Planting a Three Sisters Garden

So maybe you have been wondering what we are growing in our garden patch. The Dads had the idea to try out what is called a Three Sisters Garden.
You can find great instructions on how to grow one on this site: http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html

What is a Three Sisters Garden?
Native peoples from different parts of North America have used a wide range of agricultural techniques. Perhaps the best known is the interplanting of corn, beans, and squash. This trio has often been referred to as the "three sisters."

The corn plant represents the oldest sister. She stands tall in the center.

A Squash plant stands in as the second sister. She grows over the mound, protecting her sisters from weeds and shades the soil from the sun with her leaves, keeping it cool and moist.

Beans are the third sister. The beans climb through squash and then up the corn plants to bind all together as they reach for the sun. Beans help keep the soil fertile by converting the sun's energy into nitrogen filled nodules that grow on its roots. As beans grow they use the stored nitrogen as food.

A pretty cool concept. We planted our garden 2 weeks ago. You can see some pictures of the kids playing happily amongst the garden patches. They pretended to be Indians defending the land against crop thieves with their bows and arrows...It was too cute.