Visited a rooftop farm in Brooklyn and saw their bean trellis setup

I went to this rooftop farm in Brooklyn last weekend, Brooklyn Grange over in the Navy Yard. They had these really tall teepee trellises made from bamboo poles tied together at the top, and the pole beans were climbing all over them. The thing that got me was how much growing space they got in a small area by going vertical like that. I have a tiny balcony, maybe 4 feet by 6 feet, and I'm thinking I could copy that design with some pots. Has anyone tried a teepee trellis on a small balcony and had it hold up against wind? My balcony gets pretty gusty sometimes.

2 comments

2 Comments

ivan2116h ago

Oh the wind thing is such a gamble with these setups. What I've noticed in general is how people try to control everything in small spaces and end up fighting nature instead of working with it. Like with a balcony trellis, you gotta think about it like a sail on a boat. If the wind catches it just right it'll rip right out of the pot. But if you anchor the base with heavy pots and maybe tie the top to a railing or wall hook, it actually gets more stable the more the beans climb because the leaves break up the wind. My buddy did this on his balcony in Chicago and he used those big half whiskey barrel planters filled with soil, not lightweight plastic, and his teepee survived a whole summer of lake gusts. The key is just not being cheap with your anchor points and letting the plants themselves help steady the whole thing.

fiona5027h ago

Did you try tying them down or are you just hoping the wind plays nice? My neighbor's trellis took a nosedive last summer and took out his tomato plants too.