I have been growing pole beans in raised beds for some years.I prefer a trellis. Wigwams waste a lot of valuable space in a raised bed. Did one for the youngsters in another part of the garden a few times. I plant in a staggered line along the trellis at seed intervals of three inches. This is closer than almost anyone recommends(six inches might be better) but my soil in the beds is very compost rich and I have excellent yields. My favorite variety by a wide margin is Emerite, but that's only my choice and I am an opinionated old coot.Water the ground not the leaves, and only when needed. I often employ a floating row cover until they get to be about four inches high to stop the birds from pulling them out.I give them a drink of fish/seaweed emulsion when they sproat and then they are on their own until harvest.
Good luck

Pole beans can get 6 to 8 feet tall maybe more so I build my trellises about 7 feet high because I can harvest them that height. I like the 8 foot green plastic ridged poles they sell at some nurseries. Also somewhat loosely tying twine around the poles gives the beans more to climb.

You'll need to have a pathway or two through your raised bed 4x8 or 4x10 if you want to harvest efficiently. Maybe smaller beds? Beans need to be picked constantly and don't let any get large or the plant will stop producing.

I'm not much into container gardening, as I have plenty of space to garden in the ground. But I did do some pole beans in a five gallon bucket, one time, when I wanted to grow a day light sensitive variety and knew that I'd have to bring it inside for a couple of weeks, in order to make seed. I found that for a standard pole bean, I could only rightly fit one plant to the five gallon bucket, and that that one plant would not produce nearly as well as in the ground. But, I did get my seed.

Different varieties have differing production levels. Also, different people have differing ideas as to what constitutes "enough beans." My wife and I are probably on one extreme. We like to grow at least 48' of trellised pole beans. If all goes well, we will eat beans (till they're coming out our ears ;) and we'll be able to can at least 52 quarts. We like to can more than that.

Someone else might be content with 5-6' of trellised beans, planted 6" to a foot apart.

Our favorite support is a cattle panel, which is a very sturdy, semi-rigid structure, usually 16' long by 5' tall. But teepees are nice for smaller plantings, or if finances keep one from getting the cattle panel.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I consistently find that 5 feet is too short. I plan to try 8 foot poles with wire stretched this year, and then hang left-over 7'6" deer fence from it.

I've only ever grown one variety of pole bean in containers (roughly 5 gallons - with quite a bit of compost included). It was the Lazy Housewife bean. I think I planted 6 each in 2 pots, along one side, and planted shorter stuff on the other side of each pot. Productivity and flavor were quite respectable, but needed to water twice a day when it was hot.

I would find 5 feet too short too. But if you bend a cattle panel in half you have a very satisfactory 8-foot arch.

for an idea of crop... I usually plant a 6 foot row, with the beans every 2 or 3 inches. We usually end up with two 2 gallon bags in our freezer besides what we eat fresh. I could probably do a bit better if I kept at it better... there are usually a few weeks when I don't keep up and some of the beans get too big. Just 3 of us in my family -- it doesn't usually last until the next year's harvest, but it does last a long time. I think there are still a few left from last summer. If you keep them well picked they should keep producing well. The past few years I've been mixing it up: some pole wax, blue lake, Kentucky wonder, etc... We like the "mixed beans" from the freezer and it's more colorful. I also like the romano beans but my daughter doesn't like them as well so we haven't been growing them lately.

To freeze, I pick only the very best small beans, wash them and pinch off the stem ends. Then I drop them in a big pot of boiling water for 1 minute and then scoop them out ( tongs or slotted spoon ) into another pot of ice water. Then drain and fill the bags for the freezer. They are so much better than anything you can buy.

Sorry... more info: for the blanching, I didn't mean to drop all of them into the boiling water at once. Do a reasonable amount at a time, for one minute exactly. Do an amount that you can pull out of the boiling water quickly, so they don't get cooked. maybe two or three handfuls at a time.

I grow my beans on a 6 foot trellis. They do grow over the top, but not too bad. I use the square foot gardening method and have had great success. Since you are using raised beds, it will suit you well. Basically you have 8 plants per square foot in a row. The trellis is placed over the top. Check out the FAQ on the Square Foot Gardening forum for more info, as well as the link below. http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/sqfoot/2003112433023631.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Trellis

Two years in a row, just when the beans were looking really good and I was harvesting a lot of beans, my trellis blew over and pulled the beans right out of the ground. Now I use a teepee structure and anchor it down securely to keep a new windstorm from repeating the "Great Bean Disaster."

I forgot to mention, but I also use 5 foot U Posts to affix my trellis to. I also pound rebar in the ground and place the trellis over that. Between the two I haven't had any trouble, even in severe weather prone Minnesota.