Climbing Beans
The technique we finally used to grow our beans was a 6m long teepee tunnel. We cut lengths of bamboo from the garden, removed the leaves and used the 3m lengths as poles. We pushed in the bamboo poles about 30cm into the ground to create the apex of a triangle. Another long piece of bamboo is tied to the top as a top rail. We placed a row of bamboo in this way and then realised we needed more so we alternated each bamboo pole with string lines. The bottom rail is a length of timber on the ground and string was tied from the top to bottom rail as extra supports for the beans (beans will entwine up lengths of string easily and it's a cheap and unobtrusive way to grow them). You can see it clearly in the photos above.

One side of the 3m high teepee tunnel/ trellis is 'Blue Lake' and the other is a mix of 'Giant of Stuttgart', 'Purple King' and Snake beans. They all like fertile soil enriched with compost, well drained soil and a sunny aspect. Space the seeds 10cm and allow 2 up each vertical support to bush them up a little. They grow crazy in this weather, I reckon about 30cm a day! I have recently become a fan of the 'Rattlesnake' bean, striped purple and green but cooks green, it has great flavour and I know this sounds silly but doesn't produce as much as 'Blue Lake' so you can pick as you need and you rarely have a glut.

The climbing beans have grown to the tops of their 2.5m bamboo tunnel, making me think that next year I should make it 3m high instead, but then how will I reach the beans up the top? Some beans have hitched a ride on the nearby crepe myrtle tree! We have not sprayed the beans with anything, we have noticed a few holey leaves but nothing serious. We have really not even had to water them much do to the regular rainfall but we have watered them with liquid feeds of Harvest. There are millions of beans and we really should get ready to blanche and freeze quite a bit so we have beans in the freezer for autumn and winter. The other varieties that I planted later, 'Rattlesnake' 'Snake' and 'Purple King', are starting to climb up poles on the other side of the tunnel.

How to grow

Sow bean seeds at the beginning of spring, place two seeds for each pole. Do not water for 10 days to prevent rotting. Plant 2 seeds per pole or string, they will twine up together and you'll get more beans for you space. Beans are really productive so you will need to harvest every day! I think 20 bean vines are plenty for a family of 4.

Tips for beans
* Plant beans up an old ladder.
* Plant every 3 weeks for a staggered harvest.
* Don't water newly planted seeds until they have germinated, they are prone to rotting.
* December is the last month you can plant beans and have a successful crop.

Our harvest
We are picking plenty of 'Blue Lake' & 'Rattlesnake' beans every night and they are super sweet and delicious gently steamed or blanched for 2 minutes so their retain a little of their crunch. Top with oregano pesto (just like basil pesto but with oregano!) and feta crumbled over the top. Or we make a dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, crushed coriander seek, spoonful of Greek yoghurt, salt, pepper, and a pinch of brown sugar.

happy veg growing ;)
Linda Ross