If you’re looking for a fun project to do in your backyard here’s an idea for you. You can make this happen with minimal requirements and materials. Parents are creating pole bean teepee for their kids to play in and it looks super cool.
A living bean teepee in the garden is a magical place to teach children about gardening, growing food, and harvesting. A bean teepee provides the perfect place, safe and shaded from the sun for your children to play in and enjoy yummy fruits. Whether the space is used for learning, play, or retreat it will certainly be a hit. So, let’s see how to do it.
How to make pole bean teepee
You will need:
- Bamboo poles or wood poles, 8-10 feet tall
- Twine or string
- Soil amendments, if necessary
- Pole bean seeds
- Annual climbing flower seeds
First of all, choose teepee size and location. Loosely assemble the bamboo poles in the teepee shape without tying them yet, both to see if you like how it looks in the location you’ve picked, to decide on a doorway, and to figure out the size of the footprint. If you’re okay with the size and location, mark the teepee footprint with string, a garden hose, or with a line of flour. Move the teepee poles out of the way.
Then remove the sod from the teepee footprint and amend the soil for planting. You can dig in some compost or composted cow manure (to add nutrients).
Now it’s time to assemble your teepee poles, pushing the bottom ends into the amended soil, and tying the top ends together. Tie the twine at the top of one of the poles and work your way around and down the teepee’s framework to create a trellis system.
You’ll pull the twine tautly from one pole to the next, wrap it around that pole, then pull it tightly over to the next pole, etc. When you reach the doorway, reverse direction back around the teepee, until the entire teepee, except for the door, is covered with a network of twine.
The final stretch of twine should be close enough to the ground that the baby bean seedlings will be able to reach their climbing support without too much problem.
The final step is to plant your bean seeds. You can also add other seeds or seedlings at this time, either other annual vines, such as morning glories, that will climb up the teepee, or other low-growing annuals such as marigolds or nasturtiums, that will form a visual base to the teepee. The beans should sprout after about a week.
Now all you need is to keep the seedlings well watered and help guide them along to the top of the tent if they seem to need it. It might seem slow at first but once the seedlings start to grow, they will grow fast and you’ll have a wonderful covered up tent in no time.
Source: artfulparent.com
