[Digger Dave]

This thread is a discussion about Munty's Bean frame.


This is the basic design structure.





edit to replace photobucket blocked photos

[Aunt Sally]

Yup...  I'll take a piccy and post it  :!:

Here we are:



The plants have not reached the top of the frame yet as the vertical plus diagonal length must be about 9 ft.



The trellises have sweet peas on them - just for fun 



The beans dangle down and are very easy to find for picking.



I have also grown a similar number of plant in the traditional double row A frame way and so far I would say I have picked 1 1/2 to 2 times more beans from the Munty frame.  I've probably picked about 15 lbs of beans so far :shock: 
You can't see from these pictures but the plants are flowering very heavily.

This is definitely the way I will always be growing my beans in the future. The old timers on our site are very impressed  :!: 
A big hug and kiss for Munty from Aunty  :!:

[BensGrandad]

My brother put some of those 2in thick poles up for my mothers beans one at each end and one across like a football goal and then put a net from the ground up and over the horizontal bar and  back to the ground but the weight of the bean plants, presumably, broke the bar.

Could one use net instead of string for constructing one of the types described here or would the weight again be too much for the standard pea/bean netting.

[loubylou29]

That looks incredible. I can't wait to build one next year. Did you use bamboo canes in the horizontal and proper posts (i mean proper wood) for the vertical to make it a permant fixture?

Look fab I am jelous I didn't get one made this year!

[Aunt Sally]

That looks incredible. I can't wait to build one next year. Did you use bamboo canes in the horizontal and proper posts (i mean proper wood) for the vertical to make it a permant fixture?

I used thick wooden stakes for the uprights driven into the ground.  I completed the basic frame with bamboo canes (as you can see in the photo of me constructing it) lashed together with cable ties.  I then tied hop string on for the beans to climb.

[muntjac]

if you use netting the beans will gravitate to the easterly sun .... i know im gonna get stuffed by some " scientist type here but i learned from old timers that the peak growing period is from first sun till mid day  so 4 am in summer till 12  will make the beans stay on the string tracks and not go all over the netting to the west , but if its all you have use it,, i gaurantee you wil see a difference  

[muntjac]

now i had to put this in a seperate post as it would hav got lost in the other ......... im proud of all the frames and the results .i have a tear in my eye ,,,oh sorry its a skeeter ,well done all you wonderful folks    incidently you can also grow lettuce etc under the frames remember  

[Shelle]

Two questions from me as a newcomer this year planning for the next year!

Firstly, can I grow peas using this method?

Secondly, I need to grow most things in containers and only have one small bed in the ground that I can use.  Can the method be adapted to using containers instead of the ground???  The bed I do have is long (ish) and thin, and unfortunately the north and south facing means that the length of the planted row would actually be the thin part (about mower and half width).  Do you reckon that is too thin, or should I try and adapt using containers on the paved area?

[muntjac]

yes you can use it to do peas those funny shaped ones grow well on this frame i uszed a smaller version  a few years back to do just that unfortunatly my dogs decided it was a great place to jump and push through sniffing out rabbits etc and there is definatly no reason why you cant use containers to grow your beans etc ,deep ones are great

[Shelle]

Thanks for that!  Will try out peas ( no one in my family like beans but I loved the frame idea and felt so left out that I thought I could do peas instead   ).

Will try to work out a smaller version using containers.  How deep do you reckon and how many to a pot?  I am thinking 2, maybe too many or not enough???!!

[muntjac]

10 litre containers  will do cut the tops off  drill half a doz holes with a drill 1/2 in the sides about 1 inch from the bottom . put 6 peas in a 4 inch pot plant them out in the tubs when they are about 6 inch tall and the weather allows  feed with a bit of growmore when they are about a foot tall water well when the tops dry

[Smudgeboy]

Bringing this back to life again - where Aunty had put trellises for Sweet Peas, could they be used for dwarf/French beans?

[muntjac]

yes they can and they make an attractive show when they both flower ,great for a horrible fence etc

[Clodagh & Dick]

Spanish soil makes banging canes in tough so it's a must to have good solid supportr posts every two metres and guy ropes.

[Tinbasher]

Munty - I have tried to do the canes as you said but being a  girly 8 stone weakling I can't get the canes in deep enough - the soil is clay on the lottie( but it has just been rotovated again) I have even tried making the holes by hammering a shorter cane in  and it still doesn't work - any suggestions?

Rather than canes, which can bend and even snap when trying to force into clay sub-soil, I prefer to use round steel rods.  8mm diameter will do for shorter supports, 10mm will do for longer and 12mm is resilient stuff altogether.  I have some luxurious 16mm dia' ones, sawn at 8 foot each.

Being careful, you can usually force/twist the ends into most ground and can apply a hammer carefully to the tops in a way that you cannot with bamboo cane. Have the top ends bent right over and back on themselves for safety - only a couple of inches so they look like a mini shepherd's crook.  Closely hammered and this forms a useful top loop as well for string and such.  The ultimate is to have tiny 'arms' (say 2" of 6mm round bar) welded every foot or so (pointing up@ 45 degrees) along the above-soil length, for tying to and stopping string slippage down the rod.  There's no need to paint them in my view.  They'll last years and when rusted look ok in any case - Rustic in fact.

Just plain black mild steel bar will do.  Any local wrought-iron gate and fence manufacturer will have loads of it.  All the sizes I quoted above comes in 6 metre nominal lengths, usually a bit more for cut-off bad end allowance and such.  In other words (in old money) more or less 20 foot lengths.  So you can get 3 x 6' 6" lengths (in fact 2 metres - doh) out of a full bar, or 4 x 5' lengths or even 5 x 4' lengths.  Or 2 x 8 footers and a 4 footer.  Just ask the supplier to cut a length equally into however you want it - you're not fussy enough to an inch or so.  Have him bash the ends over - it's 30 seconds each with a vice and an anvil.  And a decent hammer of course.  Current prices should be about 5 or 6 quid per 6m bar for 12mm round, say 4 quid for 10mm and 2 or 3 quid for 8mm.

If they set the saw blade at 45 degrees too when cutting the base ends, you get a fairly sharp point (in fact a deadly one) to enter the ground even easier.