Munty's runner bean frame

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JayG

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #255 on: April 10, 2012, 22:01 »
Looks like a good arrangement to me Stratts. There's always some sort of compromise but the young beans will get good light when they are small and anything grown underneath will also get the best of the available light (the beans will be OK once they climb up the diagonals because even facing north-ish there's plenty of light available in high summer.)  :)
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prakash_mib

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #256 on: April 10, 2012, 22:03 »
so I was certainly wrong then  :lol:
I am going to build one this weekend you know which end will face the sun now  :)
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Stratts

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #257 on: April 10, 2012, 22:09 »
That's a relief cheers and just checked google earth and the high end actually faces SW so I got it wrong.  I also didn't want it blowing away, lol!!

Never thought of courgettes under there that'd save a bit of space on my plot as I only need to grow 2 or 3 plants.  Maybe still have room for a couple of dwarf beans too.

What about the broad beans on the end is that ok or should I move them?  they are south facing on the outside,

Cheers

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Trillium

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #258 on: April 11, 2012, 02:40 »
One extra piece I added was to nail on a cross bar low down at the back bottom, but about 2 inches above the base. This way I can tie my string onto that anchor bar and up and over and onto the high top front piece. I find every few years I must replace the baler twine I use (not UV resistant but durable while it lasts) and the anchor bar makes things much easier.

Inside or outside for the beans is up to the user.

I personally wouldn't do broadbeans at the end since they get very tall and bushy and will make picking of runners harder than need be, plus competition for light and nutrients. A courgette or two under the the frame would work but don't get too carried away - you still need to get under there to pick the hanging beans.

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Stratts

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #259 on: April 11, 2012, 06:58 »
Ok thanks mate good idea bout the bottom rail. 

I'll move the beans coz thinking about it they would block light coming in the side for the courgettes as they are on the south end!!

I can see another smaller frame being built for them, lol!!

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Trillium

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #260 on: April 11, 2012, 19:39 »
I find the runners yield so well that I use half for runner beans, half for cucumbers which just love that frame.

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Stratts

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #261 on: April 11, 2012, 23:01 »
I was going to do half runners and half climbing french as the frame is around 13ft long and will give me about 8 stations per side.

A second  frame would be good for half broad beans and half cucumbers too with enough room under both for marrow, courgette, squash and dwarf french maybe.

Time to get the drill and saw out me thinks!!  :D

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shokkyy

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #262 on: April 11, 2012, 23:31 »
I like the idea of the frame, but just trying to work out how much more space this would take up, in comparison to a conventional double cane row. Taking Aunty's dimensions as an example, which is 6 foot high at the front and 3 foot at the back, what would be the distance between the back of the frame and the front? Is it 6 foot, so equal to the height of the highest side?

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Trillium

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #263 on: April 11, 2012, 23:39 »
Not sure what the others did, but I made mine 6ft high at the front (so I wouldn't bash my head), about 2-1/2 ft high at the back, width about 4ft thereabouts, and the depth is somewhere around 2-1/2 ft. Definitely less than 3ft. I'd measure but it's just too cold to go out right now.

I wanted max surface area taking up the least space. And it was the wood I had at the time. It's been up for about 6 years now and going strong.

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agapanthus

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #264 on: April 12, 2012, 00:01 »
Munty reckons it's a goodun!!!  8)

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shokkyy

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #265 on: April 12, 2012, 01:36 »
Not sure what the others did, but I made mine 6ft high at the front (so I wouldn't bash my head), about 2-1/2 ft high at the back, width about 4ft thereabouts, and the depth is somewhere around 2-1/2 ft. Definitely less than 3ft. I'd measure but it's just too cold to go out right now.

Oh, that doesn't sound so bad. The idea of using 6ft of space to grow half the number of plants I could fit in a 2ft wide double row didn't sound such a good swap. Do you do one plant per string or two?

With last year's dreadful weather I didn't get a very good crop at all so this year I've done a double cane row just under 10ft long, which at 2 plants per cane gives me a whopping total of 60 plants. Hopefully I should be drowning in runner beans this year. But next year I might give the frame a go. Actually, I do already have a very sturdy timber frame fence running round that bed, and I suspect I could probably get away with using the timber frame as the back part of the munty. It would have to face due south, west or east though.

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Stratts

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #266 on: April 12, 2012, 08:12 »
The dimensions of my frame are 3ft high at back, 6ft high at front, 4ft wide with the angled roof sections 5ft long, giving total growing length of 8ft before they need nipping off.

I figured you'd need the same width to grow 2 rows taking into account getting down each side to pick and wiith a frame you can grow stuff underneath  ;)

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JayG

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #267 on: April 12, 2012, 08:44 »
Mine has exactly the same height, depth and diagonal dimensions as Stratt's, although it's constructed from angle iron and is only 6 foot wide (everything has to be scaled down in my garden!) A total growing length of 8' for the uprights and diagonals seems about right as runners rarely grow taller than that.

As for density of planting, I've found an average of about 1 1/2 plants per string is about the best compromise between yield and overcrowding.

As for growing crops underneath, I strategically dump a paving slab so I can step over any crops without damaging them to pick the beans whilst maximising the growing space (obviously with a wider frame you would need more than one slab.)

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Aunt Sally

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #268 on: April 12, 2012, 08:48 »
You can plant uner it too. Salad catch crops intil the beans start producing is a good idea.  I've even grown a courgette plant under it.

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mumofstig

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Re: Munty bean frame questions
« Reply #269 on: April 12, 2012, 09:32 »
but make sure you don't plant too much...........you still have to get to the underside to pick the beans  ;)



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