Top Picks for Accompaniment in Bean Gardening
Growing Your Bountiful Bean Patch: A Practical Guide to Partnering Plants
Growing beans at home can be an easy and rewarding experience, as they thrive in various environments, from traditional garden beds to raised planting beds and even containers. To boost productivity and enhance plant health, consider pairing beans with companion plants-these plants can help minimize pests, manage weeds, and enrich the soil. This guide is based on scientific research and offers practical suggestions for successful companion plantings.
Companion Plants: A Garden's Multi-taskers
Companion plants serve diverse purposes, providing a range of services to their partners. Some plants deter pests with chemical compounds in their foliage, while others improve the growing environment or attract beneficial insects. By selecting the right companion plants, you can promote a healthier, more productive growing environment for your beans.
When choosing beans, be mindful of the pest challenges you commonly face in your garden. Match these challenges to the services offered by the most beneficial companion plants. Additionally, consider adding flowering resources to invite beneficial insects to your garden and reduce pest pressure.
Some plants do not perform well with beans, such as onions, garlic, gladiolus, and fennel. It's recommended to keep these plants in isolated sections of the garden. Regularly harvesting beans helps maintain plant productivity.
The Iconic Three Sisters Garden
The best-known example of companion planting is the Three Sisters Garden. Native Americans have used this trio of corn, pole beans, and squash or pumpkins for thousands of years. Corn offers physical support for the pole beans, while in return, the beans fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, benefiting the corn. Squash or pumpkin vines cover the soil, serving as a living mulch to manage weeds and conserve soil moisture.
Corn
- Botanical Name:Zea mays
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun
- Soil Type: Moist, Well-draining, Fertile
- Soil pH: Acidic to Neutral (5.8-7.0)
In a traditional Three Sisters Garden, field corn would be the central crop. Home gardeners can replace it with sweet corn, although, it won't grow as tall. Opt for taller varieties and avoid dwarfs. Give the corn a head start of several weeks, sowing the beans once the corn has reached the height of 4 to 6 inches. This ensures the corn plants are well-established when the beans begin to climb.
Squash
- Botanical Name:Cucurbita spp.
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun
- Soil Type: Moist, Well-draining, Fertile
- Soil pH: Acidic to Neutral (5.8-7.0)
In the Three Sisters Garden, winter squash and pumpkins are traditionally used. Feel free to experiment with different squash relatives. In addition to serving as a living mulch, the spiny hairs on squash leaves help deter raccoons from stealing corn.
Companion Plants to Attract Beneficial Insects
A healthy, thriving garden is home to a diverse array of insect life, including pollinators and beneficial predators. To enhance natural pest control, you can attract these beneficial insects by planting flowers and flowering herbs throughout the garden.
Dill and Cilantro
- Botanical Name:Anethum graveolens and Coriandrum sativum
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade
- Soil Type: Moist, Well-draining, Fertile
- Soil pH: Acidic to Neutral (5.5-7.5) and Slightly Acidic (6.2-6.8), respectively
Dill and cilantro share similar impacts as companion plants. They both attract insect predators that feed on aphids, a common pest of beans. Planting dill or cilantro among edible plants has been shown to reduce aphid damage in a wide range of crops.
Sweet Alyssum
- Botanical Name:Lobularia maritima
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade
- Soil Type: Medium to Moist, Well-Drained, Average Fertility
- Soil pH: Acidic to Neutral (5.5-7.0)
Sweet alyssum is a beautiful flower that attracts beneficial insects while adding aesthetic value to your vegetable plantings. These insects include syrphid flies, ladybeetles, and parasitic wasps-all of which prey on aphids.
Companion Plants to Deter Pests
Plants with strong odors can confuse or repel pests, making it harder for them to find your crops. Some plants repel specific pests, while others affect pest behavior. Interplanting these crops among beans can help minimize pest pressure.
Rosemary and Summer Savory
- Botanical Name:Salvia rosmarinus and Satureja hortensis
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun
- Soil Type: Dry to Medium, Well-draining
- Soil pH: Acidic (5.8-6.8) and Neutral to Alkaline (7.0-8.5), respectively
Rosemary and summer savory can help deter pests, such as Mexican bean beetles. Their aromatic compounds are known to repel these insects and other garden pests.
Plants That Benefit from Being Planted with Beans
Legume plants like beans and peas enrich the soil by fixing nitrogen from the air into a form usable by plants. This can reduce your fertilizer needs and support plant growth. Low-growing legume plants, like clovers, are commonly used as a living mulch beneath taller crops. Garden beans are also known to benefit their neighbors. The nitrogen fixed by legumes is not readily available until the bean or pea crop dies. They are commonly paired with heavy feeders like corn and brassicas as a means of replenishing soils.
Potato and Cucumbers
- Botanical Name:Solanum tuberosum and Cucumis sativus
- Sun Exposure: Full Sun
- Soil Type: Sandy, Well-draining, Fertile and Medium to Moist, Well-draining, Fertile, respectively
- Soil pH: Acidic to Neutral (5.5-7.0) for both plants
Studies have shown that interplanting potato plants with beans increases potato tuber size. To achieve this effect, alternate rows of potatoes and beans in the garden, or intersperse beans within blocks of potatoes. Plant out seed potatoes a few weeks prior to sowing bean seeds. Cucumbers benefit from nitrogen-rich soil when planted after beans. Consider a summer planting of beans to enrich the soil, followed by a fall planting of cucumbers.
- To boost bean productivity and enhance plant health, consider partnering beans with companion plants that deter pests, improve the growing environment, or attract beneficial insects.
- Dill and cilantro, with their aromatic leaves, attract insect predators that feed on aphids, a common pest of beans, reducing aphid damage in various crops.
- Rosemary and summer savory, with their strong odors, can help deter pests such as Mexican bean beetles, making it harder for these insects to find your bean crops.
- Potato plants benefit from being planted with beans, as studies have shown that interplanting potato plants with beans increases potato tuber size.
- In the Southern Living garden, consider adding an herb garden filled with parsley, oregano, and basil near the inflorescence of your bean plants to attract pollinators and beneficial insects, promoting a healthier, more productive growing environment.
