Pole Beans

 The last few years I have had a battle getting beans sprouted and growing.  Everything from the seeds disappearing completely (mice?) to the growth points above the cotyledons being chewed off before the leaves get very big.

Gardening is, in large part, an engineering challenge.  I finally decided that if the mice weren't stealing the seeds, then the little brown locusts were munching on the leaves as soon as they opened up.  So I brainstormed a better way to exclude these pests.  I threw a floating row cover over the whole thing and pinned down the edges, hoping that there were no little critters being trapped inside with my beans.

Underneath the chicken wire cloches that hold the row cover in place are rings from a croquet set to elevate the material up off of the bean sprouts.  These rings fit under the cloches just perfectly.  The cloches hold the fabric down and lengths of conduit seal the edges.

It worked pretty well.  Despite being difficult to water through, it seems to have excluded most of the pests.  I plant two thirds green Seychelles, and one third yellow Monte Gusto because the Monte Gusto out produce the Seychelles by a lot!  I plant in two stages, from the outside to the inside of the bed.  That way when the older bean stalks are done producing I can start pulling the row out from the ends towards the middle.

In about a week I will sow the middle of the row and protect that section the same way.