What to plant around runner beans?

[Dipity]

Hello
My husband erected my bean poles in a bed different (bigger) to the I had planned. As a result I am left with rather a lot of space around the bean poles.
I wondered if anyone had any suggestions about what I could plant around base?
Have heard of the 'three sisters method' -planting squash around base of sweetcorn. Would the same be ok for runner beans???
Many thanks for reading

[Flummery]

I like to leave space round runners - the beans used in the 3 sisters method are pole (or climbing french) beans and were left on for a dry crop - as were the corn kernels. It isn't really the way most of us eat our corn but for the American natives it was a staple. You might be better with something lower growing like lettuce which can be harvested before you need to get at the beans to pick them. Squash can sprawl and take over a bit. Just my thinking - I know people who have tried the 3 sisters but I don't know many who have tried it more than once.

[BigShot]

The three sisters work with the beans fixing nitrogen to feed (and climbing up) the sweetcorn while the squash sprawl and smother the weeds... I'm not sure if the beans feed the squash too, but most things I've seen about the three sisters have them planted on mounds in a chess-board pattern... white squares being beans and corn together... black being squash alone.

I dunno if this helps, but there you have it.

I'd have thought anything nitrogen-hungry would be happy in with beans as long as they got enough light.

Could you not move the bean poles?

[Two_Sheds]

Nah, beans fix the nitrogen for themselves, they don't feed the sweetcorn.

I would definitely plant a sprawling squash in that bed, just make sure you can reach to pick the beans

[Hazel at the Hill]

I'd put in some dwarf french beans around the base - you'll still be able to reach across to the climbers and it'll keep your crop rotation in order.

[BigShot]

Nah, beans fix the nitrogen for themselves, they don't feed the sweetcorn.

That's a pretty big hole in the three sisters theory. :s

[timethatthetaleweretold]

erm.
well i've set up a 3 sisters with my runners beans, assuming that all nitrogen-fixing beans filled the same niche in the sisterhood...

but 2 sheds has made be think again.
is this 3 sisters relationship thing a myth?

Anyway, Dipity i think everyone is wise to suggest a sprawling squash (or cucumber?) among your beans.

And in my experience, growing sunflowers with my beans has been successful - sunflowers make much better "beanpoles" than sweetcorn does. Although you already have poles...

[taff]

the three sisters thing works for the following year if you leaves the roots of the beans to rot in the soil...or something...
i'd plant some lettuce or radish or something that doesn't need a lot of nutrients

[Two_Sheds]

sunflowers make much better "beanpoles" than sweetcorn does...

That's interesting, because my beans did really badly grown up sunflowers (the sunnies stole all the moisture I think): 3 sisters | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Although, I could leave the stalks in situ and try it with the dead stems (too late for this year, I've just dug them all up to put carrots in)

[Florence Fennel]

I grew caca salad under and around my wigwam last year and it was very successful. I did try courgettes, but they didn't make it.

[Two_Sheds]

is this 3 sisters relationship thing a myth?

I tried the 3 sisters method for several years running, and it never worked for me: that made me question it.
I also could never see any of those miraculous white (nitrogenous) nodules on the roots.
I thought 'if beans fix nitrogen in their roots, they are surely going to use it up themselves? Not give it to other plants?' This won't be news to anyone even slightly scientific, but I'm not.

I'm now on the side of this theory:

[legumes] fix nitrogen because they need it. And they use it. You probably head [sic] that beans, peas, lentils and other pulses are supposedly good for you because they are high in protein. Well, that's where a lot of the nitrogen goes, into the protein rich seeds.

If your legume plants flower and go to seed then most of the nitrogen that the bacteria fixed is tied up in the plant. Some of it you eat, the rest hopefully ends up on your compost. But precious little actually remains in the soil.
source: Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria - Rhizobia

At the time of pod fill, nodules on annual legumes generally lose their ability to fix nitrogen, because the plant feeds the developing seed rather than the nodule.

Almost all of the nitrogen fixed goes directly into the plant. Little leaks into the soil for a neighboring non-legume plant. http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_a/a-129.pdf

[smallblueplanet]

At the time of pod fill, nodules on annual legumes generally lose their ability to fix nitrogen, because the plant feeds the developing seed rather than the nodule.

OTT - So I presume thats why you're supposed to 'turn in' legumous green manures before they flower?

[oldie]

OTT - So I presume thats why you're supposed to 'turn in' legumous green manures before they flower?

Exactly!. I'll try and find a previous post of mine which gave a link to an American site which explained exactly how three sisters was done by the American Indians. Light is one of the critical factors. As Flummery pointed out the beans and sweetcorn used were grown to dry. The sweetcorn was often then ground up to a flour although they can be cooked with the beans. When I lived in East Africa I often ate maize and beans boiled together.

[BigShot]

Oldie... I've just been mulling this over while sowing my sweetcorn in pots and something didn't seem right.
My take was that while the Native Americans probably wouldn't have known about nitrogen, there MUST have been a reason they did it like that.
I've had a read through the Wikipedia page which repeats the beans-fix-the-nitorgen line, though the planting pattern isn't like I described above... but it leaves me none the wiser as to what the site you mention might have been.

I'd like to see that page if you manage to dig up a link for us.