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
              P P      

(Best months for growing Broad Beans in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Sow seed
  • 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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04 Nov 12, Helen (Australia - temperate climate)
Do the broad bean plants have a second lot of flowers/beans? I've had a reasonable harvest, just wondering if I should dig them in now or if they may produce more. Also need to work out whether I should be dedicating water to them, in this year of no rain.
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29 Oct 12, Pam (Australia - temperate climate)
When do broad beans finish producing in Sydney, not quite sure when to start pulling them out. Also read it is good to dig the finish stalks into the ground. Is this a good idea. Thank you Pam
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01 Nov 12, Paul (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Hi Pam, I recall Peter Cundell (from ABC Gardening show in Tassie) talking about eating his broad beans at Xmas. So I would suggest your beans should continue producing til end of November. I'm in Melb and mine continue to produce til at around November 30-ish. After that I will be cutting my bean stalks off at around soil level, leaving the roots in the ground (and the nitrogen in those roots still in the ground) and planting my next crop next to the old bean roots. The rest of the stalk goes on the compost. Hope this helps.
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25 Sep 12, Joy (Australia - tropical climate)
I planted around june, have aboundant flowers, and many set fruit, but they are very small, & hard to get off the vine, I need to cut with knife!. should i have planted earlier? will further beans continue now it is getting so warm here, 24-29 deg C (Gold Coast) thanku, if you can help,
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25 Sep 12, Christine Visona (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
First time to grow broad beans, and pretty happy with it. I am now picking my mature ones. I rather like them both young and ripe but the ripe ones we deep fry and eat as nibbles. My question is how many pods can you expect from every stalk given good growing condition.
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30 Sep 12, bob (Australia - temperate climate)
Of course growing broad beans on southern coast of victoria where it is a rather cold winter is different from where you are. My beans are now 2 metres tall with many flowers but no pods yet; maybe 2 weeks. To answer your question maybe 20 pods per plant - numerous. Cant eat them all so we get the beans, blanch them and freeze them for eating over summer. Must be blanched before freezing
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29 Oct 12, Frans Littel (Australia - temperate climate)
I am in Perth WA and have been growing broadies for about 5 years and at the moment still have about 1.5kg of beans left from last year in our freezer , we have not had any luck with blanch the beans before freezing all we do shell the beans and freeze them when ready just cook them as if they just picked. Feel sorry for those who don't like broad beans. Frans
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19 Sep 12, marie. (Australia - temperate climate)
how do i know when the beans are ready to pick.They are 100mm long.
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30 Sep 12, bob (Australia - temperate climate)
mature pods grow to about 9 inches long with abt 8 beans per pod can start eating( pods and beans) when young, abt 4 inches long
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20 Sep 12, hz (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Perfect for picking right now ! At this size they are nice in a stir-fry or steamed, when larger they need to be shelled and just the bean is used. I never let mine get big, except for the few rogues that I don't see till too late. Where I am, I won't get flowers for another month, and beans in November. Can't wait, I put twice as many in this year as they were so wonderful last year.
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Let's start with the germination temperature: 7c to 18c is the ideal germination temperature for FB, further the temperature needs to be sustained (over 5 or more days). So it needs to be warmish for the seeds to germinate. They will however happily reside in the soil until those temperatures are met (within reason- excess moisture causing rot etc.). The growing temperature for fava beans is between 4c and 24c. The kill temperature is -4c to -10c depending on the variety. What happens between the kill temperature and the grow temperature is a "waiting/holding" time (the plant is alive, but is sort of in limbo until the temperature is good enough again to grow). Above 24c the plant is starting to experience heat related symptoms and again is just holding on (unless the temps get to hot and kill the plant). You need to think about temperatures - what temps do you expect over the next month ? Based on the temperatures, do you think you seeds will germinate ? Then think about the grow temperatures -- if the seeds sprout will they be able to grow ? Generally if you want to grow fava beans in winter you plant them in late summer - so they germinate and grow enough BEFORE the cold weather -- during the cold weather (provided your are does not get too cold) the beans will be able to stay alive and grow a slight bit -- so you can harvest greens during winter and some beans -- then spring comes and the fava plants put forth LOTS of beans and then die. That is to say, the fava bean plant does not grow very much in cold weather and I find that typical of most plants that I want to over winter. They need to have a head start in decent weather and then they kind of SLOWLY inch their way to the finish line. Over wintering is a means of keeping the produce fresh - think of it this way - if you had produce in the fridge it is no longer growing, in fact it is in the process of dying, losing valuable nutrients daily. If you have a plant in the winter ground (that can handle overwintering), it is alive, GROWING REALLY REALLY slow, but it is alive and NOT losing nutrients. I guess what I'm trying to say is, super performance is generally not required, or expected, we are just looking to hold nutrients when we over winter. Clearly some plants are better for overwinter than others - in my area FAVA BEANS are a good choice.

- Celeste Archer

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