Persimmon Branch Trellis for Beans or Peas

Beans are growing all over the yard right now, in various beds and containers and with a number of different types of supports. A picture I saw in Fine Gardening magazine this spring inspired this bean trellis, which I put together in April using a pile of long branches trimmed from our Persimmon tree.

Beans climbing Persimmon branches

It was very easy to make. I picked relatively straight branches about five feet long and pushed them all the way to the bottom of a large clay pot filled with soil, to form a circle of branches around the rim of the pot. Then I bent the thin tops of the branches together gently at the top and used twine to secure the trellis.

Twine secures the top

Here's what it looked like in May a few weeks after the beans sprouted:

Trellis in a pot

Now the beans are nearly to the top of the branches:

Beans reaching skyward

Of course the branch trellis pictured in the magazine was perfectly shaped, in a beautifully painted pot, and situated in a lush, manicured garden, but I think this one turned out pretty well. Easy, quick, sturdy and free--that's my kind of bean trellis! I'll probably be able to use it again in the fall for peas.