Whatever happened to the pole bean teepee, you ask?
The pole bean teepee did not “fill out” the way I had hoped it would. In hindsight, I would say that I was too rushed to put it up and I didn’t prepare the seed bed well enough. I did nothing more than strip off a 2 inch wide swath of sod, place seeds in the trench and then cover them with bagged compost. The grass and weeds were the victors of this fight for life. Some beans grew, but they definitely did not thrive.
I think I’ll try it again next year. Help me remember. 🙂
Jimmy Cracked Corn 
Posted by Randomability on August 24, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Whoops! Hopefully you’ll have better luck next year.
Posted by Green Thumb Mama on August 25, 2009 at 7:10 am
I was wondering how your teepee was doing. Our neighbors behind us do this with an arbor to walk into their garden and it’s not quite filled out yet either.
Posted by Pika on September 26, 2011 at 2:18 am
I think you should, planted bean seeds few times in season. Like: april, may, june, july..
Posted by Kk on January 11, 2013 at 10:03 pm
pole beans just aren’t really bushy enough to fill it out the way you imagined, and they don’t grow that tall. Try planting some other kind of “climber”, maybe a mix of morning glories and moon flowers (that way you have flowers night and day!) and then plant Bush Beans between them. You get the natures snack with the cover you want too! 🙂 Plant flower vine seeds about 4.5 inches apart and the bush beans between them but about 2-3 in. out from them. The more you handle/train the flower vines (gently tho) the better they grow (I always talk to mine when I train them, silly I know, but they grow bigger than my moms and she doesn’t!)
Posted by Jimmy Cracked-Corn on March 27, 2013 at 4:19 pm
One of these days I’ll try this again. It was a neat idea. Thank you for the suggestions.
Posted by lizard100 on February 8, 2014 at 6:56 am
I really liked this idea. I’m sure it will develop. We use an old garden umbrella for beans on our plot. It creates a similar effect. I don’t have photos but will make some this year.