Bean Supports

I prefer to grow pole beans.  They take up much less room than bush beans and are so much easier to pick.  I've tried a number of support systems - single poles, tripods, etc.  A few years ago, I asked my husband to make me a portable rack that would fit across our concrete raised beds that could be moved from bed to bed each year.  It worked out very well - except for the fact that he made it 8' tall - who can pick beans that high without a ladder?

Friends have one of their vegetable beds in a big circle.  Wire fencing is formed into a spiral and they grow squash, tomatoes, garlic, onions and beans in it.  It's beautiful and functional.  The beans grow up the fencing and are encouraged to cross from fencing top to fencing top - it makes picking pretty easy!  That gave me the idea to try something similar in my garden.

Obviously I can't do the spiral gardening thing as my beds are already in place and are permanent.  But I could set up framework to make a sort of arbour which could be taken apart at the end of the season and could travel across a couple of beds.  It was worth trying!

The new bean arbour spanning 2 beds.

Yesterday, my husband made up 3 wooden rectangular frames 4' wide and 4' high.  We set them up on the south side of one bed and both sides of the bed next to it.  I had already planted beans earlier in anticipation of the plan.  Next we took the 8' frame from the portable bean rack and set it on top.  Naturally it was a lot more complicated than these few sentences make it sound!

Beans now on bamboo poles - I will guide them to the chicken wire when they get bigger.

Today I stapled chicken wire to the 3 support rectangles of the bean arbour.  As the bean plants get taller, I'll guide them to the wire so they clamber up the sides onto the top.  As the plants will be about 6' above the ground, it should be pretty easy to pick beans.  In theory, anyway!  I guess we'll see.

Tomato Experiment Update:

The plant on the left is the experimental plant.  Much bigger than the one on the right!

About a month ago now, I planted one tomato outside under a plastic cloche.  A couple of weeks later, I planted out the rest of the tomatoes.  I made sure that a plant that had been the same size as the experimental plant was situated right beside it.  My thought was that the plant kept longer in the potting shed would be healthier and more advanced.  It does have more flowers but the first tomato is much bigger and healthier looking.  I sure got that one wrong!