How to Use a Pole When Planting Beans

Overview

Beans are a staple of summer gardens, giving you a harvest for weeks out of the gardening season. If you shy away from planting beans because you have a small garden, don't. Pole beans are among the few vegetables that add a sense of height to the garden. An alternative to bushy bean plants is pole beans. Pole beans are named such because they grow as a vine that climbs up a pole. When planting pole beans you can use three poles and make a tee-pee support, or use one solitary pole.

How to Use Three Poles

Step 1

Take three 5-foot-tall stakes and connect them at the top with twine, wire or a cable tie.

Step 2

Spread the bottoms of the poles apart to form a triangle shape. The poles now form a tee-pee.

Step 3

Set the tee-pee on the ground where your beans will be planted. You do not have to spread the bottom of the stakes too wide, otherwise it will take up a lot of garden space. Simply spread them apart enough to get them to set securely on the ground.

Step 4

Take a hammer and tap down on the tops of the stakes, which will give them firmer footing in the ground.

Step 5

Plant your bean seeds around the bottom of the poles, 2 inches deep into the soil and 3-4 inches apart, until you have planted a circle around the tee-pee.

Step 6

When bean plants begin to grow, direct them toward the poles until they begin to climb up them on their own.

How to Use One Pole

Step 1

Select a stake that is at least 1 inches by 2 inches by 6 feet long.

Step 2

Taper the bottom of the stake with a jig saw so that it has a pointed end, but do not cut off any of the length.

Step 3

Pound the stake 1 foot into the ground in the middle of where you will be planting your beans.

Step 4

Mound the dirt up around the bottom of the pole with a hoe, and plant your bean seeds 2 inches out from the bottom of the pole, 2 inches deep into the soil and 3 inches apart, until you have circled the pole.

Step 5

Direct the bean plants to the pole as soon as they are long enough.