Three Sisters (agriculture)

Rare card · No. 62038

The Three Sisters (Spanish: tres hermanas) are the three main agricultural crops of various indigenous peoples of Central and North America. The crops are squash, maize, and climbing beans (typically tepary beans or common beans). Traditionally, several Native American groups also planted sunflowers on the north edges of their gardens as a "fourth sister". In a technique known as companion planting, the maize and beans are often planted together in mounds formed by hilling soil around the base of the plants each year; squash is typically planted between the mounds. The cornstalk serves as a trellis for climbing beans, the beans fix nitrogen in their root nodules and stabilize the maize in high winds, and the wide leaves of the squash plant shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and helping prevent the establishment of weeds. Indigenous peoples throughout North America cultivated different varieties of the Three Sisters, adapted to varying local environments. The individual crops and...

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