Edible Tepee

For all of my edible garden needs, I defer to Lauri Kranz, of Edible Gardens, LA. So last year, when she began telling me about how amazing an edible tepee can be for the little ones, I couldn’t handle it! As you may know from my tepee post, I am a touch obsessed with them – I have them all over the house – so the idea of a green one for the garden that actually produced food was irresistible. We planted ours in the backyard, first with beans and then with peas. The kids just love sitting inside of it and helping me harvest. I asked Lauri to share some tips for building the perfect edible tepee:

Making a Tepee

-To start, you will need 7-9 long bamboo poles and twine. -Find a spot in your garden that receives at least 5 hours of sun per day. Dig into the soil about one shovel length deep, creating a circle with a diameter of at least 3-4 feet. Add organic soil or compost.

-Firmly push the ends of the bamboo poles into the ground, leaving a gap between two of the poles to act as a doorway into the teepee. Tie the bamboo poles together near the top using twine.

-I like to plant runner beans or peas around the teepee (except for the doorway), and look for varieties that grow very tall.

-Wrap twine around the teepee (except for the doorway) beginning about one foot from the bottom and repeating at about a foot apart all the way to the top of the tepee. This will give something for the beans or peas to hold onto as they climb and mature.

-Some varieties of pea and bean seeds to try: Sweet Peas, Blue Coco Beans, Sugar Snap Peas. XXJKE