It's National Beanpole Week!

Sweet peas on a wigwam of hazel poles.

National Beanpole week starts on the 21^st April with the aim of celebrating Britain’s coppice woodlands, the animals and plants that live in them, the coppice workers who look after them and the beanpoles and other coppice wood products they produce. I always use hazel poles at Hill Top to grow runner beans and sweet peas up; they look much more in keeping than their shiny bamboo cousins and I’m sure the beans find it easier to grip on to their rough bark. The twiggy top bits are ideal for growing peas up too.