Can You Plant Tomatoes With Green Beans?
Companion planting is an ingenious way to cram more crops into a small space. Rather than keeping each species separate, plant beneficial pairings like green beans and tomatoes, beets and onions, or turnips and peas. One crop will help the other grow, and you’ll have more to harvest at the end of the growing season!
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I love questions like this one. It’s valuable to think of beneficial pairings in the garden—the more plant interactions you know, the better you can plan your garden for maximum yields. Tomatoes and green beans are one of many plant combos that gardeners can try at home.
Knowing which plants interact with others is also helpful in preventing negative interactions. Some plants, like bean vines and onions, aren’t good pairings. Avoid planting legumes with onions, garlic, and gladiolus. Pole beans dislike growing with beets or plants in the mustard family.
Though these pairings aren’t good ones, there are dozens more that are helpful in home gardens. So, let’s answer the question. Can you plant tomatoes with green beans?
The Short Answer
Yes, you can plant tomatoes and green beans together! These two plants benefit each other in many different ways. Beans are leguminous nitrogen fixers, meaning they partner with bacteria near their roots. These microbes convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use, thereby increasing the nitrogen content in your garden soil.
The nitrogen helps tomatoes sprout healthy leaves and tall, thick stems. The tall, sturdy tomato plants support climbing, twining bean stems. It’s a win-win scenario!
The Long Answer
Which legumes to plant with your tomatoes depends on your preferences and the garden. How big or small the garden is will help determine which crops are best, while your taste buds will make the ultimate decision. Grow tasty, easy-maturing varieties that you’ll enjoy harvesting and eating.
Companion Planting 101
Companion planting is a helpful part of intensive gardening, or intercropping. It’s a method for growing different plant species near each other rather than in separate beds, plots, or containers. You’ll let the beneficial pairings intermingle so they can help each other grow.
The many pairings form an intricate web that may be confusing if you’re new to the concept! Don’t get bogged down and overwhelmed. Instead, start with one simple pairing and go from there. Beans and tomatoes are perfect companions to experiment with before delving into more complicated duos.
As you experiment annually, you’ll learn which veggies, herbs, and flowers prefer to grow near each other. Pair tall, sturdy plants like sunflowers and corn with vining types like peas, beans, and sweet potatoes. Repeat pairings that fare well, and avoid those that struggle for future years.
Bush Beans Are Best
Bush beans are the best types to plant alongside tomatoes. They’re low-growing, bushy, and non-climbing, meaning they’ll stay relatively short and compact throughout the growing season. Bushy kinds insulate and protect the soil, while the bacteria near their roots convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that tomatoes can use.
Bush beans are early producers, meaning they’ll have pods for you to harvest earlier than pole types will. Use succession planting, sowing seeds every week or two for a longer harvesting period. Otherwise, you’ll have green pods to harvest all at once and none for the rest of the summer!
Bush types complement both determinate and indeterminate tomato varieties. Determinate tomatoes stop growing and producing after some time, while indeterminate types will spread endlessly until the first frost arrives. Plant your bean seeds a few inches away from the tomato plants and let the seedlings grow to fill the space between.
Support Pole Beans
Pole bean plants work well with tall, indeterminate tomatoes. Pole types are climbing varieties with long, rambling vines that attach themselves to other structures for support. Some may reach over ten feet tall! They typically stand between five and seven feet tall.
If you choose pole types to pair with your tomatoes, ensure your tomatoes have ample support to grow tall and sturdy. Secure them with tomato cages, bamboo stakes and twine, or trellises. Strong, sturdy tomato stalks allow the pole varieties to climb up without weighing the plants down.
Avoid planting pole varieties with determinate or bushy tomatoes that lack long stems. Determinate tomatoes are more suitable for growing next to bushy beans that stay low to the ground.
Containers, Beds, and Planters
How much space you have for gardening will help you decide on proper bean and tomato varieties. Containers are best for determinate tomatoes and bushy legumes, as their limited sizes suit compact varieties.
Planters and raised beds can accommodate any tomato or bean varieties, so long as they’re wide enough for the plants to thrive. A bed three to four feet wide is large enough for two rows of beans and a row of tomatoes. Small, square-foot beds are better for compact varieties than large, climbing ones.
Giant containers are the exception! If you have pots that are 10-gallon-sized or larger, you may plant indeterminate and determinate tomato plants alongside pole or bush beans.
Harvest Fresh or Dry Beans
Green beans are tasty, soft, and succulent. If you leave the pods on the plant, they dry and shrivel while the beans inside swell and harden. The ripe seeds are dry beans! Shell them from the pods and store them in the pantry for chilis, stews, and baked bean dishes.
Fresh pods are ready earlier than dry beans are. If you want to harvest the dried seeds, you’ll need to leave the plants in the garden for much of summer and fall. They’ll persist with your tomato vines while the fruits ripen. Wait until the pods are dry, brittle, and wrinkled to harvest.
If you’d rather not collect the dry seeds, you may remove the plants from the garden after they finish flowering and producing pods. Leave the tomatoes, as they’ll produce fruit until the first frost arrives.
Other Companions
Tomatoes aren’t the only plants these vines grow well with! Try a Three Sisters pairing for a traditional summer garden. This method was pioneered by Indigenous Americans who grew squash, corn, and bean plants in a harmonious combination. Carrots are other veggies that work well with legumes.
As for tomatoes, they’re friendly with dozens of other crops! Though they dislike growing with potatoes, fennel, and mustard relatives, tomatoes grow well with these plants:
- Asparagus
- Basil
- Carrot
- Gooseberries
- Garlic
- Marigolds
- Onions
When in doubt, do some research! Many studies prove the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of certain plant pairings. A garden full of plant combinations is incredibly colorful, diverse, and healthy.
