Green bean companion plants make good growing partners for green beans in your vegetable garden.
Companion planting uses pole beans, also known as runner and bush beans, to support the growth of and benefit from other plants.
Below are good plants you can grow with your bush and runner beans.
Contents
Types of Green Bean Companion Plants
1. Squash
Squash are green or yellow fruits with edible rinds that come in round or cylindrical shapes and are often grown in seasons. The fruits of this plant are harvested when they are still immature and the reason behind this is that, at this exact time, the rind is tender and edible.
Some common specie of this fruit are summer squash, pumpkin, and zucchini, but there are many more species, including crookneck, scallops, cocozelle, etc. These can all be a great companion.
– Benefits
Squash is an excellent neighboring plant for pole beans as it benefits from the nitrogen boost provided by the beans. It also provides shade for the soil and prevents weeds from invading the bean plants. It has spiny leaves that prevent garden rodents from munching on the beans.
– Growing Requirements
Species such as winter squash, pumpkin, or zucchinis are best grown with these beans. Hence, this variety of beans also serves as good zucchini companion plants. However, note that when using squash for companion planting with your beans, it is essential to take note of the growing conditions of the species you choose.
Remember that just like their companion, the squash plants need deep watering and must be planted in well-draining, nutrient-rich and previously amended soil. You must also use a good companion plant guide to ensure you don’t plant squash near another companion plant that can hinder its growth, like potatoes for instance.
2. Swiss Chard
Chard is a biennial plant that is typically grown as an annual. It has big, green, crinkly leaves similar to the leaves of beet and colorful, edible stems that make it an excellent ornamental plant. You can find some that have a red vine, and other times with green ones as well.
This plant grows best in cooler temperatures but also grows fast in warm temperatures. Chard is easy to grow, and its young leaves can be consumed raw.
– Benefits
Chard helps to provide shade for young bean seedlings and helps the plant retain moisture in the soil. The beans also provide nutrients for chard by adding nitrogen back into the soil, which increases its magnesium content.
This, in turn, helps to improve the production of chlorophyll in the beans. These greens can be grown as bush bean companion plants but not with runner beans because of their towering nature while growing.
– Growth Requirements
When growing chard near these beans, ensure you plant it in well-draining soil rich in nutrients and slightly acidic and requires up to six hours of full sun daily. The plant should be well-watered but not soggy. You can begin harvesting your chard within six to eight weeks after planting, and you will see them prosper.
3. Marigolds
Marigolds are annual or perennial herbaceous plants that continue to bloom throughout summer. They have pin-like leaves with red, orange, yellow, or gold flowers resembling daisies.
These flowers can grow singly or in clusters on the stem. With over 50 species, including the African marigold, signet marigold, or French marigold, these aesthetically appealing plants are not difficult to grow.
– Benefits
The marigolds can be used in a companion planting guide for this type of bean because they mutually benefit each other. As they release a beautiful fragrance, and the latter will fill your garden space.
One crucial benefit of marigolds to our beans is that they protect the plant by repelling the Mexican bean beetle. However, some marigold species can help attract beneficial insects. African and French marigolds also produce a strong-smelling substance that helps to control the infestation of white flies and root-knot nematodes.
– Growth Requirements
Marigolds are perfect for growing near your beans because they both thrive in full sunlight. You should plant them in moist, acidic, and well-draining soil, to make sure the soil does not clog water, so that the roots won’t be damaged.
Although they are drought-resistant once established but require regular watering when newly planted. Furthermore, these flowers are low maintenance and grow quickly but must be deadheaded to keep them flowering.
4. Cucumber
Widely cultivated for its juicy edible fruits, the cucumber plant is an annual plant with trailing vines that grow best during warm seasons.
The plant bears dark green cylindrical fruits rounded at both ends with large, alternate, hairy leaves that create a canopy to cover the fruits. However, it can bear small pickled fruits. Cucumbers grow best in warm seasons and produce small yellow flowers with five petals.
– Benefits
Cucumber companion plants have a mutually beneficial relationship with bean plants. The beans provide a nitrogen boost in the soil, which helps the cucumbers grow better. The best type of beans to grow with cucumbers is bush beans because as runner beans grow, they can block sunlight from reaching the cucumber plants.
– Growth Requirements
One thing to note when growing cucumber with bean plants is to allow the cucumber seedlings to grow a few inches before planting the beans to prevent them from covering the cucumber plant.
You should also use a bean companion planting chart to determine other crops you can produce with the cucumbers that will also benefit them. Nevertheless, cucumber plants require little care to grow but thrive in moist, acidic to neutral, and well-drained soil. However, in order to see them grow well, they also need full sunlight.
5. Potatoes
Potatoes are stout, starchy tuber crops that grow as root plants, although they are usually grown as perennials in deep soil and have aggressive roots. Even though they grow underground, potatoes are easy to grow, and the harvest of a well-developed plant can produce within four to even 20 potato tubers.
The flowers of this plant sprout about three months after planting and can come in red, purple, white, blue, or pink colors. However, the leaves of this plant are toxic to humans and animals if consumed.
– Benefits
Potatoes have a symbiotic relationship with our variety of beans and make perfect neighboring plants. Potato companion plants help repel the Mexican bean beetle, while the beans help repel the Colorado potato beetle. Which means, both of them will help each other in their growth and prospering.
In addition, low-growing bush beans can help keep the soil moist and prevent the invasion of weeds. Beans also help increase the soil’s nitrogen levels which benefits the potato plant.
– Growth Requirements
Seed potatoes are used to grow potato plants. You must use well-drained soil or amend it with peat moss to improve drainage. You can then cut your seed potatoes into small eye-sized pieces and leave them out for a few days before planting four inches into the soil, when doing so, the soil must be acidic and moist but not soggy so that the potato don’t get damaged when growing.
In addition, it is also a crucial condition, that they also are placed in a location where they will see some direct and full sunlight only.
6. Tomato Plants
Tomatoes are members of the nightshade family and are widely cultivated because of their typically red, juicy berries, but they have rare purple or scarlet-colored varieties.
They are warm-season fruits with hairy, compound leaves that grow on hairy vines. The fruits usually come in round shapes but also in elongated, oval, or pear shapes.
– Benefits
Tomato companion plants don’t necessarily provide any significant benefit to your beans. Still, if you have enough space, they make good companion plants for runner beans as they won’t overshadow each other. Pole beans companion plants can also climb up the stalk of the plant and have nitrogen-fixing bacteria at the roots that supply the nutrients to the tomatoes. Nitrogen helps promote leaf growth and healthy tomato fruits.
– Growth Requirements
Tomatoes and beans require space to grow properly in the garden because they have trailing vines. You should also water your tomatoes at least once a week but don’t leave the soil soggy to avoid blossom-end rot.
The tomatoes thrive in heat and require full and intense sunlight daily. When they are placed in proper sun, they will be more vivid in their redness, and healthier.
Conclusion
Beans can grow well with a wide variety of plants and offer significant benefits to them. But not many are beneficial to beans. We’ve provided you with the best plants that offer different benefits to beans when grown with them. But here are a few points to note;
- Other suitable plants that are good for growing with green beans include catnip, corn, radishes, rosemary, Brussels sprouts, and peas.
- Runner beans are beneficial in supplying nitrogen to neighboring plants.
- Plants such as sunflowers, beets, chives, etc., should not be grown with beans.
The plants listed above are perfect companions for your bean variety, so you can try them out in your garden.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato
https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/companion-planting-home-gardens
https://www.britannica.com/plant/cucumber
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