Every year I dread trying to come up with some sort of frame to support my runner beans. It's not just that I have problems finding/ transporting/ funding long bambo canes, but being only 5'1" I find it hard to work at height!
I'd like to try a few other approaches that don't involve tying knots 6ft in the air. Partly because I'm not very good at it and I usually end up with a flimsy structure that blows over with the first gust of wind.
What other things have you tried?
I'm tempted to buy a few Aldi garden arches and use one at each end of the row...that way I could walk between the arches to pick the beans! They would cost a bit, but would be completely sturdy and reusable for years.
Several people on our site have these bean "tunnels" :)
I saw sow some arches in Quality Save at the weekend. They were £4.99 each.
I saw a suggestion somewhere that the "crossover of the canes should be lower anyway, so that the beans didn't all congregate at one spot 6 feet up. Not tried myself but more of an "X" shape sounds feasible ...
My preffered metthod
(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r111/stumpinsci/Picture177.jpg)
We've in the past sometimes done the poles crossing over lower. That may certainly work for you as although the beans are likely to continue climbing out of your reach, you can at least tie the poles securely at a comfortable height. And as long as you have a good sturdy cross pole resting on, or along all the cross points, the structure should be quite sturdy.
If you don't like tying knots you could always use cable ties like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLACK-CABLE-TIE-ZIP-TIES-CABLE-TIDY-2-5mm-X-200mm-PACK-100-/221014222987?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item337579688b (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLACK-CABLE-TIE-ZIP-TIES-CABLE-TIDY-2-5mm-X-200mm-PACK-100-/221014222987?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item337579688b)
I know plastic isn't the most eco-friendly material but they make the job very quick, they're a lot less fiddly than string, and they can be pulled really tight.
we bought specially made rings to make wigwams 10 holes = poles but I've seem an home made version where a plastic plant pot was used slits up to the bottom and bamboos put though the holes in the bottoms and several in a line
Google munty frame im doing one next year, you can do it to any hight you need
We grow ours on an x frame now. it's easier to construct.
I've got a lovely new munty frame too - first time (OH likes construction but hates gardening - I can live with that). Look forward to seeing if it works
We tried it last year but cocked it up slightly. The front was to short, we hadn't looked at the plans properly ::). It did work but there wasn't the height to walk under to pick. I did find the beans still needed guiding upwards ;D.
I tie up tops of my groups of four canes with cable ties, and then stick the ends into the ground. no reaching needed. It is easier with two people so you have four hands to push in canesat the same time, but not impossible for one.
I have had a Munty frame for about 5 years now, and being that I am vertically challenged ::) I find the beans so easy to pic as they dangle down over my pathway. I would never go back to bean poles!