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How to support your peas and beans with a rack

It's easy to make a rack to support your low-growing bean and pea plants using some garden fencing.

This is how Silvia does it:
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Support rack for your bush beans and peas

Making a U-frame or support rack yourself

Since I've added more garden boxes to my Planty Garden, I need more support racks too. These keep the bush beans, sugar snaps, and winter peas neatly contained in their patches. And they also help keep cats out.

Today I made some U-frames from garden wire fencing.

(Good to know: I made some of these 5 years ago and they are still good: no rust, no discoloration, and still have their shape).

You can get the garden wire fencing these days in nice colors.
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The U-frame racks I made 5 years ago

This is how I made the support racks:

I bought 2 meters of garden wire fencing, 103 cm tall, with mesh squares of 5x10 cm.

All in all, it cost €14 for six racks.
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Roll of wire fencing 200 x 103 cm
At home, I cut it to size with a pair of pliers and bent back the ends that stuck out.
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The pokey edges bent back
I used the edge of my MM-Hero table to bend the U-shape, but you can do it on any old table: it's really easy:
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Bending the wire into a U-shape
If the plants grow taller than the support rack, you can add a second level by stacking your racks.

To do that, take a rack for the 2nd story, and cut off the lower edges. You can use the parts that poke out at the bottom to clamp the top rack to the bottom one:
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Voilà: a double-decker rack for taller plants
If you have some extra fencing, you can cut a few middle pieces to divide your rack in half:
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A vertical middle section
Storage is easy. In winter stack all the racks on top of each other. You can keep them in your shed just like this:
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U-racks fit together for easy storage
Good luck putting together your support rack!

Silvia

Thanks, Silvia for the clear instructions and pictures. Super handy.

We liked your post so much that we added it to the Planty Library. You'll get a €10 voucher too 🙂
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Do it yourself

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