Beans vs Potatoes
Funny thing about garden plans and great ideas- sometimes they have complications that aren’t expected, especially when one tries to squeeze things in as tightly as possible.
Example:
My redesigned pole bean scheme is planted and set up; it shares the new long bed with a row of russet potatoes. I think it will look great assuming I can convince the beans to climb the bamboo instead of the potatoes.
The issue is the yard is shaded in the morning and the beans reside in one row on the east side of this bed. Their first sun is around noon and is pretty close to directly overhead at that point.
Well the potatoes on the west side of the same bed are a pretty tall already and the newly sprouted beans tend to follow the sun west as the afternoon progresses. By the evening they are leaning into and beginning to grab the leggy russets. I’ve been redirecting them before the start wrapping and am fairly confident this issue will go away once the beans get a purchase on the bamboo; in the meantime it is just another reason to piddle around in the back with nobody bothering me. 😉
Side view facing south down the bed:
This flash shot at dusk highlights the bamboo trellis; it is 8′ tall, but by July the vines will be overrunning the top.
Anyway, that’s what’s up with bean trellis #1 in 2011.
Behind cohutt's fence 
Good idea on the makeshift divider. I have the same problem with a bed I split with cucumbers in the back and tomatoes in the front. I put a nylon garden trellis for the cucumbers to climb up, but they keep creeping towards the mater’s. I’ll have to do something like that tomorrow.
Actually the “makeshift divider” is part of a boxing/hilling container to retain the fill dirt on the potatoes. You can’t really tell but I used 1×6 down the middle of the bed and 1×4 on the sides and end, that is they sit on top of the 2×6 bed edges. (“A second story” sort of)
Tonight I noticed a couple of the vines found bamboo and grabbed right on it.
Ok I see that now. I didn’t notice the different soil depths. I should have realized. I am boxing up my sweet potatoes too.