Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Bean Poles, New and Improved Description

This is a more explicit description to last year's bean poles made of 2 inch diameter PVC pipes instead of wood.  Wood is more attractive; however, wood rots quickly.  My husband put four PVC poles into four holes, about two feet deep, in the ground covering about twenty feet, OK, twenty one feet, seven feet apart.  He dug the holes with post hole diggers.

He braced each end pole at the top with another pole at a 45 degree angle.  They were connected with what is known as a Y.  (The Y connectors are commonly used for sewer pipes.)  He drilled holes through each pole in three different places with the same distance from ground up on each pole e.g. one foot from the ground; the next 3 feet from the ground; and the third, 6 feet from the ground.

To reduce a long pull of a stiff wire through many holes, he started the wire by threading through one of the poles in the middle and through to the end pole.  He repeated the procedure from the middle to the other end and finished out one line of a horizontal wire.  He repeated this two more times, so that there are now three horizontal wires.





He left enough wire at the ends to secure it by running the wire around the pole and twisting the wire around itself several times.  The wire should be in a taut line for the beans to weigh down.

Finally, he had to give the poles vertical strings for the beans to climb up on and he used cotton cords, not synthetic.  Cotton cords will eventually rot.  He fastened the strings from the lower wire, gave it a twist over the second wire, and tied the string off on the third wire at the bottom.  He repeated this about every six inches or so.

He now has three wires running horizontally from end to end and numerous string running vertically.  (Also see post on May 5 of last year.)

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2 comments:

  1. We're switching to planting in raised beds this year. Seemed like a good idea at the end of last year's growing season, but it's turned in to a lot of work to get ready to plant. We're still a few weeks away from planting our nights are still in the low 30's. good luck with your new poles.

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  2. Very nice. I tend to let my runner beans climb on the fence that separates the garden from teh rest of the yard and up the maize plants/anything they can find really. Bean poles would be handy, but I'm not very skilled in terms of DIY.

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