Four Sisters Kit
May 15, 2024
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Corn: Mandaamin(ag)
- How to grow corn
- How to grow sweet corn
- Michigan Fresh: Using, Storing, and Preserving Sweet Corn
- Miijim Card: Mandaamin(ag)
Beans: Mashkodesimin(ag)
- How to grow beans: Part 1
- How to grow beans: Part 2
- Michigan Fresh: Using, Storing, and Preserving Snap Beans
- Miijim Card: Mashkodesimin(ag)
Squash: Okosimaan(an)
- How to grow pumpkins and squash
- Michigan Fresh: Using, Storing, and Preserving Summer Squash
- Michigan Fresh: Using, Storing, and Preserving Pumpkins
- Miijim Card: Okosimaan(an)
- Miijim Card: Ozaawi-kosimaan(an)
- Miijim Card: Giinwaako-kosimaan(an)
Sunflower
Companion Planting
- The corn is the vertical aspect of the companion planting. As the corn grows, the beans also grow up the stalk.
- The beans have a rhizobium bacteria on their roots, which fixes nitrogen into a usable form for corn. Corn is a "heavy feeder," which means it likes a lot of nitrogen in the soil provided by the beans.
- The squash grows around the bottom of the beans and corn, and benefits those by shading out any wayward seeds that might come in to compete or outcompete with the beans and corn.
- Planting the sunflowers as the "fourth sister" is a great way to attract pollinators, like native and honey bees, to your gitigaan's bean and squash flowers.
Planting Methods
- Plant in a circle
- Start with the corn
- Plant 5 to 7 corn seeds about a foot apart around the center
- Plant seeds about an inch deep
- Keep all seeds moist once planted
- Avoid allowing the seeds and soil to dry out
- Plant beans about 2 inches from the corn
- Form small mounds when planting the squash
- Plant about 3-4 squash seeds around the circle you're planting
- Plant sunflowers outside of where squash is planted
- For taller sunflowers, plant along the north side of the circle to ensure they do not overly shade the gitigaan