Plant a Bean Teepee

This is a great way to teach children the basics of growing vegetables and then the fun of picking and eating your own produce.

You will need

1. Bury the stake in the ground deeply enough to make it stable and not wobble

2. Use some of the string to make a circle around the stage, about 1 metre out

3. Place the rocks or the tent pegs at equal distances around the circle.

4. Tie lengths of string to each tent peg or rock, then tie them to the top of the stake.

5. Use the trowel to dig shallow holes, about 30 cm wide, around each tent peg or stone.

6. Plant three bean seeds in each little hole and just cover them with soil.  Water gently so seeds don't wash away

7. Wait.  The bean should germinate (send out shoots) in a week to 10 days.  Water them every two days - or every day if you remember

8. When the beans are as high as your ankle, feed them with seaweed-based fertiliser - follow the bottle's directions.

9. As the beans grow taller, train them around and round the string, so they grow up to the central stake.

10. After about 10 weeks, your teepee will be ready.  And after about 12 weeks, it'll start flowering.  Eventually, each flower will drop off and leave a tiny bean, which will grow bigger and bigger  Pick them when they are about as long as your finger.  You can eat them raw or cooked, or leave them so the seeds inside each bean get bigger and bigger.  Finally, the bean pod will turn dry and brown - then you can pick them and store the beans in an envelope to plant next ear.

11. Note.  Make sure you have four frost-free months before you plant your beans