'Permanent' bean supports?

[ClayGarden]

Just taken on a new lottie and its got permanent poles on site. will make sure they are well fed and go for it. Seems to work for everyone else

I didn't realise that polish slavery was accepted on allotments in the EU What do you feed them?

[Janna]

Sorry it took a while, been away. Are the pics visible now?

[ClayGarden]

Yep, and wow, they do look good. I'd be happy if my first year gets anywhere near that.

[moggssue]

Thanks Janna, I can see them now! And I echo the 'wow' .... fantastic idea, they look great!!

[greenstar]

Janna, that looks fantastic! What varieties of bean do you have there?

[Janna]

Hi Greenstar, last year I did cobra for the greens, yellow kinghorn wax for the yellows and Blauhilde for the purples(which were the nicest to eat).
This year I'm trying a few extra varieties(thanks for the Empress purple seeds Flummery!), I just love french beans!

[Flummery]

Wow, that looks the business Janna. I tend to put 2 different beans up each side of an A frame. I love to see the contrast of colours like your pic shows. Aren't french beans just delicious?

[Janna]

Thanks Flummery, your Empress will hopefully be proud to represent purple beans this year!

[Snadger]

Nice one janna! You are an inspiration!

[4Shoes]

I intend adopting a technique I first heard mooted by our guru NTG.

Basically you find a place for your runner beans that won't cast a shadow over other plants. You then concrete in permanent posts at each end with a top rail fastened to the top. this gives you a basic frame work to use 8 foot canes in a wigwam formation once you plant your beans.

This is where the clever bit comes in!

You then dig a trench one spit deep and line it with polythene or old bin bags, fertiliser sacks or anything that you have lying around. It doesn't have to be black as the next step is to pierce the whole lot with a garden fork and start piling waste vegetable matter and newspapers into it.
Once its full, you cover the vegetable matter with soil and plant your beans.

The beauty of this system is that because it's on polythene, at the end of the bean growing season you just lift out the polythene with growing medium that's on top of it and spread it on the garden!
You are then left with a trench which can be lined with the same polythene if you like and the whole process can start again with the small difference that you will need to import soil from another area the following year to top up the bed.
This way you are bypassing the rotation system and you will always have a solid framework in an area which doesn't cast shade on other crops!

Was planning my Veg patch and came across the idea of static Bean frames. I know this is 10 years old, but did you get it to work? If it did, I just thinking you could use Animal Mineral Lick Buckets (Rectangular 10l or so tubs.

[Snadger]

Was planning my Veg patch and came across the idea of static Bean frames. I know this is 10 years old, but did you get it to work? If it did, I just thinking you could use Animal Mineral Lick Buckets (Rectangular 10l or so tubs.

I did get it to work for a couple of years, then I changed plots (You could say I lost the plot!)

I soon realized I was growing far more beans than I needed. It was also a bit of a chore changing the soil each year as well.

I now just use cane/fallen branch wigwams and usually two is enough

Nothing wrong with a permanent bean/pea trench and posts especially if someone has already set the system in motion.

If you were using tubs I would imagine they would need to set them into the ground with there tops at surface ground level?

[4Shoes]

I did get it to work for a couple of years, then I changed plots (You could say I lost the plot!)

I soon realized I was growing far more beans than I needed. It was also a bit of a chore changing the soil each year as well.

I now just use cane/fallen branch wigwams and usually two is enough

Nothing wrong with a permanent bean/pea trench and posts especially if someone has already set the system in motion.

If you were using tubs I would imagine they would need to set them into the ground with there tops at surface ground level?

Snadger

Thanks for the info. This year I've had to rebuild the frames a couple of times because of the wind. One thoughts was to rotate the frames 90 degs to align with prevailing wind as opposed to across it.

The other idea (after reading this thread) was to sink the tubs into the bed just like your plastic bad lined trench, lift them out and then fill with waste from kitchen over winter and a cover of mulch / compost, but can see it would get to be a faff.

Perhaps permanent frame is way to go, just topping up with composted material each year.

All
Been Growing dwarf broad beans and thinking of trying dwarf French beans this year coming. anyone got any good news on dwarf French beans. Good crop or not worth the hassle?

[Thelma Sanders]

I use an old polytunnel frame as the permanent framework to tie my canes up to, and I just dig a trench where the plants will go and fill each year with kitchen waste. It helps as the daleks are always full at this time of year
Dwarf beans are well worth growing - I tend to fit them in anywhere there is space through the season and often have a deep seedtray of them waiting to pop in somewhere