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🫘 Bean companion plants

Beans fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, making them generous neighbours for hungry crops.

Sun
Full sun
Water
Moderate; water at the base once flowering starts
Spacing
10–15 cm (4–6 in) for bush beans
Harvest
50–65 days from seed

Good companions for bean

  • 🌽 Corn

    Part of the Three Sisters: corn supports climbing beans, beans feed the corn.

  • 🥒 Zucchini

    The third Three Sisters crop; squash leaves shade the soil and block weeds.

  • 🥒 Cucumber

    Benefits from the nitrogen beans leave in the soil.

  • 🥔 Potato

    Beans may help deter Colorado potato beetle.

  • 🥕 Carrot

    Carrots loosen the soil and do not compete with bean roots.

  • 🍓 Strawberry

    Bush beans add nitrogen for strawberry plants.

What not to plant with bean

  • 🧅 Onion

    Alliums can inhibit the nitrogen-fixing bacteria on bean roots.

  • 🧄 Garlic

    Like onions, garlic can stunt bean growth.