Bean Tunnel: Growing Four Months

By July, bean and squash seeds planted along the edges of the bean tunnel had grown a foot tall with some flowers. This first week of autumn has already given us two light frosts, killing tender ground hugging squash leaves. In the meantime we've harvested a few hundred pounds of squash and many meals of fresh string beans. We are letting most of the beans dry for use as seeds and soup.

 One very neat aspect of the Italian Zucchini variety we tried is that they become a winter squash with a hard shell when they mature. We're letting a few turn butternut squash color so that we can harvest their seeds when we try them mid winter. This variety has been remarkably productive, way beyond any other we've tried. Now, in late September, a dozen plants are still producing more than 50 pounds per week. A few vines have wilted leaves from insect/viral damage but most are still healthy with vines growing longer. They have avoided frost damage by climbing high on the trellis that raises them above the coldest air near the ground. 

Tender Young Squash Leaves Shriveled by Frost: September 23

July 11: Beans and Squash Starting to Flower

August: Vines Reaching the Top 

Purple Pole Beans Producing a Bumper Crop!

Most of the Chinese Yard Long Beans Hang Low Outside

One Week's Production of Zucchino Rampicante

Italian Zucchini Hanging Down, Making It Difficult to Drive the Tractor Through

Squash Behind Purple Beans

More Italian Zucchinis

Italian Squash Fruito Becoming a Hard Shelled Winter Squash

Vine Trellis or Bean Tunnel

Every week we have the pleasure of entertaining twins, now three-years old, who like to pick and immediately eat fruit and veggies from the garden. Images of different trellises with horizontal sections that have beans hanging down look attractive and very functional. How neat would it be to have a long tunnel that was tall enough so hanging beans along the center would not hit your head? If in the shape of an arch, kids can readily choose their favorite colors and pick beans along the sides hanging at their level.

Bean Tunnel: Under Construction

Setup for Bending Arches Over Wood Form

Tools and Fasteners Needed  to Bend and Connect the Aluminum Extrusions Together

I have a lot of aluminum extrusions left over from building solar collectors. One type, 13 feet long, is especially easy to both bend and join together. Trials arrived at arches that use one and a half lengths that are bent to be 80 inches high at the center and eight feet wide at the base, with  each end 8 inches below ground. The tunnel is 51 feet long with 27 arches. To support trellis netting, string and cable lash six members of the same material perpendicular to the arches and run the length of the tunnel.

Early View Looking South

Four kinds of beans, along with some cucumbers and fancy squash, grow on both sides of the arches. To minimize planting effort, only a narrow strip of soil on each side was prepared and heavily mulched. For easy maintenance, both ends of the tunnel have gates so that grass inside the tunnel can be mowed. A knee-high rabbit proof fence around the facility keeps critters from eating the plants. Experience shows that any vine that winds into the fencing has to be rerouted to prevent it from being nibbled off. They must be very tasty.

North End Showing Squash and Trellis Netting

It will be awhile before the various vines climb over the top of the trellis netting, flower and hang their fruit inside!

Inside View Looking North

Gate Prevents Critters from Eating Plants Inside

Bean and Pepper Harvest

We grow pole or runner beans because they climb up on fences, poles or other structures created to keep them up in the air. We like the colorful flowers of Scarlet Runner Beans but their seeds are pretty tough and take many hours of simmering to soften. So we also plant a white-colored bean that cooks more quickly.

Scarlet Runner Beans with Flowers, Immature Beans and Tan Dry Pods

Woodchucks and rabbits seem to ignore the tough stems near the ground and the tender tendrils, flowers and developing beans are out of their reach. Some birds like cutting off tender pods or teasing out mature seeds - but not enough to diminish harvests too much.
The pods of bush beans often lie directly on the soil and deteriorate it they remain wet for very long. Because we mulch quite heavily, the soil is usually moist that leads to the pods and the seeds inside molding before they dry. Slugs and snails also attack fruit near the ground much more than those high up in the air. 

Second Harvest of Dry Scarlet Runners: 4.5 Pounds of Shelled Beans.

We eat quite a few meals of the tender green beans but most we let mature and dry. When their pods become brown, we periodically pick and shell them, letting the fancy beans dry completely in shallow baskets store against the ceiling above the wood stove. We like to harvest the dry beans every two weeks, or so, to prevent a flock of birds from stealing them. When a single bird figures out that there are nutritious beans inside the innocuous pods, it takes only hour or days for them to shred them all. We're lucky that most years they don't figure it out.

Third Harvest of Scarlet Runners: Six Pounds of Dry Beans

Sweet peppers mature much faster than hot peppers. Of the five types of sweet peppers, we like the large orange and red types the most because they are meaty and sweet. The purple ones are thin and even when mature, taste very much like mild immature green peppers. Small bright yellow ones son't have much taste and this year they are spongy. Other years these small yellow peppers were our favorite because they mature very early and continue producing into October when other varieties crashed. And critters seem to leave them alone. Many of our larger peppers are nibbled by rabbits, mice and voles, often making holes to access the seeds inside the fruit. Daily harvesting catches damaged fruit so to minimize waste we simply trim away nibble marks and eat them in the next salad or stir fry.

Variety of Peppers, Tomatoes, Squash and Eggplant Waiting to Be Eaten. When the Stove Is Not Being Used for Heat, It Makes a Great Table!