Full of Beans! The beloved, Bean Archway was created for the second time this year. This is a great way to provide both support for growing pole beans as well as shade for the garden and a cool hang out place for the kids. Last year was the first year we built the archway and by the time fall arrived with all the kids back to school, it was full of beans! It was an instant hit with the kids looking for a place to hide, chat or find a quiet place to sit.
Instead of purchasing poles or structures, we went out into the surrounding forest to forage sticks and branches we needed. Two groups of classes worked together in smaller groups to create these structures. Disclaimer here…lesson learned about having 2 class groups work on this structure. In the 2 classes, there was about 50 kids total. That was 30 kids too many. Most were playing on the playground or soccer instead of actually helping. It was difficult to engage the whole group. I focused instead on the kids who actually wanted to help. There were groups who went out with an older volunteer to saw down sapling branches and collect sticks, a group who cut up twine, a group who dug holes in the garden for the initial support poles, and a few who helped drill in the poles.
Directions on How to Build a Bean Archway:
Materials to Purchase: – deck screws (enough for at least 2 screws per arch per side of the garden)
– twine
Materials to Forage: – sapling branches (flexible enough to curve at the top)
– long thicker fallen branches or poles about 5 ft
1. Start by digging holes on either side of the garden where you want the poles to be placed equal places apart
2. Measure out about 2 to 3 feet between each archway
3. Determine how many archways that would work best for your garden. This year, we went with 4 archways with 3 poles in the front part to create less of a tunnel effect and more space for the beans.
4. Forage for enough poles for both sides. In our case, we needed 8 long poles, one for each side about 5 ft. We also decided as the group created the archways in different lengths that it would be cool to have a shorter entrance way with bush beans in the front and gradually have the archways get bigger.
5. Once poles have been collected, collect lots of sapling branches to create the arches at the top.
6. On the ground in a separate space, measure out the approximate space between the poles according to how wide your two beds are. In our case, that was about 2 ft.
7. Put the two poles on the ground 2 ft apart and then start binding the sapling branches on one side curving them over to the other side.
8. Once each archway has been created, bring them over to the garden space and position the bottom poles into the garden.
9. Secure each pole with 2 deck screws by drilling them into the sides of the garden. We used large rocks the year before and the result was that some of our beans didn’t grow that well and the archways were not that secure. Remember, beans have quite the root structure and need lots of space. With high winds and rains, the deck screws gave me much more security.
10. Once the archways are secure, plant about 3 to 4 beans around each pole. We used saved harvested beans from the previous year hence my suggestion of more seeds than normal to ensure most grow.
11. As the bean plants start to grow, and you have to be uber patient for this because they take a while, start adding smaller poles/sticks in between the archways. Anyone who’s grown beans in a clear cup in the classroom (in the fall I might add…le sigh!) will notice, the roots grow first, then the sprouts and then the leaves.
12. By early July, with a warm spring I’d add, we have beans spiraling up and along the poles!
13. Flowers appear first and then soon, you’ll start to have beans!
