RE: Re: Has-beans? support bush beans?

**&* C* <j*@casagarden.com>**

We use 4 items for our pole beans trellises.  Since I believe in using long
lasting materials and cheap in some areas, here is our method.

8' Steel T-posts  --- great support and long lasting
Vinyl-coated wire - 3 levels top, middle and bottom  (don't use only top and
bottom)
Baling twine - 3000' for $7.00
Duct tape (Tim Taylor would be proud).

The wire won't rust and can be used season after season.  Beans climb baling
twine very easily. Just pick one day in the early season to gently wrap
those "feelers" who can't find the twine.  This takes only a few minutes and
you are done for the season.  No big deal.  We use small strips of duct tape
to secure the twine to the top wire.  You must do this otherwise as the
season goes on the twine will loosen enough to slide on the top wire (not
good).  Its important to create space between the vines. Since the vinyl
coated wires are the main support for the trellis, make sure you fasten them
very tightly to the steel posts. At their peak, the beans vines are very
heavy.

See at.... http://www.casagarden.com/trellis.html

We use alot of leaf mulch on the garden (at least 5 dump truck loads per
year).

At the end of the season, we just cut the twine/beans from the wire and
discard, take down the wire and pop the posts.  Make sure you have a
post-popper otherwise you better have a strong back.  :)

Oh yeah, since we changed to the planting configuration pictured (double
trellis rows), our yield has increased. The trellises are 2' apart and these
doubled-row trellises are 6' apart.

Hope this helps,  Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-admin@mallorn.com
[c*@mallorn.com]On Behalf Of Don Boekelheide
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 1:24 PM
To: community_garden@mallorn.com
Subject: [cg] Re: Has-beans? support bush beans?

Hi, all,

Had to say something about beans, too. Toot my own
horn, or something. Anyway, most of the bush beans I
grow (Contender, Provider, Dragon's Tongue (because it
looks so cool) don't need staking, but do sprawl all
over the place. I've thought of using 'pea brush'
supports like I've done for sugar and snow peas, but
never got around to it. But I now mostly grow pole
beans, because they give over a longer period, which
is great for home and community gardeners who eat most
of their produce. My current favorite bean is Helda,
from Johnny's. Wow, is it tasty! And it keeps going
and going and going... I also grow Kentucky Blues,
which do better for me than Kentucky Wonder - why I
don't know - and a 'half runner' bean that we've saved
in our family (it was bred to go half way up a
cornstalk, and I do plant it with corn when I have
space). My pole beans occasionally take a while to
start climbing, but when they go, they go like mad. I
don't usually tie them, though I've been known to tie
some jute strings to dangle down to the seedlings from
the trellis. I do have cross-pieces on trellises I
make, or I use 'teepees' out of rough wood. Bean vines
might slide off something straight and slick, I think,
like poles made of conduit.

Other beans:

If you have a long season, it is fun to grow your own
limas.

My favorite last year was edible soybean, edamame.
Wow, everyone, it is so good! Boiled, like boiled
peanuts, but better. They, a bit like blackeyed peas,
are fairly easy to harvest.

I'm 'curator' of a historical veggie garden this year
(ca. 1840), and have found that even in the South,
Americans originally thought of 'beans' as 'fava' or
'broad' beans, as opposed to 'snap' or 'string' beans.
Favas stand up straight and don't make a vine like
bush or pole beans. Favas will grow down here, but do
better in cooler milder areas. Out West along the
coast and in the UK (and elsewhere?) they also make a
fine cover crop.

Last but not least are the flowering beans, like
lablab. Nothing is more spectacularly pretty on a
trellis, arbor or fence.

Don Boekelheide
Charlotte, NC

______________________________________________________
The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's
services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find
out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org

To post an e-mail to the list:  community_garden@mallorn.com

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription:
https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden

______________________________________________________
The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org

To post an e-mail to the list:  community_garden@mallorn.com

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription:  https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden