I'm curious about planting onions and beans near each other. I know the general advice is to keep them apart because onions release a gas that can inhibit bean growth. I'm not looking to inter-plant them, but I want to have about 1.5 feet (around 0.5 meters) of space between their beds. Is that enough separation?
3 Answers
As long as you're using raised beds with separate soil, you should be fine. If it's just a couple of rows in the same soil, the onions might hurt those essential soil bacteria the beans need. Your spacing looks good, but just double-check if you think their roots will mix!
I actually have a row of beans super close to my onions right now, and they're thriving! The onions are bulbing up nicely while the beans are flowering and producing. I plant onions in the fall and beans in spring, so the timing doesn't overlap much, which seems to work for me!
Sounds like your method works great! Timing can make a huge difference.
Haha, yeah, I've heard that beans can get a bit grumpy due to the gassy onions! But here's the scoop: onions release a compound called allicin that keeps bad stuff away, and that can interfere with the nitrogen-fixing bacteria beans rely on. So if you're planting them in adjacent beds, it's good to keep that in mind. The spacing you mentioned should be fine though!
True! The 1.5 feet separation can help prevent any issues since they won’t be competing in the same soil.
Right? If they’re in separate beds, I think you’ll be just fine!