The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters is (um, are?) the name of an ancient farming technique, in which beans, maize and squash were planted in the same place.

The Three Sisters, photo by Abri le Roux

The sisters work collaboratively: maize provides a stalk for beans to grow on; beans provide mineral nitrogen for nitrogen-greedy maize; beans and maize together provide shade and humidity for squash; and squash provides weed and erosion control for the other two. And that's only a taste of the benefits of the technique.

Planting beans, squash and maize together was truly a stroke of genius--not to mention a recipe for succotash--and the combination probably dates between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago.

Read More about the Three Sisters

• The Three Sisters
• Domestication History of Maize
• Domestication History of Beans
• Domestication History of Squash