Virtually like hen's teeth these days, Pete. Too many people use over expensive canes that are too weak for the job and only last a couple of years, and carriage on the traditional bundle of 25 8ft sticks (if anyone would accept them) would be prohibitive. The old fashioned woodmen, like my Dad, stopped doing them in the '60s.
Depending on the set up you use for growing your beans, you can make your own everlasting sticks. I've just put mine away after the eighth year of use so, if you need to know how I do it, nickatipixnetdotcom.
Just watched GW and Monty's supports for his pumpkins and squashes - but just how do you push great things like that into the ground if you haven't got nice soil like that?
I rest my case in terms of cost but concede the availability issue. Some years ago I discovered plastic covered steel rods that were horrendously expensive, so I dismissed them immediately. I browsed a few of the sellers and feel they're offering mere shadows of what I consider a 'bean stick' or 'pea bough' that will enable a 'cottage gardener' to produce food for his/her family fairly economically. What's on offer today is for the recreational gardener, but painfully costly.
The traditional bundle of bean sticks would be 25 x 8ft straight hazel or chestnut sticks, far stouter than the ones I see on the above web site, allowing for 12 'X's and a horizontal one to hold them all together @ 60% or so above ground level. Cost delivered (in 1959) 1/9d. Similarly, 25 x 8ft whole hazel boughs were designed to be subdivided into 3ft 6in lengths to support a row of peas - at a cost (1959) of 1/3d.
Prices are, of course, relative but, analysing what one gets on today's market, I'm far from convinced?
Go to a builders' merchant and buy some lovely rusty steel rods. They tend to come in 6m lengths here and 8mm thick so you'll need a hacksaw or angle grinder to cut them in two. They are cheaper than wood, will last forever, never break and are easy to push in deep enough especially if the soil is a bit moist.
You just need a stepladder to get up to the top to tie the A frame and then lay one last rod on top to steady it all or you can "plant" 3 or 4 in a group to make a wigwam.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Just watched GW and Monty's supports for his pumpkins and squashes - but just how do you push great things like that into the ground if you haven't got nice soil like that?
Hammer in a metal spike of some sort to make a narrow hole. I'm sure I've seen someone doing this on the telly but for the life of me I can't remember who or when. Monty's soil always looks like it has the texture of chocolate cake.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
If anyone goes for the Obelixx idea (no bad thing), bright sun can heat the metal up with a tendency to scorch the vines. I'd therefore recommend they be insulated by inserting them in some scrap discarded hose. Any plants that look like slipping on the smooth surface, if that type of hose is used, can be tied in place with oddments of string as I do with my drainage/chimney rod 'sticks'.
I use rusty metal support pillars here (anti-earthquake for reinforcing concrete according to the label) to support builders' mesh rusty grids for reinforcing sheets of concrete to grow clematis, roses, honeysuckle, jasmine and kiwi in temps that reached 42C in the shade this summer. I have also used metal obelisks to support squashes.
Not one stem has complained of feeling scorched.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
Virtually like hen's teeth these days, Pete. Too many people use over expensive canes that are too weak for the job and only last a couple of years, and carriage on the traditional bundle of 25 8ft sticks (if anyone would accept them) would be prohibitive. The old fashioned woodmen, like my Dad, stopped doing them in the '60s.
Depending on the set up you use for growing your beans, you can make your own everlasting sticks. I've just put mine away after the eighth year of use so, if you need to know how I do it, nickatipixnetdotcom.
I rest my case in terms of cost but concede the availability issue. Some years ago I discovered plastic covered steel rods that were horrendously expensive, so I dismissed them immediately. I browsed a few of the sellers and feel they're offering mere shadows of what I consider a 'bean stick' or 'pea bough' that will enable a 'cottage gardener' to produce food for his/her family fairly economically. What's on offer today is for the recreational gardener, but painfully costly.
The traditional bundle of bean sticks would be 25 x 8ft straight hazel or chestnut sticks, far stouter than the ones I see on the above web site, allowing for 12 'X's and a horizontal one to hold them all together @ 60% or so above ground level. Cost delivered (in 1959) 1/9d. Similarly, 25 x 8ft whole hazel boughs were designed to be subdivided into 3ft 6in lengths to support a row of peas - at a cost (1959) of 1/3d.
Prices are, of course, relative but, analysing what one gets on today's market, I'm far from convinced?
You just need a stepladder to get up to the top to tie the A frame and then lay one last rod on top to steady it all or you can "plant" 3 or 4 in a group to make a wigwam.
Hammer in a metal spike of some sort to make a narrow hole. I'm sure I've seen someone doing this on the telly but for the life of me I can't remember who or when. Monty's soil always looks like it has the texture of chocolate cake.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Not one stem has complained of feeling scorched.