2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[flowerbug]

Yesterday was sunny, I pulled big weeds in the garden and dug out clumps of fescue. The pigs and sheep enjoyed the treats. Today, more of the same. The garden was tilled first of February but needs it again. The fescue clumps bog down the tiller so we are pulling them up. I can’t wait to plant my Black Cattle beans from last year, that aren’t black. LOL And the purple podded green beans,

@BeanWonderin thats a great recycle and idea on the Christmas trees!

you can tell he's got the selection down right, no tinsel or other ornaments to cause problems later.

today might be nice enough here to get outside and get some gardening done. pretty soggy though. we'll see...

 

[Blue-Jay]

Two recent beans in the mail from a Massachusetts gardener. Alma's PA Dutch Purple Burgundy - Pole Lima. Supposedly can climb to 12 feet and is highly productive.



Also sent was Cottontail. Which started out as an outcross from a Michigan gardener. I have grown the bean myself and the first photo is how it turned out for me. Second photo from this Massachusetts donor came as Cottontail reverse. Maybe the bean is soil sensitive and I have not known that.

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[heirloomgal]

Question for pole bean growers that use saplings, or small trees for supports (or recycled Christmas trees!) I have collected several small saplings from my backyard to use for some of the pole beans I'm growing this year. I'm wondering what are some of the ways that these saplings can be sunk into the ground well enough to not be toppled over by the weight of the plants (3) at full maturity, and fully loaded with beans. My ground is a bit soft, and in some spots, on the sandier side. Plus, it'll be well tilled, so I'm worried the poles will be up against no resistance in the soil to stay upright. I can't pound them in from the top, ( as I do for 8X2X1's ) for lots of depth, because the tops are considerably smaller than the trunks and some are a bit branched even. I think we will use the chop saw to cut points onto the trunks to help drive them in as much as possible, but I'm pretty sure that won't do it. I have at least 30, possibly 35, to sink and stabiliize. I've come up with a few ideas, but it has all been a bit too costly when multiplied by 35 poles. Any ideas?

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Question for pole bean growers that use saplings, or small trees for supports (or recycled Christmas trees!) I have collected several small saplings from my backyard to use for some of the pole beans I'm growing this year. I'm wondering what are some of the ways that these saplings can be sunk into the ground well enough to not be toppled over by the weight of the plants (3) at full maturity, and fully loaded with beans. My ground is a bit soft, and in some spots, on the sandier side. Plus, it'll be well tilled, so I'm worried the poles will be up against no resistance in the soil to stay upright. I can't pound them in from the top, ( as I do for 8X2X1's ) for lots of depth, because the tops are considerably smaller than the trunks and some are a bit branched even. I think we will use the chop saw to cut points onto the trunks to help drive them in as much as possible, but I'm pretty sure that won't do it. I have at least 30, possibly 35, to sink and stabiliize. I've come up with a few ideas, but it has all been a bit too costly when multiplied by 35 poles. Any ideas?

Here we either dig a hole and backfill or what I usually do with sticks is go out after heavy rain and use 2 hands holding it near the base to gently push it into the ground. I don’t plant anything for a week or 2 they tend to get baked in as it settles and the soil dries out. My soil is a little different than yours though. I’d say it’s a pretty even mix of sand, silt, and clay.

 

[flowerbug]

make a tripod and tie the top together.

 

[Artorius]

I do similar to @Artichoke Lover . I put poles in dug holes. In addition, my teepees are reinforced with ropes, which I anchor on one side, I throw over the top and anchor in the ground on the other side. Anchor pins are long enough to reach a solid layer of soil.
I have my own plantation of maple poles They are enough for two seasons. Those that were previously debarked and dried even longer. In this time the next poles will grow.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Since there is a discussion of anchoring supports to grow pole beans on I thought I should post my photo of my pole supports. I drive them into the ground about 14 inches with the flat side of a carpenters hammer. They often times go through one incidence of severe weather where we get sometimes up to 65 mile and hour winds (104 kph) My 96 inche poles cut to 80 inch length. This pole has long screws sticking out that I install when we get too much rain at the time the pods are drying so I can pull out bush plants and hang them on the screws to dry the entire bush vine full of pods. I do install short screws in my poles so pole vines can catch on the screws just in case of a big windstorm so the plants down slither back down the poles and wind up in a pile on the ground. Just a little insurance thing I thought about. Might not be necessary but makes me feel better that my pole vines will remain wrapped around my poles.

These images when clicked on will enlarge for a better view.






This is what the pole bean plot looked like one season.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've done like Flowerbug, a tripod with the tops tied together. The tripod is a fairly common idea. effective and not that hard.

I've used post hole diggers to set them and use guy wires to anchor them, usually from three directions. Depends on the wind direction. When they are covered with beans they pick up a lot of wind load.

For long rows I have set one at each end and connect the two with fencing and put guy wires in a Vee on the ends to keep them under tension. On longer rows I might set another support in the middle with no guy wires. The tension keeps them upright.

How rocky is your soil? This can make it a bit more challenging to get them back out after the season is over but I set wooden fence posts and the supports at the end of the long rows by digging with post hole diggers. Then I put some rock in the bottom of that hole around the pole and pound them with a steel tamping bar. Then I fill the middle of the hole with dirt and tamp that in, then at the top add more rocks and tamp them in place. Wear gloves, the post hole diggers and tamping bar will tear up your hands. This way you get good sideways support at the top and bottom of that hole. It's the way I grew up setting fence posts we cut ourselves on Dad's farm. Your type of soil may determine how much you need to guy wire them or tamp rocks in place.

This is what my tamping bar looks like. I used it a lot in Arkansas but it's pretty worthless down here. That's a bad angle on the photo, it's not as long as it looks, probably just under 6'.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I spent about an hour yesterday cutting privet branches for poles. These are similar to what I’m going to try this year.

 

[Zeedman]

Since there is a discussion of anchoring supports to grow pole beans on I thought I should post my photo of my pole supports. I drive them into the ground about 14 inches with the flat side of a carpenters hammer.

I wish I had soil that soft. It takes a lot of pounding for me to even get T-posts in that far, and then only if I don't hit a rock.