How many beans?

[T8Ter]

I do 4 per pole, not in a wig-wam but much as Paullottie does. I plant two well established GHouse grown plants and opposite them plant two seeds, this gives me a great crop and a reasonably long picking season.

[Bren In Pots]

Up until this year I've only grown runners in pots so I had 5 plants and 5 canes to a pot, but this year we've cleared out some space for a bit of garden for me so I'll try 2 to pole.

[SlugLobber]

I did one per pole last year and still have quite a few frozen down, so I think I'll stick to that!!! I suppose if you have more people to feed, then go for it!

[21again]

As I have to grow everything in pots, could I put two plants to one cane in a Morrisons flower bucket and have a ring of pots to form a pyramid. Perhaps have a bucket/tub in the middle with lettuce in when the foliage starts to grow so it is in the shade?

[Llamas]

...Prefer 11' chestnut poles for strength. Pole are crossed 18" above ground in a row. (so the beans hang on the outside)...with a horizontal and diagonal bracing for strength. They easy expand to fill the space.

I'll have to give this a go. I've just finished making about 3 hazel and clematis teepees but this sounds like an extremly good way of going about things. I haven't got any chestnut coppice, but theres loads of hazel for enough attempts to get it right!

[Florence Fennel]

As I've said, I'm a two-per-poler. I think I might try my usual 12 round a wigwam (for my Cherokee beans, for eating fresh) and another with 6 round. As long as I can remember to weigh the produce from each wigwam before consuming it I might find out which does better?

That's a cracking idea Flum.

[King Carrot]

I grew my runners on a "Munty Frame" last year - I got the idea from "another forum" so not sure if posting a link is allowed. I've seen Zazen on that forum so she knows where it is and I'll leave it to her to decide if a link is OK. Here's a couple of pics of mine. It's a more permanent structure over the bean bed and should face due South as the beans will wind their own way around the strings or poles with little or no assistance. Mine's made of wood and string, the idea is, the beans climb up the string and then continue over the upwards slope - the clever bit is the beans are hanging straight down and you go underneath to pick them. You can space your strings as you like and plant as many beans as you like under each one. As I said earlier I planted 1 plant 1ft apart and each plant made 3 or 4 runners or vines up each string!

Maybe the pictures will make more sense!

We made use of the back (or front!) of the frame by using some netting across the frame and growing spare beans and sweet peas. We'll only plant 1 lot of 16 runners early and 1 Lot of 16 a bit later on the netting.

[zazen999]

I've posted pics of mine a few times on here KC; and a Munty frame is being built permanently on my plot [current pics on the blog].

It really is THE best way to get the most out of your space, as you don't lose any ground in between rows or under wigwams.

[King Carrot]

I've posted pics of mine a few times on here KC; and a Munty frame is being built permanently on my plot [current pics on the blog].

It really is THE best way to get the most out of your space, as you don't lose any ground in between rows or under wigwams.

Must of seen that a few times and it didn't go into my brain from my eyes - sorry

[Flummery]

I've sometimes used the space under wigwams for squash. They then grow out and sprawl all over the place - but they would anyway!

[Pies]

This is what my runners will grow up