Make a Butterbean Pole to help Support any Climbing Plant
Friday, November 7th, 2008
Materials:
•Three poles
•Twine or wire
•1-inch-diameter stick
•15 pole beans seeds
Directions:
1. To make a one person, three-pole tent, space poles 3 to 4 feet apart to form a circle. Allow a 2-to 3- foot gap between two poles for a doorway. Ram the thick end of each pole about 12 inches into the ground.
2. Tie or wire the top ends of the poles together.
3. Tie the 1-inch-diameter stick horizontally, a little lower than head height, between the two doorway poles.
4. Plant five pole bean seeds at the bottom of each pole. Or instead of traditional pole beans, you can try morning glories, climbing nasturtiums, moon vine, gourds, scarlet, runner beans, or mixture. If the seeds are planted in spring, the vines will form a leafy canopy by midsummer.
*To make a cool hideout for your kids that cost much less than a wooden playhouse set poles in the ground in either a circular or rectangular shape. (For a 5×7-foot structure, you’ll need about 18 poles.) Place two of them a bit farther apart than others to form a doorway space. Then, wire or staple wire-mesh poultry netting to the poles to form the walls of the structure, leaving space for the doorway. If you want a roof, tie strings across the top. Finally, plant seeds of any quick-growing vine at the base of each pole. The vines will transform the bare string and wire into a lovely, leafy teahouse-ephemeral but perfect.
There are several things you can use this bean pole for anything. Morning glories grow wonderful up the bean pole and so do climbing roses as well.
