Come Saturday the weather was set fine and we managed to devote half the day to the allotment. Seeds have been sown, a new compost bin built and another hazel stick tepee erected for the sweet peas and french climbing beans.
Comments have been made down the pub about my hazel stick constructions. They are not ‘hippy wigwams’ as some have said but rather they are environmentally-friendly, ecologically sound, locally resourced, low-carbon-footprint runner bean supports. And rather handsome they look too, even though they are not dead straight.
I came across a website here which celebrates the national beanpole week which starts next week and has all sorts of helpful information pleasantly presented including the whereabouts of suppliers of bean poles in the UK. The site celebrates Britain’s coppiced woodlands, the animals and plants that live in them, the coppice workers who look after them and the beanpoles and other coppice wood products they produce. I highly recommend anyone and everyone taking a look at this site. Click here to arrive at their site.
But half my readers come from many parts of the world and I wonder if hazel trees are found elsewhere and whether they are coppiced or not and what on earth people use to support their runners. If anyone could satisfy my curiosity then please do.
The seeds sown two weeks ago are all up now but small they are and hardly worth a photograph. The broad beans have also burst through the soil with intent. Three weeks ago the plot was quite barren apart from a row of parsnips kindly left by the previous owners. We have no autumn sown onions or garlic or brassicas but soon our sowings will grow. And then we will be in business!
a swan at Stourhead gardens…
Wonderful swan picture.
We have just this weekend constructed a support for our runner beans from bamboo canes, not so lovely as your hazel sticks, though our pea sticks are birch trimmings from our pruning last year and are rather more wonderful.
Hello Sara, good to hear you are using what you find around you…thanks for the swan picture compliment….
I rather regret the fact that, having lots of bamboo poles available to me, I can’t justify buying hazel bean poles. They’d be so much more attractive. Sounds as if you are impressively organised and on top of things, with or without the hippy reputation.
Hello Janet, but one day the bamboo poles will wear out and then you will have no choice! 🙂
I think a plant support in the shape of the Stourhead swan would be nice..
Hello Marian, yes it would be such a lovely natural curve…
A Hazel stick tepee, wala wala wuski, I wonder if that is only familiar to Aberdeen 50s kids.
wala wala wuski? what is this strange northern dialect you are muttering Alistair? 🙂
Most people here in Illinois use imported bamboo poles, but I have an idea that one could possibly use buckthorn which is invasive in our woods and free for the taking. I’ve also grown beans on a chain link fence, ubiquitous in this part of the world, if not aesthetic.
What about willow?
Hello Adrian, I should imagine that buckthorn stripped down would work ok and better than imported bamboo that is for sure…certainly growing beans on a chain fence would improve the appearance!