Allotments 4 All

This year did a row well two tyed canes together were fine untill the winds so thinking about wigwams for next year.
Whats your ideas on the difference between the structures and your experences.

Yo Teresa

Has to be wiggywams... andits socool sticking your head into the wigwam when bees are doing their thang...

also dandelion strong medicine

look


http://www.ewebtribe.com/StarSpiderDancing/budtrees.html

look at nature Teresa.. everything is in a circle.
have dug trench though for wigwam beans to stretch their toes :)

 Oz

xxx

POSITIVELY NO to wigwams!
Reason? Everything gets snarled up as you get to the top - can't see the beans to pick them - nowhere for the top shoots to go.

I know commercial growers may be different, but logic says that beans need to hang down to be straight - you shouldn't have to fumble in a tent to find them - and they need air and sun. SO - a single row, angled suitably and braced with a  couple of canes. A poor pic but some idea?? Copes with all gales.= Tim

(http://www.hpphoto.com/servlet/LinkPhoto?GUID=e1734327-6349-1e0e-3d1c-76cd43104163&size=lg)

I agree with Tim definitely rows as per his sketch,  there is a picture of my arrangement in the 'Allotment' section of the Gallery. on my website

Another thing that  Tim hinted on about the beans 'hanging down' is; this is a must if you are considering exhibiting them. i.e. even the tip of a bean touching a leaf will make the bean bend.

Regarding my bean frame I now grow my sweet peas up one side and my runner beans up the other. They both like similar conditions, and as I don't need as many beans as I used to do this makes good use of the frame.

wigwams for me , alternated with wigwams of sweet peas. cos i am a girl and i think they look prettier  :)

Quotewigwams for me , alternated with wigwams of sweet peas. cos i am a girl and i think they look prettier  :)

Yo Legless

I iz a guy.. and to move around the wigwams seeing from all different angles as I walked/danced around them.. and the spiders webs.. absolutely beautiful.. do see ims and the gardeners point.. but sooner compost beans I cannot reach than lose the beauty of the circle..

oZ

xx

Ok which of you pinch out the growing tip when the beans have reached the top of the canes?
Perhaps perment strong ends crossed timber and cane or timber accross the top then tie the canes to it saw it somewhere on a gardening programe?

It doesn't matter how often you pinch out - there'll always be shoots beyond your reach! Finally you give up.
Permanent? Nice idea if you grow in the same place each year, as some do. = Tim

Personally, I have two garden posts 7' in length attached to met post supports driven into the ground. Each post has a partly hammered 4" nail in the end grain of post with its head removed.
I site  the posts 12' apart. I then have a 12' - 3"x2" timber with a hole drilled in each end to sit over nail. The timber has approx 1" diameter holes drilled along length (6" between holes). I then feed 8' canes through each hole and push cane into ground. Each cane supports its self, while the structure holds the whole thing together.
The benifits are:-
 I can get to both sides of the plants with no problem - making picking easy.
The structure is strong enough to support the plants.
Very easy to errect... no string to unravel.
Very easy to protect young plants with a length of fleece rapped around the posts.
And I plant sweet peas in between the beans.
I rotate by disassembling and moving the frame from bed to bed each season.

We have done both ways - rows like Tims on our old family lottie, then last year before lottie, wigwams in the garden as they used less room, and looked prettier.  However, was a pain picking and a lot of beans were missed, which isn't so bad if you want them for seed or drying for winter use, and yes, some were like corkscrews!  Fine for home use, altho a pain to prepare, but I don't think the judges at a village show would like them....if you were into showing your veggies.  Going to do rows on the lottie this year.

I have tried pinching the tops out as they reach the top of the poles, but they grow so fast that I normally give up.  I do love the way runners grow, I love the flowers, the bees all over, and the developing beans.  I still get as big a kick out of picking runners now as a big grown up as I used to get as a toddler picking them with my grandad!   ;D

Yo Peeps

dead good tip for wiggies

Stuff bamboo.... take walks out in woods... look for dead wood that can act as support... much prettier and just as sturdy.. plus you get a day in the woods
dont get much beter..

