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The Garden Science Committee is a free PTA-sponsored STEAM-based program for all Aviators!
The Earhart Garden Club has adopted the companion planting style described below:
Plant flowers in with your vegetable to encourage beneficial insects.
These are the insects that feed on or parasitize pests in your garden. In addition to preying on insects, many of them also feed on flower nectar or pollen at some stage in their life cycles.
Group and rotate plant relatives to reduce pest and disease problems
Some pests and diseases can carry over in the soil; switching the spots where particular crops are grown can help foil their attacks.
Use plant companions to make the best use of soil fertility.
Different plants take varying amounts of nutrients from the soil. Leafy greens like spinach need lots of nitrogen, while legumes like peas and beans actually add nitrogen.
Use plant combinations for successful succession planting.
Planting more than one crop sequentially in the same garden space allows you to get the maximum harvest from your garden space. For example, you might follow your spring spinach crop with a planting of kale, to be harvested in the fall.
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COMPANION PLANTING OF NORTH AMERICAN INDEGINOUS PEOPLE
OBJECTIVE FOR COMPANION PLANTING
Students will:
Learn about the practice of planting beans, corn, and squash together in the same plot that has been applied by the Cherokee and Haudenosaunee people, among others for hundreds of years.
Learn how the growth habits and biology of certain plants can complement each other to form a symbiotic or mutually beneficial relationship.
Introduce students to the concept of symbiotic relationships. Begin by giving them the definition of a symbiotic relationship: “the living together in close association of two different kinds of organisms especially when such an association is of benefit to both”.
THE THREE SISTERS GARDENING
Indigenous peoples of North America have used a wide range of agricultural techniques for thousands of years, and continue to utilize this traditional ecological knowledge today. Perhaps the best-known technique is the interplanting of corn, beans, and squash – a trio often referred to as the "Three Sisters," which was developed and is still used by many different tribes including the Cherokee and Haudenosaunee people, among others. Cultivating these companions in your school garden, a small patch near the building, or even in a container like a barrel, can offer opportunities to connect children with these cultural communities.
In a Three Sisters planting, the three partners benefit from one another. Corn provides support for bean vines. Beans, like other legumes, have bacteria living on their roots that help them absorb or “fix” nitrogen from the air and convert it to a form that the bean plants can use. As the roots of bean plants decompose after the crop is harvested (or if bean leaves and stalks are turned back into the soil after harvest), some of this nitrogen becomes available for other crops to use in future seasons. Corn, which requires a lot of nitrogen to grow, benefits most from this nitrogen boost. The large, prickly squash leaves shade the soil, preventing weed growth, and deterring animal pests. The Three Sisters also complement each other nutritionally, providing people with sources of both starches and proteins along with diverse vitamins and minerals.
It's hardly surprising that these crops – considered by many to be special gifts from the creator – play an important role in the agriculture and nutrition of most of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Because of the Sisters' central role as "sustainers of life," a host of stories, customs, celebrations, and ceremonies are associated with them.
OTHER PLANT GROWING TECHNIQUES FROM NORTH AMERICAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
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