while i'm testing out some different programs/setups, seeing how things look, work, ... i figured i might as well put some real pictures up. no text/descriptions yet.
pictures last year from the roof: (the jungle is the bean patch, it's looking much different these days).
picture 10/13 ? Is the jungle you refer to in the low centre, or back next to the tree line? If low centre, looks like you're growing bush beans (but I lack any scale indicators - they could be 2' tall, or 4' for all I know) -- try some pole varieties sometime if you want a real "jungle" - and an abundance of fresh beans.
I have a support structure I easily made out of 1/2" "EMT" (Electrical Metal Conduit - the rigid tubing stuff). 10 foot lengths are available at homecentres here for about US$2 apiece, and five ($10) will make one 10' tall x 10' long support structure, ten makes two of those (duh! ), and just ONE more tube, and a pair of unions allows you to have an additional run in between, so 11 lengths of EMT, plus two unions (about $24 all told), provides 30 feet of row support. I make wooden "sandwiches" from some exterior ply and a few scraps of lumber cut to 1/2" wide to make holders for the legs, with a hole through the top for the horizontal support. Support sisal twine over the horizontal, and the beans grow crazy with the space.
yes, 100_5774, is looking down from the roof to the north. in the foreground to the right the upside down birdbath is about 5ft tall.
and yes, there are different kinds of beans in there. i was experimenting with most of them as i'd not grown them before.
the largest clumps were soybeans. they took over most of the space and were an excellent cover crop. not too many weeds in those areas. they made it close to 5ft tall. 4 different patches (soybeans i had grown before -- i knew they were going to get bigger. i'd planted the right 2/3rds of the garden on or after Jun
20th).for vining plants i had pinto, pink, red beans and blackeye peas.
the rest of the bush beans were green, wax, kidney (dark and light red), peas, lentils, turtle, lima, cranberry. only the lentils didn't do much (planted late, surrounded and many weeks of very hot sunny weather, i'm not sure which factors made the most difference there).
this season i'll have a few dozen more varieties. i'm looking forwards to fresh pea pods once again.
the upper 1/3 is now birdsfoot trefoil, garlic, strawberries, onions, turnips and peas. to shade the strawberries for the hot mid-summer and control the runners i usually plant beans around them. this is in addition to it having spring flowers (crocus, tulips, daffodils, hyacynths) and the iris and lillies. it's coming along nicely.
i'm trying to keep things simple here, but thanks for the thoughts. :) most of what i have this season for planting are going to be bush type beans so not too many patches will need taller supports. i'm going to be testing okra along the northern edge.
always something interesting... :)
songbird
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.