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Story: "You Are Where You Eat: Margaret Shields '09 brings crops to campus with student organization SPROUT"

                
DIY Garden: Learn SPROUT's technique for designing a Three Sisters garden

SPROUT uses the “Three Sisters” method of planting—a traditional mound planting style with corn in the middle, beans surrounding the corn, and squash around the beans. The system offers numerous environmental benefits. “The corn takes nitrogen from the soil, while the beans put nitrogen into the soil,” says Shields. “The beans use the corn stock as a trellis, and the squash spreads over the mound, keeping moisture in and weeds out.”

Want to start your own Three Sisters garden? Here’s how:

1. Use a hoe to till the soil and make a mound of dirt approximately eight to ten inches tall and three to four feet in diameter.
2. Plant three to four corn seeds, one inch deep, in the center of the mound. 
3. When the corn is four to six inches high, plant six pole bean seeds, in a circle, approximately six inches away from the corn. Then plant four squash or pumpkin seeds, a foot away, around the beans.

Slideshow: See outtakes from Margaret's photo shoot