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Bean Poles!
Being sustainable in the garden is a hugely important part of life here at twool HQ – and that includes our bean poles!
Sustainable gardening is at the very heart of the innovation that is twool – a British wool twine alternative to imported quick-to-rot jute twine. But it doesn’t stop with the garden twine. Being sustainable, mindful of your eco-system and environmentally aware is a process that starts at the foundation of the garden, with the soil and compost, and ends with the trug of home grown goodies…
When it comes to growing beans and peas (savoury and sweet!) we don’t just use our sustainable twine to tie them in, we also use a natural, sustainable and traditional support for them. Locally sourced coppiced Hazel really is just the thing when it comes to bean poles.
Pea sticks, Hazel wands and spikes to ward off Vampyres (or just shove in the ground).
Our bean poles and pea sticks come from a local sustainable resource – you can find your own local supplier by using a directory like this one, what a fantastic list!
Hazel wands make great bean poles and pea sticks as they’re naturally long and flexible and versatile enough to use in pots or on plots. They’re also a great structural element in the garden long after you’ve harvested your lovely crop. This year we’ve got newly made raised beds with rows of bean poles for the runner beans as well as wig wams for the sweet peas.
This is how we do it…
Fork over your lovely plot adding lots of homemade compost, use the spikes on your poles to secure them into the ground, lay them out in rows and stop to Pap your lovely gardener… Isn’t that sky glorious? You’d never know snow is on the way!
Of course, you need a good strong sustainable twine to tie and bind so your bean pole rows and wigwams don’t collapse under the weight of your fantastic crop…
We use twool – naturally! Our Cheeky Chocolate twool is such a natural hue that it disappears and blends right in. (Of course, we do a whole range of moorland inspired colours if you fancy a little Mellow Yellow to show off your bean poles!)
twool in action!
Tying in the bean poles will keep everything safe and secure til Winter. Fancy, aren’t they? We’ve added pea sticks at the base to support those plants once they’re in.
You can read more about the brilliant and ancient process of Hazel coppicing here.
Here are some pics of last year’s garden with the crops thriving on their sustainable Hazel supports:
Prop it n Crop it Runner Beans, Purple Podded Peas and Heritage Sweet Peas at twool HQ in 2017
Now we’re just waiting for some lovely reliable SPRING WEATHER to get growing! Though I’m not sure *today* is quite the time…
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