Climbing French Beans

Squash will do the job too. Pumpkins?

Thank you. I'm planning my next years plot now!

Swiss chard is very good! A bit like Spinach it grows well and keeps cropping when its not too cold. I love mine. Sew lots so you have enough to keep cropping. As its upright in growing habit it takes up less space than courgettes do.

Oh, and is there anything else that can be planted instead of courgettes? I don't really like them.

Thanks Aka. I'll see how they do on my soil and try your sweet corn method next year.

Yes I do, Aka. It works well and as you say is a brilliant way of combining support and ground cover. Our soil is very fertile so I plant the courgettes last because they soon play 'catch up'.

Yes, I grow dwarf climbers. Inside of reaching 6-8' these usually only grow 2-3'. I grow them alongside sweet corn - they climb up the corn stalk, reaching about half way. The sweet corn provides their support (nicer than canes) and the beans deliver nitrogen to the roots of the sweet corn so I get a good crop. I intersperse with courgettes and squashes which provide ground cover and prevent water loss. It's called the. 'Three Sisters'.
Anyone else use this method?

Got me wondering if the story has been wrong all these years and Jack was a dwarf and the giant was the normal one. That would explain the giant stuff but not Jack's mum and cow. It's all very confusing.

NFK I just couldn't help myself when I saw the thread title. I am just in one of those daft moods today!

(Was Jack a French dwarf Nellie?)

I've plomped them in with the few weak climbing beans that managed to struggle through so they've got canes. (The seller said to plant them as they were in their pots - but there were four or five in a clump so I split them into pairs.)

I hope they're not too vigorous - my veggie plot is very 'compact' so I rather squeeze things in and interplant. I was relying on upward growth!

They're probably the bush variety of French beans, Nfk. Known for cropping very well.
If in doubt, plant and have a supporting stake handy (which I'm sure you won't need). Very easy to grow.

Look what happened to Jack when he tried it!

Its much safer to use a ladder!