Bean Tepees and the Spring Garden

Okay, this post has been in the works for awhile.  I was so excited to get my Romano green beans in this year that I started my bean tepees in March, thinking that we were going to have an early spring.  Well, sunny California has not been so sunny in the past few months and we had some late frosts, so my beans have had a time of it.  I think (fingers and toes crossed here) that we are going to have warm weather from here on out and the beans will be fabulous. 

Here are some quick tips and pictures on creating your own bean teepees:

This is a very easy and inexpensive garden accent.  I started out with 6 to 8 reeds.  I purchased these at Home Depot (the next best place to heaven) in a package of 12 for $2. I just stuck them in the ground to create a circle.

I then gathered the reeds togehter and tied tight with twine.  It helps to have a buddy hold the reeds while you tie. 

Here's the finished product.  If you like you could leave an opening for a child to enter the teepee.  This would make a nice shady hide-out this summer in the vegetable garden.  You could also use your teepee to grow morning glories or other prolific vines.

Here are all my beans planted.  I chose Romano beans because they have successive crops, which means plenty of beans all summer long.

And here's the spring garden:

The chard is from last year, we recently cut it back so it will produce new leaves.  We have zucchini, peas, eggplant, fennel, edame, lemon cucumber and what my hubby refers to as "The Wall of Maters".  We went a little overboard on our tomato crop this year.  More on that later.

Here's another shot with the peas.  We tried something new this year to enclose the garden from pests the dogs this year.  We ran plastic mesh all around the posts surrounding the garden. This has also kept out the snails, which is an added bonus.

Here are some pictures of my flower beds.  Among the Scabiosa (blue flower) and the Coreopsis (yellow flower), I have started growing some herbs in the perenial beds.  I have tucked in dill and creeping thyme in this bed.  I think the herb crops are more prolific in the beds, rather than in pots.  You can see here the daffodils have finished and the snapdragons are just starting to bloom.

My whisky barrels are packed full of lettuce, radishes, herbs and onions.  The barrels really protect the tender crops from pests.

I started my shade garden this year under the Locust tree.  We ordered hostas through the mail and I planted them in March.  I've added bleeding hearts, astillbe and fern to the

mix.  More on that later.

Here's another shot of the shade garden with the bleeding hearts and a wild orchid.

I'll finish this off with a picture of my climbing rose that covers the back fence.  Thank you for joining me on a tour of my spring garden.

Til Next Time,