Beans - Is this worth it?

Evening all. Just planning for spring.

If I built a single wigwam frame of 3 bamboo canes, and grew 3 bean plants to climb it (one plant per cane), would that give a worthwhile yield or would it be more effort than its worth for the crop yield?

I know I've been a bit vague, I'm still pondering for next spring. Lets say I'm talking about climbing French beans, although I might end up choosing some other type.

 

I grow two per cane, greater yield and yes it's worth it. Dont forget you can underplant it too with quicker crops such as radish.

Steve...

 

I grew beans between Clematis against a wall.
The flowers were of as much value as the beans themselves. The bright red stood out well as the Clematis faded.

 

This is sort of my plan. I'm still working on the details (ie which plants to actually grow) but the I have dug a 3ft wide bed between the patio and the lawn. Its about 15ft long.

The vision in my mind is of a scene that looks nice, yet is productive. There will be tall stuff, hence the climbing beans. I'm also thinking of building some vertical strawberry planters for it (effectively just stakes driven into the ground at intervals, and plant puts nailed to it).

Then underneath, maybe some salad leaves, radish, maybe some onions etc.

If I can get it how I want it, there will be multiple layers of productivity in there.

 

Three canes is probably a bit sparse, I grew runner beans, variety Scarlet Emperor, one per cane up a wigwam of 5 canes last season and had more beans than we could eat - gave loads away and left a few on the plants for next seasons seed.

As mentioned in other posts, under-planting is also a possibility. I put an ornamental gourd under a wigwam of climbing French beans and had a very good yield.

a-a

 

Shiney mentioned in a previous bean post , about them originally being an ornamental plant. This got me interested in bean growing . Alek also kindly donated some bean varieties to me , one with the incredible name of "Cherokee Trail of Tears"! I will be growing them along a sunny tall fence with my Sweet peas , and also in a Teepee of canes in a couple of large containers. If you Google around there are some very pretty ways of growing beans on frames which may suit your 15 foot bed.
This is my first try at beans so there will be more "what-do-I-do-now?" questions starting in spring ! :D

 

Thanks all. As usual, lots of useful ideas and info here.

I've decided to allocate more of my garden to veg growing, but the little strip in front of the patio will, with a bit of luck, be where I go racing out to while the cooker is already on full whack and on a whim I decide it would be good to add some whatever veg or herb. So, I'm going to try to grow a little bit of everything there, and have other parts of the garden for the more well planned cooking endeavours.

 

I usually erect an elongated wigwam, 10 poles either side. and alternate runner beans with sweet peas which intermingle nicely and as a bonus act as a sunscreen for my small greenhouse

 

I usually plant about 14 runner beans and have FAR too much, but I love them. I still haven't quite used them up from my freezer despite a solid effort. So I would grow at least some if you like them, then you'll gauge how many to grow next year.

ALso you mentioned putting strawberries in pots on sticks. I would advise against this, as they need more water than pots allow to give a half decent crop. I am in arid East Anglia, but even so. I guess its a matter of prioritising which veg you like most.

 

Thanks for the heads up on that one. I'll bear that in mind. I'll probably still attempt to build my vertical strawberry planter, but I'll try to design in more opportunity for water retention.

I've seen stackable strawb planters. The one I saw was too small for my liking, so my plan was to use much larger pots, and have the drain holes from the upper pots over the compost in the pots in the next level down, and have gradually increasing pot size as you move down the stick.

In view of your advice, I'm going to see about some makeshift water reservoirs, perhaps plastic pop bottles, upside down with the lid end in the compost and the bottom holding a reserve of water. I'll do some experiments to see if I can make the water discharge into the compost at a slow and steady rate. I know you can buy things to do this, but half the fun is in doing on the cheap with whatever's lying around.

 

Just a wee point here, I've found that growing runners that they just keep on cropping...hence why you get so many. Climbing French beans are not quite as prolific as the runners though I have found so I plant more.

What's everyone elses view on this?

Steve...

 

Yes, I find I get much more yield off runners than french beans, runner plants always seem bigger and more robust. Picking them becomes a chore. French beans are notionally quicker to prepare for eating. (top / tail and put them in the pot). However, I've got a nifty bean slicer that takes the string off and slices runner beans to a uniform width in one go. This speeds it up no end. The slicer acts as a good quality control too, if the bean is too fat to fit, then it goes in the compost (its gone a bit tough too).