Mexica New Year Celebration at Houston Botanic Garden

The Xochipilli Collective continued its three-year tradition of honoring Mexica New Year at Houston Botanic Garden through storytelling, dance and the blessing and planting of a traditional Three Sisters Garden that included the sharing of the history of the companion planting method. 

Corn, bean and squash, the components of the Three Sisters Garden, were the cornerstone of the Aztec diet that they grew on floating islands known as chinampas. The Aztecs tilled the rich, organic silt that was present in the lakes through the erosion of the surrounding mountains. On these floating islands, the Aztecs grew crops, such as corn, beans and squash that benefited from each other and gardened in harmony with the surrounding nature and water systems (Millison, 2006). 

This method of companion planting originated from the Mayans and their practice of growing their food in an intercropping method on a piece of land called a milpa. The milpa was section of cultivated land that was rotated with other sections of land that were allowed to reforest while not being farmed to heal and restore nutrients to the soil.   The Mayans conceived the use of the Three Sisters Garden, the most enduring and ingenious of these companion plantings methods that is both nutritional and sustainable (The Nature Conservancy, 2007). 

The corn grows tall, and its roots grow down into the soil and hold the soil together, preventing erosion. The bean vines grow up the corn stalk and do not compete with the corn for sunlight. The beans are able to convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into bio accessible nitrogen that can be fixed in the soil and benefits the growth of the garden. The squash grows a cover over the ground that keeps the soil from drying out in the sun, and their root system grows on the perimeter of the planting and do not compete with the corn or beans. The prickly vines of the squash also deter pests. This sustainable planting method reduces the need for concerns about the moisture in the soil drying out, fertilizing and weeding (Librán-Embid et al, 2023). Additionally, when consumed together, corn, beans and squash provide a complete profile of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and proteins. 

Many North American Native American adopted the practice of planting the Three Sisters Garden that they learned about through migration and trade from Central America. The Haudenosaunee of the Iroquois Nation shared their knowledge of the planting of the Three Sisters Garden through storytelling. In their storytelling, they inform their listener about the sequence of planting the corn, bean and squash by referring to the corn, which should be planted first, as the tall oldest sister who stands tall, the beans as the middle sister who zigs and zags across the land, and the squash as the youngest sister who can only crawl on the ground (Oneida Indian Nation, nd.). 

The Iroquois taught early colonial settlers how to plant the Three Sisters Garden. The instructions included creating a raised mound of soil that is 4 inches high and 18 inches wide, planting corn in the center with a 4-inch spacing, surrounding the corn with the beans after the corn is at least 1 foot tall and planting the squash with an 18-inch spacing surrounding the beans and corn after the beans have emerged. The Iroquois often included fourth sister, sunflowers, to attract beneficial pollinating insects and act as a trap plant (Grow Organic, 2022, June 16). 

If you want to plant a Three Sisters Garden, and you are concerned about squash vine borers, you can bury the vines of the squash and leave the leaves and flowers of the plant exposed. This will encourage roots to grow from the buried vines, and the plant will survive being cut off from its primary root system by absorbing water and nutrients through its secondary root system. 

Michael Godoy,

Xochipilli Collective Co-Founder