I did tried that once, I was trying out the three sisters method minus the squash. Sad to say the beans did not make it to maturity. Me and pole beans do not go well together I guess. Anyway I had lovely sweetcorns. Donna you should go ahead with it, the beans should be benificial for the corn.
Like Carolyn, I have space so I no longer plant beans and corn together. However, when we lived in town with a smaller garden, I tried it one year. One very important point--do not plant the beans and corn at the same time. Let the corn get a couple of feet tall before the beans are planted, or the beans will take over and strangle/stunt the corn. This also gives you a chance to hill the corn, then plant the beans.
i agree with mg's post. start the corn first. i have done this in the past and it worked pretty well, except it was hard to find the beans.
I have done it, and it went oké. I didn't really HAVE to do it, but I wanted to do it because I never had. After the conclusion of that year I determined that there are basically two reasons to do that: not having very much gardening space and trying it out for the fun of it. So...my vote goes to Mart's philosophy. In the old days there was a thing over here that was referred to as, "The Three Sisters", and that was the growing scheme of planting courgettes (squash), corn and beans together. The same idea goes for that as just beans and corn. If you were asking for yourself and are determined to go through with it, MG's suggestion is of great importance. Her tip is a golden one.
Thanks for all the info. I have lots of space, but thought I could get out of building trellis's. I think i will try a couple spots and see what happens. Maybe even a 3 sisters.
Do you have a fence ? Plant pole beans there. I have tried pole beans and the production was very poor compared to bush beans of similar variety.
I trellis's blue lake pole beans last year and they were great. I just didn't plant enough. Going to make trellis bigger this year and plant a couple different kinds else where. Maybe some lima beans and butter beans. Would love to try black beans also.
Donna; Yup been there and tried that. My corn leaves where so dense that the beans could not get the light they needed. I think that the old world corn was much lighter leaved if you know what I mean. That's why it worked so well for them. I do trellis's also. But this last summer was so hot that my yield was very small. Oh well. Hopefully this next summer will be more normal in temps. I to would love to try some black beans. I love them.
Mart, I grow both pole and bush. But I like the pole beans better because bending is a problem. I found a round heavy medal serving tray yesterday in a junk shop. Going to drill hole in center and around sides and put on top of post. Then run string for pole beans to climb teepee style. And if I can find another old umbrella will make one with it also. Tooty, Loved your idea with the marigolds planted between root crop rows. Makes a lot of sense. And I can see that planting beans around corn could be a waste of time. Thanks.
Is there any where bamboo grows there ? If so just cut three or four and tie them at the top. Simple teepee ! It lasts for years.
