Beans are a popular garden crop, but they are occasionally plagued by pests and diseases. Instead of using pesticides, you can counteract this with a good mixed culture. Find out below which plants beans harmonize well with and which plant neighbors are rather unsuitable.
Beans and cabbage complement each other well
The advantages of a mixed culture
If you grow cleverly, you have significantly less work in the garden. A good mixed culture has many advantages:
- Pests are kept away
- Weed growth is inhibited
- the probability of disease infestation is minimized
- the use of pesticides becomes superfluous
- the plants supply each other with nutrients, which is why the use of fertilizer is reduced
- Bees and other insects are attracted and cared for by different flowering times on a bed
- Ground covers retain moisture in the soil and prevent weed growth
Growing beans in intercropping
Just as there are plants that are beneficial to growth, there are plants that tend to be detrimental to each other's thriving. It is therefore advisable not to mix and match but to first inquire about good and bad neighbors. It is particularly advisable to combine them with plants that keep certain pests away.
Protect beans from pests by mixed cultivation
Beans are not only grown together with savory for culinary reasons; Savory protects the beans from lice and promotes growth and taste. Oats also protect beans from lice. It protects radish and mustard from nematodes and tagetes keeps whitefly away.
The table below gives an overview of all the good and bad neighbors for bush beans and pole beans.
Good and bad neighbors for bush beans
| Good neighbors | Bad neighbors |
|---|---|
| savory | peas |
| dill | garlic |
| strawberries | fennel |
| cucumbers | leek |
| oats | chives |
| potatoes | pole beans |
| cabbage | onions |
| Kohlrabi | |
| chard | |
| tomatoes | |
| rhubarb | |
| All kinds of beets | |
| salads | |
| celery | |
| mustard | |
| tagetes |
Good and bad neighbors for runner beans
In contrast to bush beans, pole beans climb and need a climbing aid. A particularly functional plant neighbor is therefore corn, as the runner bean can climb up the strong, tall plants. You can find out more about this special partnership here.
Since pole beans need more space, the ideal plant neighbors differ slightly from those of the bush bean:
| Good neighbors | Bad neighbors |
|---|---|
| endive | peas |
| cucumbers | garlic |
| celery root | leek |
| cabbage | onions |
| Kohlrabi | |
| lettuce | |
| radish | |
| radishes | |
| spinach | |
| zucchini |