CREATING A SIMPLER LIFE OFF-GRID
  • Home/About
    • What does OFF-GRID mean?
    • MINIMIZING >
      • Home Size
      • Room by Room
      • Get Organized
      • Household Waste
    • MINIMIZE DEBT, MAXIMIZE SAVINGS >
      • Bills & Other Debt
      • Saving Money
      • Shopping Tips
      • Affordable Fun
    • BACKYARD CHICKENS >
      • The Coop
      • The Chickens
      • Feeding the Chickens
      • Fresh Eggs
    • HOME GARDENING >
      • Building the Garden
      • What We Grow
      • Seeds, Weeds, & More
      • Preservation & Storage
    • DO-IT-YOURSELF >
      • Health & Wellness
      • Simple Cleaning & Tips
      • Crafts & More!
      • Printables
    • CROCHET >
      • IDEAS & MORE
      • VIDEO TUTORIALS
  • HOMESTEAD
    • The 5 Year Plan PLUS! >
      • 2017
      • 2018
      • 2019
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2022
    • WHY AN EARTH SHELTERED HOUSE?
    • OFF GRID TINY TRAILER
    • BUILDING our HOMESTEAD from Scratch >
      • BUYING LAND & GETTING STARTED
      • BUILDING THE CONCRETE DOME
      • FROM DOME to HOME
      • SURVIVING OUR FIRST WINTER
    • HOMESTEAD MACHINERY >
      • GENERATORS
      • KUBOTA TRACTOR
      • ATV'S & UTV'S
      • WOOD CHIPPER
      • CHAINSAWS
      • LOG SPLITTER
      • POWER TOOLS
      • SNOWMOBILES
      • AUTOMOBILES
    • BUDGETING THE BUILD
    • SUSTAINABILITY >
      • WATER
      • FOOD
      • SHELTER
      • ENERGY >
        • SOLAR POWER
    • The Adirondacks >
      • Wildlife & Nature
      • Insects & Bugs
      • Things to Do
      • Water Fun
    • ADIRONDACK CRAFTS
  • VLOG
    • 2023
    • 2022
    • 2021

Blog

A little bit of anything and everything that's part of
​creating, enjoying, and living a simpler life!
Picture
http://www.creatingasimplerlife.com

Conduit for Climbing String Beans

4/10/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
It's time to get the garden ready! I get so excited this time of year because I get to plant my favorite crop: string beans!

Years ago when we first started our garden we tried growing bush string beans. Unfortunately these felt like backbreaking work to bend over and pick them all.  They also took up a tremendous amount of space in our small garden that we really wanted to put to better use.  That led us to finally trying pole beans and that was the best decision we ever made.  

Here's why pole string beans are my absolute favorite vegetable to grow:
  • You literally put a seed in the grown and they grow like crazy with little to no care (maybe water sometimes). Yes, almost like Jack and the Beanstalk!
  • They take up relatively little space because they grow "upward" freeing up a lot of space for other vegetables.
  • ​They are easy to pick. It's great exercise to reach up a little, bend down a little, but mostly just stand there and fill your basket!  It's so relaxing :-)
  • If you pick the beans regularly they will continue to produce more and more.
  • We are able to harvest so many beans in a small 10'x 1.5' area that we even have some to share with friends and family!
  • They are delicious to eat fresh right off the vine, cooked, grilled, and even canned or frozen for the winters!
  • We save the beans from year to year to replant so we never need to buy new seeds!
We grow two, soon to be three, pole beans varieties for different reasons:
  • Kentucky Wonder (about 70 days to harvest) - grow about 7 - 9 inches long. They tend to get a little tough and very stringy if you don't pick them young, but they grow like crazy so you will have a tremendous surplus!
  • Blue Lake (about 65 days to harvest) - grow to about 6 inches long, rounder and darker green, and not as stringy as the Kentucky Wonder.

