Finally the snow has melted and the forecast no longer has overnight frosts. Time to get gardening! I’m currently in the early stages of landscaping our new yard, and there is an area on the east side of the house that I haven’t figured out just what to do with it yet. So, for this year I’ve decided to plant a mini corn field. I’ve always wanted to have a corn field, but until moving east to where we are now, I was always too close to foothills to have enough heat for corn.
In 2008 I experimented with inter-planting beans and corn. It worked so well that I tried it again in 2009. I had my best corn ever that year, so I’m going to do it again this year. So in my little 24′ x 24′ plot on the east side of my house, I have planted Supersweet Northern Extra corn in rows spaced two feet apart. I planted two seeds every two feet. Then in between corn seeds, I have planted a variety of beans – Purple Royalty, Roma II , Straight N’ Narrow, Scarlet Runner Pole Beans, and even Dark Red Kidney Beans!
So there’s my field of beans and corn. Hopefully, both will grow nicely and produce lots. But if not, they should at least make for an interest way to fill the yard until I can properly landscape it!
3 replies on “Field of Beans (and Corn)”
Looks like a fine landscaping idea to me! What more do you need than a nice edible landscape? 🙂
I like the look of the multi-coloured seeds all mixed like a sort of seed rainbow.
I have always intended to try companion planting but in the rush to plant in spring I always seem to forget. Will be interesting to see how they grow!
How did your Straight-n-Narrow beans turn out? I’m asking because I’m looking for seeds. They’re not available anymore. Monsanto bought the seed supplier and has gotten rid of this bean, so the only seeds out there are in home gardens.
If you have some seeds to sell (even a few), please contact me – nancy [ at ] nancymucklow [ dot ] com. Cheers!
Nancy – My Straight ‘N’ Narrow beans did just fine, although I never saved any of the seeds for replanting. But the good news is that I have just received the 2011 T & T Seeds catalog and they have Straight ‘N’ Narrow beans in there. You can go to their website at ttseeds.com to order or request a catalog.