Tag: beans

How to Get Your Kids Outside With a Natural, DIY Playhouse

When I was a kid, to play out in nature for hours on end wasn’t just a privilege–it was my natural inclination! Over just a few short decades, we’ve domesticated our kids and planted them firmly in front of glowing screens and in school desks, and we wonder why so many problems crop up. For the cooped-up kid, a day outside is the best medicine. Here’s a great little project to turn a small patch of land into a seasonal, living, and edible playhouse, and it’s even easy enough for your children to help you build it!

The Runner Bean Teepee

What You Need:

1) 8 – 10 long bamboo canes (6 to 7 feet minimum, all the same length).

2) Gardening twine or zip ties.

3) A packet or two of runner bean seeds.

4) A large spool of gardening twine or a roll of chicken wire (optional).

How to Build It:

1) Choose a spare area of garden, either on a border, or on the lawn. Choose a spot where you’ll be okay with the kids playing.

2) To create the circular frame of your teepee, push the bamboo canes into the ground, starting with four equidistant canes and filling in the spaces between. Leave a large gap between two of the canes for an entrance. Secure the tops of the canes together using the twine or zip ties. At this point, it should look like the frame to a teepee.

3) For best results, reinforce the teepee frame with either chicken wire, or a network of gardening string.

4) Dig one square foot (12″ by 12″ and 12″ deep) around the base of each bamboo cane.

5) Add compost, aged manure, or seed-starting soil.

5) Sow two runner bean seeds approximately 1 to 2″ deep at the base of each cane.

6) As you sow each seed, fill the hole with water. Once the water has drained, gently cover the hole with soil and water once more. Depending on your climate, you may also start your runner beans early in 3″ pots and transplant when they reach about 6″ tall.

7) The bean plants should find and cling to the bamboo naturally. If they don’t, you can carefully wrap the main shoots around the first part of the bamboo canes or chicken wire until they start to climb on their own.

8) Keep weeds down and moisture in using grass clippings or bark chips around the young runner bean plants. Water frequently. You may start to see slugs preying on your seedlings–no matter! Remove the slugs every evening until the bean plants are about 6″ tall. Once the plants start producing, harvest the beans regularly to encourage growth!

Now you and your children can watch as the beans quickly grow and cover the frame to create a living playhouse! Your kids will love the “job” of harvesting their own beans, and the satisfaction of having built something so fun! Start growing early in spring, and this playhouse will last ‘til the end of summer.

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Better Beans for Your Garden

Gardening is a part of homesteading, and one of the best types of vegetables to grow is beans. They are a healthy choice and you have plenty of options. Green beans, for example, taste great fresh and raw, as well as cooked. It is possible to can them and save them, and you will find that they are a great, healthy side for just about anything you are cooking. Of course, you can’t forget the deliciousness of a green bean casserole, too. However, if you want to have a great yield of healthy beans, you need to know how to grow them the right way. The following are some simple tips you can use.

No Seedlings or Transplants

You might be tempted to start the seeds out of the garden, or even to buy beans that have already started. However, you will find that using transplants and seedlings in the garden will not often have the best results. Instead, you will find more luck when you sow the seeds directly into the ground. Before you sow the seeds, though, make sure the soil temperature is at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Soak the Beans

On the night before you plant the seeds, soak them in water at room temperature. You should soak them overnight. Doing this can help to make the germination occur faster. However, it is a good idea to check the weather beforehand. If you find that you have some rain in the forecast in the next week, do not soak the seeds. Having too much water could kill them.

Rotate the Crops

You know that rotating your crops each year is a good choice. You will find that planting beans is a good option because it can help to put nitrogen in the soil. In addition, when you rotate them, you should plant them in the area where you planted items such as cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli the year before.

Prepare Poles for the Beans

There are two types of beans – pole and bush variety. When you buy the seeds, the packaging will tell you whether you have the pole or bush style. If you have beans that grow on a bush, you will not have to do anything to support the weight of the plant. It supports itself naturally. However, if you have pole beans, you will need to place poles in the soil, so the vine runners can grab onto it and climb. You could use wires or strings connected between poles, a trellis, or doweling rods. You can experiment to find the option that works best for you.

Beware the Birds

When your beans first start to sprout, they will be very tempting for birds. They will sometimes pull out the sprouts as soon as they poke through the soil. To combat this problem. You can run a string down the row, placed about two inches over the area where the beans will sprout. Once the bean plants are a couple of inches high, you can remove the string.

Each year that you grow beans, you will learn new tricks and tips to employ that will work for your land and your beans.

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