Sunflowers and beans

[Red Poppy]

I read in a gardening book (I'm a big reader) that it is possible to grow runner beans up sunflowers. The idea was to sow a grid of sunflower seeds, say 5 plants by 5 plants, and when they were growing well to put runner bean seeds in to grow around the outside of the grid. Is that feasible? Will the growing sunflowers keep ahead of the beans? My experience of beans is that once they really start to get going they grow upwards tremendously fast. Wouldn't they outstrip the sunflowers? I'd like to try it, but don't want to end with a tangled mess.

[burnie]

I've never heard of this, so it would be interesting to see how you get on, take some pictures, we like pictures.