First, I have to say that I am honestly not a big fan of the so-called rules of companion planting. No offense, but I find most of them to be hogwash, to put it politely. And many other gardeners share that point of view - one reason why Companion Planting has its own forum here. ;) That said, any problems with planting beans and tomatoes together in the same bed will depend on the flexibility of the bed and the gardener. That is true of any two crops planted together - they have to have the same needs or adjustments are required. But beans and tomatoes have very different nutrient needs as well as different watering needs. So if you can control those concerns then there is no reason why they can't be planted together. Tomatoes need much more nitrogen than beans as beans don't tolerate high levels of soil nitrogen, they produce their own from the air as do all legumes. The levels of N required by the tomatoes would give you giant bean plants with very few beans. Go low nitrogen to keep the beans happy and the tomatoes stunt and suffer. As to water, tomatoes require consistent soil moisture levels and watering at specific times during their cycle while beans roots prefer to almost dry out between waterings and need deep infrequent watering. So if your bed/plan will allow you to adjust for the needs of both and you plant so that neither shades the other out, you will be fine. Dave

I've bought 90% of my plants from CPN, they're good people. Both times they've thrown in a free plant, but the first time my order was over $100 (came with an albino cape sundew), the second order was over $60 (came with a typical VFT), so that might have been why. Everything they ship is bare root, sometimes it looks like they need a bit more water, but I've never lost a plant from them outside of my own stupidity (like cutting off the "dead" leaves from a Pale Trumpet cause I thought it wouldn't notice). The bare root thing includes the pygmy sundew I ordered from them, which was more than a bit scary -- I've heard horror stories about them dying due to a slight bump to the roots, but the one I got (which was really a small cluster of 3 plants) is doing fine.

Thanks for your comments on the white pots. I think that I had actually read this same thing (probably from you?) on another forum post, but I had totally forgotten about the white pots. My foam stone-lookalike pot is a lighter color (but not beige or white) and is somewhere in the 3-5 gallon size (something that I am bad at estimating), so from your experience with the white pots, it sounds like it might be a reasonable compromise choice between looks and optimal growth - and for anything potted outside my shady lair, looks are important. I only have one of these though, and will have to find a source for another one. (They were very popular a few years back, but I haven't noticed them lately at the nurseries. They are a bit pricier than most of the rigid plastic pots, which might be why. There do seem to be some available from amazon.com in different designs and lighter colors than the one that I have, but *cringe* at the price!) Re white plastic pots, if you don't mind how the pots look, I did find this source of 12" x 12" x 12" white pots for hydroponics, but they only come (in that size) in 24 lots: hydroponics-garden (Another source sells the same pots individually for $6.97 each, which is a significantly higher price per pot than the first site: gyostuff ) I don't know how many gallons that would be though... maybe only 1.5? That is the largest white pot that they have. (Both sites sell the white pots in smaller sizes, which might be good for growing seedlings until they first bloom. I would want a form factor, though, that would fit into either some tree pot crates that I have, or else at least the standard rectangular drip trays.)

I was cheap and in a hurry. I used pinto beans which I enjoy Yong as string beans. I placed planted them 12-18" away from the tomato plants once they had reached a foot or two tall. I plant thickly in all the voids between the plants. Lazy bean planting trick. I don;'t dig holes I parted mulch dropped the presoaked beans in and watered the area with Compost tea. The plants roots I have thinned had nodules so my soil has hosted Legumes before or I got the bacteria in there somehow with the composting. They also act as a trap crop... for rabbits. But they don't mess with the toms and I have plenty of beans to share(they seem to only nibble on a leaf or two from each plant and go to another one. They also like the bean pods. ) If you plant the beans to early or if the Tomatoe plant is somehow weak or stunted, the beans will overwhelm the tomatoes. If the Tomatoes are grwong well They will shade out beans that are too close.