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If you think rebar is strictly for use in concrete, think again.
It can play any number of roles around the yard or farm. It is sturdy enough to hold its form, yet pliable enough to bend into a variety of shapes as needed.
I picked up a few 20-ft. lengths of rebar several years ago. In fact, enough time has passed that I couldn’t tell you why I bought them in the first place. I have used it for a number of plant supports in the garden. The latest is to form a temporary pole bean arbor.
With a couple of bends in the rebar, I had two arches that stood about 6-ft. high and ran the length of an 8-ft. raised bed. The beauty of rebar is that it is easy to push the ends into the ground.
Thanks to two higher raised beds at either end of the pole bean bed, there was additional reinforcement to hold the arbor (now 5-ft. high) in place.
I cut a 4-ft. width of plastic deer netting and tied it in place to the two arches. While I will have to help the pole beans at either end of the bed get started, once they are up and growing, they will rapidly cover the netting.
With the help of gravity, most of the beans should hang down from the vines, making picking a snap (pun intended).
When it is time to break down the arbor, it will be as simple as untying the netting and pulling out the rebar.
Life just doesn’t get much easier.