Oz

xx

Yes  i also have a wood handy and use it for my pea sticks as well.Oh i can't wait to get started all this talk about peas and beans
.What about when the Bluebells come my wood is full of them i will take a photo if i have mastered my camera by then.

i'm actually considering growing mine up giant sunflowers as recommended in 'the lazy kitchen gardener'

I'm thinking of giving this a go...see the 'runner beans support' thread a few topics down

Runner beans growing up sunflowers.... sounds fantastic... please send in piccy.. bet it looks great..

Oz
xx

I now use 'X' frames for my runner beans.

That is, stout bamboo canes, placed either side of the bed and angled so that they cross in the middle, with a horizontal cane tied in at that point.  I find this is quite a sturdy structure, (more so than an 'A' frame) and the beans at the top of the frame are easier to pick as they are closer to the path.

I grow my beans ina 1m x 3m bed and can get 16 individual canes into this space. The beans are planted 2 to a cane.

Richard,
Is this in case 1 bean doesn't germinate? I thought it was only 1 bean per cane?

I know it should be one bean to a cane......I know veggies should be planted this far and that far appart....but I cannot abide waste and if it is growing, it is given a chance.  So, I do 2 beans a cane, and if they both germinate - hoorah!  I know I know, some of you are going to say that spacing is important, I know about air circulation, but I am not growing for exhibiting, I am growing for fun and to fill my stomach!  I always end up with more beans that I can manage.  I think the only thing I space generously is spuds and brassica type things......wow......I wandered a bit here didn't I.  Yes Ross, I believe it is 1 bean per cane, but do 2 and pick off the weaker of the two...if you can stand it!   ;D

Yes i know It SHOULD be 1 bean per cane, but in my case growing 2 so close together doesnt affect the yeild detrimentaly, but all the while i get twice as many plants (twice as many beans?) in the space available.

Could someone remind me exactly why it SHOULD  be one per cane?

PS I usually grow my plants in pots and plant them out. Last year i didnt grow enough so put in one plant and one seed per cane. Not all the seed germinated in situ, so it wasnt EXACTLY 2 per cane, but this is what i USUALLY  do.

You ask>>Could someone remind me exactly why it SHOULD  be one per cane?

As far as I know it is basically for output & quality, as with many other plants. there is a limit to the nutrition available if spaced close together,and the plants are generally smaller.

And as I like my beans YOUNG small is fine with me.
 

.........and I  plant in threes
     ............1 to grow
                ..........1 to fail
                         .......... and 1 for the slugs and snails !!!!

The first year I grew runners on a wigwam, but due to the heaviness of my soil and my weak arms, the canes didn't go in very far and it kept falling over.

(I've now dug the soil over with help from strong hubby, so that problem's solved!)

Next two years I tied canes to the fence (south facing) and grew them up that with enormous success.

This year I'm going to resort to wigwams to keep up some sense of crop rotation (I have a very small garden and only one working veg patch, so I thought wigwams would look prettier - girlie that I am!)

 Merely an observation: Any plant that is growing horizontally rather than vertically will always produce a larger crop than one being grown vertically, all other conditions being equal.
  Practicality? Used for extra early runner beans commercially (when market price is at a premium). Train a few plants on a horizontal frame until the main crop comes in. Yield will also be increased per foot of stem.
  Those with big lots, time to spare and a craving for fresh beans may be able to take advantage of this.

My frame's not quite horizontal, but it leans that way!

I do agree with going for beauty and saving room, but I cannot stand the hassle of searching through the close confines of a w/wam. And some beans are always missed, going to seed and slowing production.

Some varieties make much less leaf - this can be a help. = Tim

Big thankyou to all for advice now Tim and all which type of bean do you recomend.
I used painted lady this year because it came free with a paper out of 10 seeds got 8 good plants and eventualy did well even without a trench or manure but the pelleted fert and fish poo water keept them going.

My favourite variety is 'Liberty'

Extra long pods, suited for exhibition.

Without trying they will grow to 10"-12" without going stringy. If you want them for showing 18"long is quite common

I don't go for size - rather 'stringless'.

We do a selection from Painted Lady, White Lady, Red Rum and Lady Di. Love the colours. Commercially, locally, they stick to Enorma. = Tim