Fort Boonesborough Garden
One settler in these pictures is hoeing corn (maize) and squash plants. Native Americans called maize, squash, and beans the “Three Sisters” because they grow well together. The stalks of corn provide supports for the bean vines to grow on. The beans, like all legumes, take nitrogen from the air and “fix” or convert it into a form the corn plants can use. And the large, prickly squash vines grow around the corn and beans, smothering out weeds, deterring animal pests, and holding in moisture like a living mulch.
KidsGardening.com has instructions for creating a Three Sisters garden as a school project.
In another photo, a settler uses a hollowed gourd with holes in it to water young plants. The close-up shows young flax plants, which were grown for clothing fibers.
Fort Boonesborough’s garden also features these other plants that would have been grown during the 18th century:
- garlic chives—an herb with an onion-like flavoring for seasoning food
- onions
- cayenne pepper—a small, very hot pepper used for seasoning
- scarlet runner beans—a pole bean with beautiful red flowers
- lettuces—speckled, deer tongue, oak-leaf, and black seeded Simpson varieties
- broadleaf mustard—a good crop for spring and fall greens
- sugar snap peas
- corn—white hickory king variety
- cornfield pole beans
- white patty pan or scallop squash—called Cymlings in the 18th century; originated with the Native Americans in the Eastern U.S.
- cabbage—early Jersey Wakefield variety, an English variety popular in America
- cucumbers
- tomatoes—not eaten raw in the 18th century because they were considered poisonous
- garlic
Garden Photos
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