The third type of bean will be grown for the first time this year! We are so excited because it is supposed to be a perennial. Yes, that's right, a bean we should never have to plant again because it will come back on its own year after year! We can't wait to try it! Read all about the Perennial String Beans here!  Now we just need to figure out where to plant them so that they never get disturbed!
Growing pole beans is so simple that the hardest part about growing them is the poles! Yup, sounds silly, but the poles can be a pain in the neck. The beans can pull them down  they can rot, etc. After years of minimal success we finally decided to make something more permanent. After a lot of research (of course) about growing pole beans, we finally decided to try building a pole built from electrical conduit, rebar, and twine. Yes, it was a small investment but the poles are still as good as the first year we built them, even with being moved around!
Supplies For 10' long by 5' high Pole Structure:
  • Quantity 2  OF 1/2 inch x 10 foot electrical conduit 
  • Quantity 2 OF 1/2 inch 90 degree elbow
  • Quantity 2 OF 24 inch long rebar 
  • 24 hooks (if you have a raised bed garden where you can screw them in - if you don't then you don't need hooks or string and can get a netting instead)
  • String to attach to the poles (for the beans to grab ahold of as they grow)
Picture
1/2" Conduit x 2
Picture
90 degree elbow x 2
Picture
24" Rebar x 2
Instructions: 
  • Cut one of the 10 foot conduits in half (these will be the 'legs')
  • Attach the elbows to each end of the 10 foot conduit (the uncut one).  
  • Insert the two five foot cut sections (legs) of conduit to these.  
  • Measure a width of 10 feet in your bed, and hammer one rebar at each end about a foot deep into the ground (leaving a foot sticking up).  NOTE: This should be approximately 1' (one foot) away from the edge of your garden bed.
  • Slip the open end of each 5 foot piece of conduit onto the rebar to hold the pole contraption upright.  
  • Insert the hooks approximately every six inches along the edge of the raised bed garden. If you do not have a raised bed garden you could use a netting here instead.
  • String the string up and down between the hooks and the pole at the top to create a climber for the beans. If you can't do the string, netting will also work. I like the string because the beans really grab on so we simply cut it off and restring each season. 
  • Plant bean seeds about 3 - 4 inches apart along the base.  Water and wait!  You will NOT be disappointed :-)
Picture
Picture
See the smaller pole structure in the back bed? That ones for growing peas!
Picture
Picture
Thanks for visiting!
If you have time check out our other
gardening ideas!
We also have several gardening boards on our Pinterest Page!
And of course we share lots of great ideas on Facebook too!
Sincerely,
Picture
1 Comment
JOY
4/14/2020 07:01:30 pm

Dear Kathie ,
This looks super easy! Would these be able to support melons?

Also, what do you use to cut the conduit?

Thanks for sharing!
Joy

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Hi there! I'm Kathie, the author behind Creating A Simpler Life blog. I'm excited to share our longterm projects (and planning) toward building our future retirement homestead in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. In the meantime I will be sharing all the other little things we do that are part of creating our simpler life!
    Creating a Simpler Life

    RSS Feed

    Visit Creating A Simpler Life's profile on Pinterest.

    Categories

    All
    Adirondack Crafts
    Chickens
    Conservation
    Crochet
    Do It Yourself
    Energy Savings
    Essential-oils
    Essential-oils
    Food-storage-preservation
    Food-storage-preservation
    Gardening
    Health
    Health-wellness
    Health-wellness
    Homemade-remedies
    Homemade-remedies
    Homesteading
    Homesteading Dreams
    Inexpensive Fun
    Minimizing
    Organization
    Products We Sell
    Recipes
    Recycling
    Saving-money
    Saving-money
    Shopping
    Wedding & Shower DIY

    Archives

    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

mrandmrscorbi@gmail.com
Contact Us - Privacy Policy - Disclaimer
Copyright 2022©Creating A Simpler Life, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
  • Home/About
    • What does OFF-GRID mean?
    • MINIMIZING >
      • Home Size
      • Room by Room
      • Get Organized
      • Household Waste
    • MINIMIZE DEBT, MAXIMIZE SAVINGS >
      • Bills & Other Debt
      • Saving Money
      • Shopping Tips
      • Affordable Fun
    • BACKYARD CHICKENS >
      • The Coop
      • The Chickens
      • Feeding the Chickens
      • Fresh Eggs
    • HOME GARDENING >
      • Building the Garden
      • What We Grow
      • Seeds, Weeds, & More
      • Preservation & Storage
    • DO-IT-YOURSELF >
      • Health & Wellness
      • Simple Cleaning & Tips
      • Crafts & More!
      • Printables
    • CROCHET >
      • IDEAS & MORE
      • VIDEO TUTORIALS
  • HOMESTEAD
    • The 5 Year Plan PLUS! >
      • 2017
      • 2018
      • 2019
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2022
    • WHY AN EARTH SHELTERED HOUSE?
    • OFF GRID TINY TRAILER
    • BUILDING our HOMESTEAD from Scratch >
      • BUYING LAND & GETTING STARTED
      • BUILDING THE CONCRETE DOME
      • FROM DOME to HOME
      • SURVIVING OUR FIRST WINTER
    • HOMESTEAD MACHINERY >
      • GENERATORS
      • KUBOTA TRACTOR
      • ATV'S & UTV'S
      • WOOD CHIPPER
      • CHAINSAWS
      • LOG SPLITTER
      • POWER TOOLS
      • SNOWMOBILES
      • AUTOMOBILES
    • BUDGETING THE BUILD
    • SUSTAINABILITY >
      • WATER
      • FOOD
      • SHELTER
      • ENERGY >
        • SOLAR POWER
    • The Adirondacks >
      • Wildlife & Nature
      • Insects & Bugs
      • Things to Do
      • Water Fun
    • ADIRONDACK CRAFTS
  • VLOG
    • 2023
    • 2022
    • 2021