later than June 1.
- Plant the corn on the flat part at 6" spacing, see Figure 2.
- On every other mound, alternate with squash instead of corn, planting squash in a triangle pattern at 4" spacing.
- If including sunflowers or bee balm, plant those on the north side of the garden.
- Once the corn is at least 4" tall, plant the beans around the slopes of each corn mound. Planting the beans a few weeks after the corn ensures that the corn stalks will be strong enough to support the fast growing beans.
Layout for the Hidatsa Method
- Planted in a large block with mounds of corn (see Figure 3 and 4) and beans planted on the south side of their mound, 6 seeds in total (see Figure 5).
- Squash plants are place in mounds spaced 4' at center, located on the south, east and west section of the block, see Figure 3.
- Plant sunflowers on the north side of the block, see Figure 3.
Layout for the Zuni Waffle Garden
- Requires significant space since each waffle is 12' by 12'.
- Corn is planted in the center of each square, and plant 4-8 seeds to create a thick stand.
- Sunflowers can be planted around the edges of the waffle
- Squash is planted in each corner and in the center of the waffle (see figure at right).
Plant a Three Sisters garden this year, and grow organic for life!
14 comments
Beverly, The corn is planted in a series of mounds that have 8 plants per mound. That way you will get good pollination within the mound of corn. The diagram shows 4 mounds per row, but that is not set in stone, more of a guide. The beans are planted between the corn mounds so the beans (pole) can climb up the corn stalks and if you inoculate your beans with rhizobia bacteria, they will also fix nitrogen and help to feed your hungry corn. The squash is planted on the outsides to shade out the soil and help conserve water. The sunflowers can be planted in a row on the north side, so they do not shade out other plants (if you plant tall sunflowers). But really you can put them anywhere, just added to help attract pollinators to the area. The charts are only guides, you really can make it bigger or smaller. Hope that helps. But it is only a guide and you can make it what you like for your space and needs.
Hi, I’m VERY new to gardening; planted one last year, but needless to say a few things went wrong, namely my squash never grew, I was told to hand pollinate but saw very few male all of the yellow squash flowers were female so I’m told; zucchini squash never appeared; got just one or two cucumbers maybe 4" long. Got no tomatoes from the vines I planted, but actually got sqads of bell peppers and a few of the long yellow ones from the vines I planted. So, if I understand I may be more successful if I use the three sisters or 4 if using sunflowers. I’ve seen numerous diagrams—all sort of confusing. The Hidatsa on this page seems to be the one suited to my garden size (and my ‘expertise’). I’m a little confused though. My plot is probably 12′ × 12′ with six long mounds of dirt. So using the Hidatsa would I plant one sunflower seed at the end of each of the six rows; then come back and plant 4 corn in the middle rows leaving off the first and the last row, then go back at the first row and place 1 squash, 4 bean 1 squash; then repeat the corn in the middle leaving off the first and last rows, and then repeat to the end??? Do I have the correct interpretation of the diagram? I need all the help I can get, and would appreciate any help you can give me. THANKS MUCH!
Rochelle, you just need to give your corn the spacing it needs and the same spacing on the outside of the corn seeds. There is no set size, you can make the mound bigger by planting more corn seeds.
What should the seed spacing be for the Hidatsa corn mound and the diameters of the mound?
Ryan, if you look in the article, each method specifies what area and growing conditions are best suited for arid regions, wet regions…