How To: How to plant with the "Three Sisters" method

To prepare for planting take a fork and poke it into the ground and loosen up the ground. Do this throughout the beds so that the ground is completely loosened up. After you finish loosening the soil take a shovel and dig to the bottom of the bed and turn the soil over. If there are leaves in the bed go ahead and turn the leaves over into the soil. It will provide extra compost for the soil. Add some rabbit manure to the soil to provide extra nutrients. Turn the manure into the soil so that it is mixed into the soil. Next you will want to rake the beds and level them off. The Iroquois Indians planted corn, beans, and squash together because they thought these three plants sustained the earth. They called it the Three Sisters Planting Method. So plant the corn, beans, and squash together in the same bed. The corn takes nitrogen out of the soil. The beans put nitrogen back into the soil. The squash compliments the other two plants by shading the soil. Make eight mounds in the bed and plant four corn plants on top of the mounds and four bean plants three inches away. Then plant one squash at the end of the mound. That's the three sister's method of planting.