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Square Foot Gardening

4x4 pole bean bed, how to make a trellis system

15 years ago

I am wanting to use a whole 4x4 bed for pole beans. How would ya'll make a trellis for the entire bed? Yeah I know EG is gone for a few days. This gives everyone a chance to submit your ideas before he takes over. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Whites Mill Farm

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Comments (9)

anniesgranny
15 years ago
I made a tepee for mine.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden
dapper
Original Author
15 years ago
Granny, you had 8 plants per sq/ft and planted the whole 4x4 bed and just put up one teepee? I also wasn't sure you could actually grow 8 per sq/ft. I tried 9 bush type per sq/ft last year and they didn't do any good. Hecknone of my beans did that good. I got one meal out of Dragon's Tongue and that was it. I ended up going to the marlet to buy beans to eat lst year.
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The way you have the twine arranged it should last this season. It's organic and will break down. As long as you don't put a lot of weight on any single strand you should be fine for a year. BTW, for pole beans you don't need the horizontal twine (or wire if you go that route). The beans just want to climb straight up and have no problem doing so on a single vertical strand. Now that I think about it though, a horizontal string every couple feet might be nice insurance against the vine falling down in a high wind situation. More so for the wire than the twine. 6" spacing is pretty good for any pole bean. Some would use 3" spacing, but I don't see the point. The leaves will shade each other and finding all the beans becomes harder due to all the foliage. Your call though.
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Not trying to make it complicated, just figured tomatoes and peppers in the same places 2 years in a row I should mix it up a little (so many fungal and bacterial diseases last year with the wet weather I thought this year esp. should rotate). Plus those areas needed N and the beans would supply that. Bean row from last year (will be tomatoes this year) was potatoes the year before. But will throw more compost down since the leaves didn't really compost under the burlap, plant tomatoes in 1 of the spaces they were the past 2 years but other tomatoes will be rotated. I don't usually fertilize during the growing season but I did last year since the tomatoes were just sitting there turning purple in the cold wet weather (turns out plenty of P, K, Mg, Ca, etc., low in N but main problem was it was so wet the roots weren't growing). The beds that weren't covered with burlap had weeds pulled out, clover chopped up and dug in (I don't have tiller) and compost spread (except for the rows where I planned to put beans). I also tried to rotate my brassicas, put the kale in with the lettuce this year, and where kale was last year is summer squash and cukes. The lettuce and kale is where the cukes were, and cantaloupe is where squash was. Just the pickling cukes dill and cilantro are where they were last year. But since Dave mentioned the different needs of beans vs tomatoes, I thought I'd ask what could go in the same bed on other side of the trellis - some spots are 3ft wide but others are more like 2ft and with beans toward the middle, I can't get things too far away. They're high mounded beds, not framed in, and water not readily available.
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sinfonian
15 years ago
That's about the only way I could think of to grow pole beans throughout an entire bed rather justr on the north side.

And you can grow shade crops in the middle during the height of the summer like I believe Granny did.
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
15 years ago
And you can make a tepee for free using pruned tree branches. When I used to do tree pruning, I'd keep the long, straight branches for trellising. Lashing is simple with branches, as the bark is friction and helps keep the line in place if your technique is lacking.

Dan
anniesgranny
15 years ago
Dapper, I placed an old ski pole in the center (because I had one that I was going to throw away), then I pounded stakes in a circle around the edge of the bed (about 1' in) and tied garden twine to them, which I then tied to the top of the pole. I planted the beans around each stake, probably around 4-6 seeds each, and they grew up the twine. I had to add an extension to the ski pole, it wasn't nearly long enough. While the beans were growing on the outside, I had lettuce growing on the inside (empty, shaded) area. I really don't care for or recommend this method, it's difficult to find/pick the beans that grow on the inside of the tepee. I'd stick to a single trellis if I were you, you could plant on both sides of it.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden
dapper
Original Author
15 years ago
I have a thought. Put either a 1x1 or 2x2 stakes on 2 sides of the bed. Name the Rows 1-4 so put stakes between 1 and 2, then another set of stakes between 3 and 4. Get the nylon trellis netting and string from one stake to the other, then another net on the other stakes. Rows 1 and 2 would grow up one trellis, rows 3 and 4 could grow up the other nylon net.

How tall would you all suggest making the stakes. I would also put cross members in for added support or put 4 stakes up instead of two and attach each nylon net to 4 posts. I am thinking 6' above the bed
engineeredgarden
15 years ago
Dapper, here is probably the way I'd do it - but then again...I'm kinda weird! Ha!

EG
dapper
Original Author
15 years ago
EG, in the squares where you have the trellises placed, how are they built, I am thinking that those are some sort of post, with netting attached to them but I am not sure. Am I still planting in all squares, even the ones with the trellises in them. I know I am stupid, I don't get from your drawing how it is done.
engineeredgarden
15 years ago
dapper, yes....you would still plant in the squares where the trellises are located. You have to disregard the text part......Anyway, you could use some kind of mesh, supported by posts. I feel that doing it this way will allow plenty of room for harvesting, sunlight penetration, as well as allow good ventilation.

EG

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