Growing Broad Beans, also Fava bean

Vicia faba : Fabaceae / the pea or legume family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
    S S S S S          
    T T T T T          
    P P P P P          

(Best months for growing Broad Beans in Australia - temperate regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • P = Sow seed

May: Will need supports if windy weather

  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 43°F and 75°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 6 - 10 inches apart
  • Harvest in 12-22 weeks. Pick frequently to encourage more pods.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Dill, Potatoes

Your comments and tips

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19 Jul 09, Emma (United Kingdom - warm/temperate climate)
To Ben & Tony, if you have had flowers then I'm sure you will get pods. The flowers drop off and then the pods will form, just give it a bit more time ! Tony, I've done square foot gardening this year and I crammed 6 plants into a square foot and had a great crop. Patience is truly a virtue when it comes to gardening !
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19 Jul 09, tony (Australia - temperate climate)
thank you for reducing my worries about my broad bean plants not setting either. I was informed that i may have planted my broad beans too close together and the plants were not getting enough sunlight? They flowered well compared to last year, but now the flowers have fallen and no setting yet . . .hopefully i just have to be patient. :)
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17 Jul 09, ben (United Kingdom - cool/temperate climate)
there have been no beans only flowers falling off can u help me so email me at [email protected] thanks
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17 Jul 09, Emma (United Kingdom - warm/temperate climate)
Good luck Marion, hope you get a decent crop. Pinching the tops out is supposed to help deter the blackfly too. Did you know you can eat the tops like baby spinach? They're nice steamed and tossed in some butter and seasoning.
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16 Jul 09, marion english (Australia - temperate climate)
Thanks Emma yes I think patience the essence .Yesterday the local radio station had gardening talk back so called in told themof my problem and he suggested I pinch the top out so have done lthat let you know what happens we are having a cold spell at the moment in the minus,wet and windy
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15 Jul 09, Emma (United Kingdom - warm/temperate climate)
Marion, if you have lovely flowers then you'll probably have lovely pods too - eventually !! My pods appeared about 5 months after I planted them but it was a cold wet winter here in Blighty. I think you may need a little more patience but it will be worth it. They're lovely when young with some mint, new potatoes and feta cheese. Yum :-))
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14 Jul 09, Marion English (Australia - temperate climate)
My broad beans are growing and flowering beautifully but there does not seem to be any pod growing or am I being impatient. I have never grow broad beans before but have a fairly busy garden with success of flowers vegies etc all year around
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10 Jun 09, Emma (United Kingdom - warm/temperate climate)
Delia - are there any flowers yet? You get flowers first and then the beans. I plant my beans in the winter in November and they don't start producing beans until April. It's only been a couple of months so you might need a bit more patience ! Good luck :-))
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10 Jun 09, Fiona (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Jeff, more stalks mean more beans - no need to do anything! and to Delia, you planted the beans at a great time, now just sit back and be patient as they will slow growth until the weather warms. Expect a crop in Spring!
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09 Jun 09, delia (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
i planted broad beans in march and while they look healthy-lots of lushous green foliage-there's not a hint of even a single bean. any ideas, anyone?
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Update June 01, 2021 - I have lots and lots of fava beans - and am continuing to get more and more. It looks like it will take until the end of the month to bring them all in. So these beans will take about 320 days from planting to full harvest. The haul was great and I am pleased with the overwintering process - very pleased. The beans that I planted in spring are still a ways off from producing beans -- the plants are also much smaller, and I doubt they will put forth as many beans as the favas that were overwintered. The overwintered favas are a mess, with the tarp damage and some favas rocketing up to what looks to be 9 feet, reaching for the sun (they are in a shady location) - but I am pleased. If I had only grown the spring planted favas, I might have given up on favas all together...... but overwintering seems to be the key here in Victoria, British Columbia for a really good crop of beans...... and I would even grow these in the winter for the greens -- they take a bit of getting use to (as did spinach for me when I was a child) -- but once you get use to the greens they are great. The greens taste like fava beans, and not like any other green. I have a few corrections from my first few posts: 1. when I said I lost 1/3 of the plants that were not covered during the really cold week --- it should have said I lost a third of each plant that was not tarped: so if the plant was 9 feet, I had to cut it back to 6feet. The number of plants actually lost was zero. While I only lost a portion of SOME of the tarped plants and when there was a loss it was about 10% of the plant. Also the plants not covered where in a much windier location (think one step and your off a 12 foot drop and in the Pacific Ocean--so lots of wind) -- the plants that were covered where a couple of meters away from the drop off, and there is noticeably less wind there. So whether or not the tarp really makes a difference here is still debatable; the difference may have been wind chill. 2. when I said I used the fava bean leaves as a garnish in my soups over the winter; it was really more akin to a side salad on top of my soup -- big handful of leaves -- sometime harvested based on a branch breaking due to wind. Stems were ground into pesto. Again, I'm very pleased with overwintering my favas; and expect that in the future I will only overwinter rather than spring plant. Winters here are RAINY with lows at about -2 (and extreme lows as cold as -6 last winter), it is also overcast here during the winter with very few sun breaks.... luckily I get a lot of reflection off the water when the sun does peak through. I grew 4 varieties of fava; including the extra early violets; all performed well; the violets are the prettiest if you take them to the dried pod stage; they all taste about the same.

- FaithCeleste Archer

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