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Carrots within a bean frame?

didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
in Fruit & veg
I'm planning on growing my climbing french beans and sweet peas over a long A-frame. I was just wondering - could I sow a row of carrots between each side along the middle? Anyone done this?
Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.

Posts

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    I think they wouldn't get a lot of light once the beans and sweet peas took off.  Maybe you could grow baby carrots, harvesting them early, but I'm not sure it would work... my runner beans and sweet peas were grown on opposite sides of an A-frame last year, and not even weeds got going in the middle.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    Carrots usually need to be netted to prevent them from being attacked from Carrot fly.  It would be difficult to do that have access to your beans.  Beans are very thirsty and hungry plants, so it may be better not to have them competing with anything else at their base.
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    Thank you!  I was hoping to be able to squeeze in another variety of carrot but it looks as if I shall have to stick with what I was originally planning.  (And yes, netting them!).
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • WeaveyDaveyWeaveyDavey Posts: 575
    Hello @didyw : If you're keen to 'double up' beneath the beans etc, try onion sets - 3 or 4 rows should get going quite quickly & give 'spring onions' for early salads ere the bean & sweet peas foliage gets to be too thick? I do a similar stunt with the runner beans & get quite satisfactory results all round (most years...). Best of luck in the garden in the coming year!!
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    Ooh, that's a thought!  Thank you.  We only have a small veg. patch in the garden so I want to make the most of it.  The area where the beans are going to go currently has a nice layer of horse muck all over it.  (So I'm guessing there will be quite a bit of weeding to do come spring).
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Over the last few years we have had no success with carrots germinating in the veg plot. So decided to do something else and sowed them in the polytunnel.
    Last year a great harvest and this year (in different part) even better.
    Don't know why the germination was absent outside but great to have carrots from our garden on christmas day.
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    didyw  I've devised my own system for runner beans, based on 24 plants occupying a one square metre/yard piece of ground.  If that is a better option for utilising your space, it employs a type of everlasting 'sticks' that are now in their ninth year, thus avoiding the hassle/expense of sourcing new ones every other year.  [email protected] for details as it'll be too wordy for this forum.
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