"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"H Ryder" wrote
((snip))
PS - was intending to grow my beans up a wigwam of 6 6 foot canes - is
this
wrong? What shoud I grow them up (runner anfd french).

Not wrong but on an exposed allotment site they will not hold up when they
are grown, wet and it gets windy. We bang in 4x 8ft metal poles across the
plot and then wire solid wooden crossbars to them and then tie the 8ft
canes to those, and still on occasion I have had to put in guy wires as
well.
If you grow in an enclosed garden a wigwam would probably be OK.

Wigwams offer less wind resistance than a straight row, but you're right
they are prone to blow over. I use a straight row but that's because I find
them more productive (the other problem with wigwams is that you end up with
a huge tangle of stems at the top!). The moral seems to be that they need to
be put in as sheltered a place as possible. Our new allotment has a hedge at
one end so they'll go in where the hedge offers some shelter.

The other thing to remember is that a row of runners casts a lot of shade so
this needs to be taken into account when positioning them. Last year we
found that things planted on the shady side of the runners didn't do well at
all.

Neil.