When you're trying desperately to sit on your hands with regards to sowing more seeds, it begs the question of "what else can be done?" So, this week of rest in the Lunar Calendar has seen me sieve out and turn the compost heap, find suitable poles for forthcoming beans and a frame for the runners.
As you know, this year sees a break away from the traditional for me. No St George or Scarlet Emperor runner bean. Instead I will be sowing Blackpod, my HSL choice.
In Winter the time can be used to prepare a composting material bean trench, so this is where my fixed frame comes in.
Mr VVG and I went to buy some posts. Four to be precise! Two short (ready sharpened) and two longer (jump poles, which will need cutting and sharpening). I have decided the beans will hang down over a path, for ease of picking and since we are both fairly tall, we will need good head height.
In order to provide clearance we have set the two shorter poles three foot into the raised bed, meaning it can gain height before it meets the longer poles on the other side in another raised bed.
See picture 1
It is here that I have dug my trench and popped in wet newspaper, kitchen peelings and my own compost resplendent with hen poop.
I will be able to plant low growing crop in front of these beans. The poles are set facing South, which is essential to see your bean tips running away up your soon to be strings/canes.
Once both sets of poles were in place, we fixed the run struts (made from half round fencing rail) from pole to pole and across.
See picture 2
Now the canes can be added and tied at the criss-cross, et voila!
See picture 3 (to be added).
All this needs now, is late Spring/early Summer and those ten runner bean plants, which I will sow at the start of May.
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