Pole Beans Companion Plant

Support

• A traditional Native American gardening practice placed three vegetable plants together -- beans, corn and squash. Corn not only grows tall. It grows on a strong stalk. Pole beans can climb the corn stalk and utilize its strength for support. The corn tends to be nitrogen hungry, so the proximity to pole beans creates an advantage for corn. Planting the herb summer savory may provide a different kind of support, since bean beetles are less likely to invade when savory is near.

Shade

• Squash tends to grow close to the ground and its leaves grow broad. When squash is planted near corn and pole beans, the squash receives the advantage of nitrogen from pole beans. The pole beans tender roots receive shade from squash leaves and the leaves help keep moisture from evaporating too quickly near the pole bean roots.

Sunlight

• Since pole beans usually grow tall, they can overshadow other plants. Some low-growing plants can benefit from pole beans' nitrogen fixing capability. However, plants such as potatoes are good companions to pole beans, provided they are planted in the sunlit foreground rather than in the shade of pole beans. Strawberries, celery, cucumbers, and some melons all benefit from the extra nitrogen as well.

Incompatible Plants

• Some varieties of plants have sensitivity to nitrogen and excessive amounts of it makes the plant inclined to be green and leafy but not fruit productive. Other plants may produce chemical combinations that render them less than useful companions to pole beans. Garlic and onions, when planted too close to pole beans, may keep pole beans from maturing properly. Beets and kohlrabi may be hampered by being planted too near pole beans. Sunflowers tend to compete for sunlight with pole beans, helping neither the sunflowers nor the beans.

Other Pole Bean Considerations

• Picking beans at their earliest near-maturity date is likely to keep the plant producing, while allowing ripe beans to linger on the vine discourages continuing production. Beans can be susceptible to diseases that may be more likely to spread when the plant is wet. Picking beans when the plant is dry may help keep pole bean plants healthy.