[oldbean]

I just can't figure out how I am going to reach the top to bash the poles in with a club hammer!  :blink:   

Advice please....

I couldnt bash my hazel poles from the top even if I could get high enough. I used an iron bar to make a hole in the ground and just popped the poles in. With the spread of the four poles at the corners, it should be ok.

The poles /sticks were bits I cut out of the hedge I planted years ago.

Though the strings look a bit close, the beans are in two rows which will grow up alternate strings.

[Quetzal]

I did something similar - I made a hole with a smaller pole first, and then forced in the main uprights. I also cut my scaffolding poles diagonally to try to make them a bit pointy going into the ground. My poles are ~8ft and ~6ft, shoved in about 2ft to make ~6ft long poles and ~4ft short poles. It was pretty hard work getting them in though. It felt like i was going to give myself a hernia.

[Paul Plots]

Thanks for responses:

So far I have dug down about 18" into the soil - looks like I am putting in fence posts!
I would still like to clamber up high enough to give the ends of the poles a few hefty whacks with a hammer - nothing to do with pent up aggression - just that I don't want the whole thing to slide sideways when it is windy.

I must stop dithering and get the munty up.... first runner-beans looking health and ready to go in their paper-pots. 

Lovely looking rustic-engineering oldbean! 

[harrymac]

I just can't figure out how I am going to reach the top to bash the poles in with a club hammer!  :blink:   

I stood on a chair to get enough height for the taller poles. They were 8', with 2' bashed into the ground (though I probably could have got away with shorter ones as I also nailed the posts to the wooden sides of the bed).

It helps if you make a couple of saw cuts to the bottom end of each post to make them pointed.

[Vienna Phil]

This looks great and I fully intend to try it this year. I was wondering though while the poles have to be of uneven height. Can anyone clarify?

[oldbean]

Learner, if you have poles 18" into the ground, it won't b shifting anywhere.  If you get winds that strong your beabs will be shredded before you pick them. A couple of bracing bars would stiffen the frame.

Vienna, if you read through from the beginning of the post it will become clear early on.

[Sue32]

couldn't quite visualise this - then realised it's less a hockey stick, more a bus shelter!
great idea.

[BILL251]

    silly one     maybe  but  use  a  broom handle   instead  of  a  cane   to make your  hole,s

[shaun]

munty frame MK 11 

[Oliver]

munty frame MK 11 

what did you stand on to take the picture, were you on the shed roof like me? How tall are the stakes at the back?
 I make a large shallow x shape (the 8ft canes cross about 4ft from the ground) for my beans so they also hang down easily for me to see and pick.
Oliver     

[shaun]

munty frame MK 11 

what did you stand on to take the picture, were you on the shed roof like me? How tall are the stakes at the back?
 I make a large shallow x shape (the 8ft canes cross about 4ft from the ground) for my beans so they also hang down easily for me to see and pick.
Oliver     

i was on my tiptoes oliver   the back posts are about 18" tall each bean plant will get a small cane all to its self,
to be honest i dont think its quite high enough at the front so i'm going to get 2 harris fence panels and lay them on top of the re-bar.

[lisajpickering]

Hi all

Gonna try mk1 on my plot this weekend - I've only been there a couple of weeks and I'm sure this will make an impression...   

Since I plan to make it a permanent structure, I'm thinking I'd like some permanent stuff growing underneath.  Does anyone think I'll have problems with blueberries, rhubarb or strawberries?  They'd have to be pretty near the front so I can get round them to harvest the beans but... well, what do you think?

Also, I've got a bit confused on the peas issue.  Would this technique work? Is it just that peas don't grow so high?

TIA
Lisa

[Paul Plots]

munty frame MK 11 

what did you stand on to take the picture, were you on the shed roof like me? How tall are the stakes at the back?
 I make a large shallow x shape (the 8ft canes cross about 4ft from the ground) for my beans so they also hang down easily for me to see and pick.
Oliver     

That sounds interesting but how do you get to pick the beans in the middle of the X ?

I think a munty is easier to pick from.... 

[Oliver]

That sounds interesting but how do you get to pick the beans in the middle of the X ?
I think a munty is easier to pick from.... 

An x doesn't have  middle  well it does, but only where the canes cross.

This is a picture of a 'traditional' bean support - the poles are crossed, but high up.  In he broad x the canes are wider apart at the base, and they are crossed about 4 or 5ft up - where you see the yellow line. Any beans that are hidden in the leaves, you just ferret around! I move their site every year, but Fred (he's 96 you know) who had a plot below me uses his site every year, just adding more garden compost every time, or digging it out when it gets to full, and restocking the trench with garden compost and manure in the winter. There are many ways to do these things, so don't be daunted - do what suits you! I don't have a picture of a broad x. If I remember I will take one and post it up, if you are interested.
Oliver

[Oliver]

Since I plan to make it a permanent structure, I'm thinking I'd like some permanent stuff growing underneath.  Does anyone think I'll have problems with blueberries, rhubarb or strawberries?  They'd have to be pretty near the front so I can get round them to harvest the beans but... well, what do you think?

Also, I've got a bit confused on the peas issue.  Would this technique work? Is it just that peas don't grow so high?

TIA
Lisa

If you grow blueberries, make sure your soil is acidic - they hate chalky soil so you will get rubbish crops and waste your time (and money)
Rhubard - newly planted is very small, and takes about 3 years to start yielding. then it grows away for about 45 years (our is older than that) and gets about 6ft in diameter so depending how wide the mouth of your structure is, you will never get in there to sort your beans out!
Strawberries - I don't bother with them, all that netting, and we caught a blackbird once, so the birds eat what they need, but we hope we get there first!

Catch crops under the beans are probably a better bet? Or rows of leeks so they can over Winter.
What does Munty do?
Oliver