Companion or interplanting for beans and celeriac?

[endymion]

Hi,

I'm a long time lurker, and think it might be handy if I describe our 'patch' before asking anything.

We've tried growing vegetables in our garden before. The late spring, summer and autumn were fine, but because we chose the wrong part of the garden nothing withstood the winter wet, even though the top of our four foot wide 'raised beds' were a good foot above soil level. We think the drier soil simply acted as a wick.

We're trying again and have dug up a different part of our lawn for vegetables. It isn't a huge area, yet, because we want to see how it goes, but even so we're hoping to get as much out of it as possible in our first year.

Our whole garden slopes downwards from west to east, veg rows will run north -> south ish, protected from the north by a tall deciduous hedge. It will probably get very hot in the summer, but it's in the only part of the garden that doesn't get hopelessly wet in winter. There are good, clear, land drains and soakaways but they don't cope with a very high water table and the fact that our garden is lower than everybody else's, so it's a bit of a sump. In time we hope to raise the soil level to the top of boarded edging, to make it into a 'proper' raised bed with a fully horizontal surface, but that will have to wait until there's either enough home made compost or enough cash.

Our ground is very heavy clay, we're not far from some old clay pits. We prepared the area by double digging and using lots and lots of our own, and our neighbours, well-rotted compost as well as commercial multi purpose compost and quite a lot of sharp sand. There were great clods of solid pure clay very close to the surface, which we've thrown away.

All that leads to my question, which is about companion planting and/or interplanting.

I'm not really sure which is companion planting and which is interplanting, but I'm fairly sure both are different from catch-cropping. The limit of my previous experience of companion planting was to put in french marigolds and borage to help attract insects, frighten nematodes and distract some of the slugs. I've never tried growing two lots of crops in the same ground at the same time, which I think is the principle behind intercropping.

I've gone to all the effort of getting Celeriac seeds to germinate and actually grow more than the seed leaves, but we've now realised that our patch might not be the best place for it to grow into decent sized roots - because it'll get almost direct, very hot, sun.

I've read that Celery is a good companion for beans, so I came up with a plan to plant the Celeriac beneath, and between two rows, of dwarf French Beans! The trouble is that although I know it will benefit from all the extra goodies in the bean trench, I'm not entirely convinced it won't be swamped by the bean leaves. So I wonder if it'll be a waste of effort, and we'll end up with no Celeriac and some extremely happy, overfed, slugs.

Does anybody have any experience of this sort of planting, and does it actually work?

Serious apologies for the very long post, and thanks in advance for any help.

[zazen999]

Yup, I think they will get swamped.

[Florence Fennel]

Hello and welcome to the Vine. I am growing celery for the first time this year, but in containers. The advice from others on here is to keep it in water the whole time it's growing, so that's a good pointer as to where to put it. Use the "search" button on here for companion planting, there's loads of info to be had and happy growing, I hope you find what you're looking for.

[Two_Sheds]

nothing withstood the winter wet

I have the opposite problem, my soil is very sandy & free draining - it doesn't retain water or nutrients

Celeriac... it'll get almost direct, very hot, sun.

Celeriac likes the opposite conditions: almost boggy. It's a very thirsty plant, as is celery

I've read that Celery is a good companion for beans

I've not heard that, but it doesn't mean it isn't true. Trouble is, they are both thirsty plants so will be competing for the same water

When you plant different crops close together, you need to have something quick like radish or salad that will be up and out of the ground before the larger plants need the room

[endymion]

Thanks very much for your replies.

Yup, I think they will get swamped.

I wonder what would happen if I took the lowest few leaves off the beans. It would let some air and light through, but would it affect the bean crop?

Hello and welcome to the Vine. I am growing celery for the first time this year, but in containers. The advice from others on here is to keep it in water the whole time it's growing, so that's a good pointer as to where to put it. Use the "search" button on here for companion planting, there's loads of info to be had and happy growing, I hope you find what you're looking for.

Thanks for your welcome. I've spent quite a while looking and reading, but couldn't find anybody who had successfully grown this combination. It's pages such as this one that gave me the idea Companion Planting for Better Yields It says that, amongst other things, Celery works as a good companion to Bush Beans. They would be in quite a deep trench that we've filled with all our veg peelings since December, and loads of compost. It's also at the lower end of the slope, so when it rains it'll collect more water. I was thinking of adding some water retaining granules too, but it probably wouldn't be the smartest thing because I wouldn't be able to get the stuff out of the ground for the wet months.

When you plant different crops close together, you need to have something quick like radish or salad that will be up and out of the ground before the larger plants need the room

Yes, that's what I had thought - that you should grow something that's really quick to mature whilst waiting for something slower to get going. But I've read about the 'three sisters' planting, with beans, squash and sweetcorn in the same piece of ground which I thought was very intensive, but it seems to work.

I was rather hoping the beans would count as a fairly quick crop, relative to the Celeriac that is, and would protect the plants from the worst of the sun, whilst the Celeriac would benefit from all the lovely compost.

Maybe I'd better give up on the idea, but if I do I might end up thinking of something even more hare brained, such as putting it in pots on the shelf just inside our pond.

[vicky]

I had that exact combination last year - celeriac and dfb's. They were spaced fairly widely and neither swamped the other. The beans did well, but the celeriac didn't - more to do with hot, dry weather (I have sandy soil like TS). If you try them can I suggest LOTS of mulch (applied after a good soaking)!

[endymion]

I had that exact combination last year - celeriac and dfb's. They were spaced fairly widely and neither swamped the other. The beans did well, but the celeriac didn't - more to do with hot, dry weather (I have sandy soil like TS). If you try them can I suggest LOTS of mulch (applied after a good soaking)!

Oh brilliant! Thanks

So if we space the beans out a bit further apart than the packet suggests, and do the same with the celeriac it might work?

The beans are going into a trench that's been filled with kitchen peelings for the last few months, we can always top dress it with a layer of grass cuttings along with a generous helping of slug pellets.

[Two_Sheds]

I wonder what would happen if I took the lowest few leaves off the beans.

If you do that you won't have much left: dwarf beans are only about a foot tall. Why aren't you doing climbing French beans? You get a bigger yield

I've read about the 'three sisters' planting,

It works in the US, but over here the beans grow much quicker than the corn, swamping it. There are many old threads about it if you want to do a search

So if we space the beans out a bit further apart ...

Then the beans won't have anything to support them (OK if your site isn't windy, but mine is very exposed and the plants need each other to stay upright)

Anyway, have a go for yourself. It's the only sure way to find out if it works for you

[endymion]

Why aren't you doing climbing French beans? You get a bigger yield

Because I'm not the only decision-maker, and the rest of the family wanted dwarf beans in as many different colours as possible. If it doesn't work well this year then they'll have learned a lesson, but we'll still have something fresh to eat.

I could perhaps put a horizontal length of bamboo as a support, we inherited a great big clump of it at the end of the garden. I knew it might come in handy one day.

[Three sisters] works in the US, but over here the beans grow much quicker than the corn, swamping it.

That actually surprises me, because I thought at least some parts of the states would have the same sort of climate and growing conditions as we do. So I've learned something new today, thanks.