Native Americans used to practice companion planting called the “three sisters”. The Iroquois women used this technique to grow their 3 most important crops: Beans, squash and maize.

They produced mounds of soil a stride apart. On the top of each mound several maize seeds were planted, and then 2 weeks later a bean seed was added. After the maize and beans had germinated a squash seed was planted at the base of the mound.

As the maize grew, the bean would use it for support (whilst adding nitrogen into the soil for the maize and squash), and to provide shade for the squash to spread across the ground (suppressing the weeds).

All 3 crops grew together benefiting from their friendly relationship and producing good crops of excellent quality.