Bean trellis

Bean Trellis
One great thing about pruning waterspouts (tall, vertical branches) off of your trees is that these can be used to make great trellises for peas and beans. The photo above is a bean "tee pee" style trellis I built in about an hour in my yard. I will use it for pea or beans this season. For right now, it is curing in my garage. It will probably just last the season, but it is a nice alternative to actually buying something! You can take more time to make it more attractive, but it will look pretty good once it is covered in vines. I have also used these for annual flowering vines and that looks pretty too! I tied the branches off with black twine- waxed twine (the kind used for bamboo fencing) would probably last longer. For peas, you can also push three long, vertical branches into the ground and tie the three together at the top to make a triangular trellis, then push other, smaller sticks around the base (this might not be sturdy enough for vigorous beans vines).

Happy gardening!