GROW YOUR OWN

MAGICAL FORT

Supplies you’ll need

Bean seeds Jack and the Beanstalk Snap Pole Bean seeds, available from www.seedsofchange.com, grow bean- stalks as high as 20 feet. Te coin- sized white seeds are as big as any in a fairytale, and kids can easily grasp and push them into the soil. In lieu of Jack and the Beanstalk, you can use other green beans, including Scarlet Runner, Emperor Scarlet, Painted Ladies, and Red Knight. Tese grow to 8 feet tall, with red and orange flowers that attract hummingbirds.

Nasturtiums Tis vin- ing, flowering plant is edible, and also attracts hummingbirds. Te vines will climb right up the bean plants. (Optional)

Corn seeds For extra structure, if you’re feeling ambitious. (Optional)

Bamboo poles and garden stakes

A minimum of three poles, each at least 6 feet long, and stakes to secure the tunnel. You can add as many as ten poles, as long as you leave a walkway for the kids to enter through. Trellis or lumber to build rooms or tunnels

String and twine Shovel or spade Hammer

What to do

Find your site. You’ll need a flat, level spot that receives at least four hours of sunlight a day and has good drainage (i.e., no standing water). Tat’s what the experts say, but not to worry: Te only site we could find for our fort is on an

incline, and it still works wonderfully. At a minimum, you’ll need an area 4 feet in diameter to grow your fort.

Prepare the soil. Work some organic matter into your soil. If you’re starting with grass, you can easily convert it into a garden space without digging. (See side- bar, “Getting the Most Out of Your Get- away.”) Aſter you have built the fort’s struc- ture, add peat moss, compost, or manure to the earth around your fort. How much you add depends on how much your soil might need to be built up, To find out exactly what you need to add to your soil, you can have it tested by your county extension office—but don’t get too hung up on this. All varieties of green beans

are hearty and should grow just fine. Each year, the beans return nitrogen to the soil, making it richer as time goes on.

Build your fort’s structure. About a

week before planting, help the kids mea- sure out the fort’s perimeter by sticking a pole into the earth where you want the center to be. Tie a four-foot length of string to the pole, pull the string taut, and slowly work your way around the pole, using the circle as a guide to drive your other poles into the ground.

Plant your poles. Push your poles 1 foot deep into the soil along the perimeter of your measured circle, tilting them toward the center pole. To create an entrance, I used a piece of trellis. I used twine to tie the trellis to the stakes so that there would be a tunnel leading to the center of the fort. Use your imagination, and whatever scraps of wood you might have, to add rooms to your fort.

How long until we can plant? Beans

are sensitive to frost, so sow your seeds two to three weeks aſter the last frost date. (See the Farmers’ Almanac: www.

farmersalmanac.com/weather/a/average_

frost_dates.) By then, the soil should be warm enough for the seeds to germinate, and the danger of frost past.

Plant your seeds. At the base of each pole, plant four seeds an inch deep. Seeds should take anywhere from 6 to 10 days to germinate. Once the seedlings have sprouted, thin them to just one or two plants per pole.

Maintenance As they grow, the beans will send out tendrils that will seem to magically reach out and grab whatever they can, wrap themselves around it, and climb. But you can train the ten- drils to grow up the poles: As the vines gain inches and grow leaves, skinny tendrils shoot out from the sides of the vine searching for anything to support them—such as your poles. Tese tendrils grow several inches and will coil around a pole six to seven times, in a tight spiral. If they can’t reach your poles, they’ll attach themselves to a neighboring plant. Gently untwist these wayward spirals and guide them back to the poles, encouraging them to grow up rather than sideways.

Care Water beans regularly. Remind your kids to be gentle when playing around the stalks.

Harvest Your beanstalk fort should be ready to harvest in 60 to 70 days.

digital bonus | May–June 2010 | mothering.com 43

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