By Maddie Guerlain, BASE Green Initiative Advisor

On Monday April 22, 2013, Michelangelo BASE Spring Green Club students let loose in the schoolyard to learn about an age-old technique in organic gardening: companion planting.

First, students played Pesky Pests, a special game of tag where “pesky pests” try to tag, or “eat,” basil plants—who can only find safety by linking arms with a mighty marigold flower. Through playing, students learned that planting marigolds near basil, tomatoes, eggplants and other plants can help deter certain pests in the garden that like to munch on these plants. By planting companion plants near each other in organic gardens, chemical pesticides are no longer necessary for pest control.

Next, we played a few rounds of Three Sisters, a game about the most famous companion plants in history: squash, corn and beans. Students worked in teams to form tableaus (pictures with their bodies), which demonstrate how the Three Sisters grow together. The corn grows straight and tall, the beans grow up around the sturdy corn and the squash provides a living mulch for the surrounding soil.

Spring Green Club members had a great time acting out all the different plants and learning about how companion planting is an important tool in organic gardens.