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Hi,
Im a bit confused, can I underplant broad beans and sweetcorn with salad items, ie. raddishes and lettuce?? Or is this considered a no-no!! I just wondered because Ive very limited space, and there is all this available space under these plants why couldn't I use it! Or is it better to use climbing plants?? Can someone clear the fog please?? Thanks! TotallyPotty

I am planning on growing some salad leaves under my broad beans. To act as a living mulch and to make use of the space. I have plenty of nettle and comfry feed on standby incase any of my double or triple layer plants start looking sad, a bit of a feed should perk them up :)

You could certainly grow radishes under either of them. Lettuces would be fine if they are the loose leaf cut-and-come-again type as I think it would be rather too dark there for hearting types and they would get very "leggy".
Other things that might do well apart from the well known squash are cucumbers, gherkins, melons and quick growing turnips (for greens or semi-mature turnips).

No worries! Underplant anything that grows tall with lettuces/salad leaves and radishes work particularly well because they mature quickly. I grow onion from seed in modules and plant them out amongst other crops to grow as salad onions. They thicken out quite quickly.

Thanks very much, I've done it, only thing is the lettuces are heart forming kind but Ive put them on the outside of sweetcorn in a ray formation rather than on the inside, I've put the radish seeds there! I guess Ill have to wait and see what happens.

With regard to underplanting Tomatoes, at the time the only place I could put my first cucumber plant was below the two tomatoes I had started. I was assured that it was a dwarf kind and would be fine. But I dont think anyone told the cucumber it was supposed to be a dwarf kind, because it is growing like mad!!!! Ive tendrils on it and can see where the flowers will be and was just wondering if this was ok or should I take note and plant them somewhere else next year.

Not sure but normally I'd of thought if you talk of a dwarf cucumber you are probably talking about the size of fruit not the actual plant.
there is a fair amount of light between sweetcorn so many things can be grown, but unless you are really spacing your broad beans out the space between them is going to be rather dark for growing other things, unless they are very quick such as radishes.

Right Thanks, grahamhobbs, all my plants, veggies and flowers, are in tubs of various sizes due to the concrete yard I have! so Ive 7 broad beans in a half whiskey barrel, 5 sweetcorn in another, pototoes in another, and all the others in any containers I could get my hands on, even recycling boxes. But I though I would just ask If there were any serious no no's before I put any thing below the sweetcorn, the broad bean barrel now being full, and as of this morning, Ive a 1 inch size broad bean!!!!!!!!! Yippee!! and a tiny pepper! and lots and lots of tomato flowers! so everything crossed Ive not made any blunders.

sounds fantastic totallypotty,

For companion sewing - summer savoury is good with bean plants, and thyme does well in pots with taller toms, and if you grow cucumbers up a frame, you can get radishes in underneath.

Recycling boxes rock!!! I am growing runner beans and carrots in two.

I'm underplanting my sweetcorn and french beans with squashes (courgettes and butternuts). So far they seem to be going great guns.. I expect salad stuff would get leggy and a bit rubbish. Have you got pot space? Salad stuff does really well in pots..

I would think you could do far more underplanting etc in pots as you can water them easier and weed them, however in the ground it would be a bit of a nightmare as it would be impossible to get up and down the rows of corn to water them.

i underplant sweetcorn with various squashes.

Millymollymandy wrote:I would think you could do far more underplanting etc in pots as you can water them easier and weed them, however in the ground it would be a bit of a nightmare as it would be impossible to get up and down the rows of corn to water them.

Hi,

Pots or Containers are my only option as I live in the inner city of Burnley, so Ive the sun loving plants in the only sunny areas, i.e., left hand corner of back yard and the 3' feet of front garden that I have, I can tell you, the neighbours think Im a bit weird planting veggies out the front where everyone can see them, but no choice really as for the sun aspects of sweetcorn, etc. Im a bit weird anyway so dont matter (hence the username! ) As I've used all the pots/containers bar two, I was wondering what I could put in those!!!! Any suggestions Anyone??????????

Trying to remember what you've already got but why not have one dedicated to baby salad leaves, of the cut and come again kind which should keep you going for quite a while. You can buy seeds for mixed leaf salads which usually include some herbs/rocket that sort of thing.

This is a quote from Andy's book (The Selfsufficientish Bible)
Companion Herbs-Tarragon, Rosemary and Sage.
Companion Vegetables-Squash, Cucumbers, Celery.
Hope this helps.