Beans growing up Sunflowers – Conclusion

Ok, so here is the conclusion of the beans growing up sunflowers experiment. The beans this year have been a disaster overall. They were in the wrong area where the soil was too poor, too full of weeds and too full of slugs. Most were eaten before they had any chance. As for those growing up sunflowers, only one could really be used as ‘results’. This particular sunflower was in a different area of the plot, so the beans were much less eaten, but still eaten too much. The sunflower itself was from a different set of seeds to the tallest ones and has grown shorter with a much fatter stem. Apart from all this what are the conclusions? I would say, plausible. With a taller, thinner sunflower, in more rich open ground, it might just work. What I worry about is the shade the leave seem to put the beans in. Maybe it is just too much and what is needed is to pick off the lower leaves as it grows, as in that Mexican article I read. The beans definitely seemed to struggle on such a wide stem as this one. Also, trying to plant beans after the sunflower had grown some, just showed how much roots pervaded the soil all around them. Maybe the would just be competing too much? The sunflowers definitely grew tall enough and fast enough to make good poles.

Overall, I will definitely be growing tall sunflowers again. Though the sunflowers I have haven’t finished growing yet, I’m yet to get the flowers! So if I’m growing sunflowers, I might as well try again. I’ll take seeds from the best sunflower to grow next year and try picking off the lower leaves.

Still more experimenting to be done.

Sunflower Update Continued

It has also been only a few days since I last took a photo of the sunflowers, but the growth is incredible! They must be growing at a foot a week. I would if they will keep growing to the 12-15 foot they are supposed to, at the moment it is looking pretty promising.

The first of the beans is now starting to climb. They’ve started to wind round the stem of one of the sunflowers, and what a stem it is! The race is on to see if the sunflowers can keep ahead of the beans as they climb!

Sunflowers growing a pace!

The sunflowers have been loving the sunny weather recently and shooting up a pace. I’m guessing the tallest may have grown a foot in a week! The beans are just starting to look to climb, so by the time they do, there will be a good sunflower pole for them to grab hold of.

More on the sunflowers and beans..

Here is another look at the beans growing up sunflowers. The bean plants have started their second sets of leaves and will soon be looking to climb. The sunflowers are growing well, but I can help think they are being battered in the recent windy weather, also it is strange the difference in size between them. Still, they need to prove they can be reliable ‘poles’ in all weather and seed sown.

Some of the test beans are looking a little sick, so to be safe, I’ve sown a few spares in the box to leave to grow as big as they like for as and when any may need to be replaced. It wont be until the weather improves and over time that we are going to see how well the beans in general are growing. I’m sure they are fine, its been a shaky start to the summer anyway, but throughout June I’m expecting some exciting things happening.

I think found a report on a mexican farmer who would grow beans this way (matches to the native american origin theory). I think it was saying that he would cut off the lower leaves of the sunflowers as they grew to use a mulch for the beans and give the beans a bearer stem to grow up. Sounds interesting, but I don’t think its worth the risk of trying this method just yet. I’ll see what happens when the sunflowers and the beans start getting bigger and interacting, and then see what difference the lower leaves make. The weather of course is much different in mexico, so I’m sure there are a lot of differences that that will make to this growing method. I get the feeling that maybe his sunflowers were of a much greater size before planting the beans, it was quite a vague article though. Our weather and seasons here don’t allow much difference in planting times for the sunflowers and beans. Maybe the beans could have gone in later, but the sunflowers couldn’t much earlier. I think I proved that!

I’m just hoping to prove this use of sunflowers for bean poles is possible. We can work to improve on the technique in the future.

Sunflowers Growing Pace Looks Good

So, reporting on the Beans Growing up Sunflowers progress. After a bad start, with sunflower seeds rotting, or seedlings being eaten, finally the test sunflowers were planted along with their beans. I was a little worried that the late start on the sunflowers would have meant a problem with the beans growing too fast for them to act as usable poles. However, it appears there is no need to worry. As the photo shows, the speed at which these three sunflowers are growing compared to the beans will definitely ensure they will be of a good size by the time the beans start looking for something to hold on to. The key to the sunflower growing seems to be to keep them protected and in a deep pot until they are of a decent strong size before planting out. After a certain size they have strong, hairy stems that protect them from slug attack, too young and they are easy prey.

I’ve got a couple or so more sunflower seedlings in the box, so I think in time I’ll replace a few more poles with sunflowers in the bean row. However, this has all got me thinking. What else that needs pole support would work like this..?

Tomatoes? … Cucumbers?

Its worth a try… I’ve got lots of spare tomato and cucumber plants. So I’ll find a spot on the plot to experiment with them.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how this all work out. At the very least I’m excited to see how tall these sunflowers can get! Hopefully, at the end of all this, I’ll be able to collect plenty sunflower seeds to grow them again next year.

By the way, the small plant in the forground is summer savory. It’s not only supposed to help protect the beans from black fly, but as a herb served with cooked beans is “a useful digestive aid against flatulence”. Nice

Beans and Sunflowers – The Start

So here we go with the beans growing up sunflowers experiment. I’ve got about 5 sunflowers planted out with either 2 or 3 beans planted next to each of them. Three of the sunflowers are planted along with the bean poles put as direct replacements for bean poles in that group. The others are scattered at different places around the plot. I wanted the sunflowers to be of a much more healthy size before planted, but after the failures of rotting seed, slugs and mice, the got a bit delayed. I’m growing some back up sunflowers in the box just to make sure. So the race is on between the sunflowers and the beans. Can the sunflowers grow fast enough to act as a pole for when the beans start needing them? We shall see..