Growing Broad Beans, also Fava bean

Vicia faba : Fabaceae / the pea or legume family

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	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

01 Jun 10, Candice bartels-waller (Australia - temperate climate): My beans are finished fo the year do I rip them out or will they re-produce beans nxt year?
Reply or Post a new comment
02 Jun 10, (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Hi Candice, you should pull out finished broad bean plants. If possible twist them off to leave the roots to decay in the ground as the bacterial nodules on the roots contain nitrogen which will be fertilizer for whatever you plant next.
Reply or Post a new comment
31 May 10, Gayle Bailey (Australia - temperate climate): Half of our row of broad beans have half curled leaves, whole bed was fertilised the same and there is no sign of any bugs. This seems to happen every year and we do crop rotate. Help please.
Reply or Post a new comment
11 May 10, Bernie (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Hi Gardenate, thank you for the prompt reply.I find the information of seeding of the year very useful , spacing depth of Seed etc, would like a comment about each plant seed, like,' LIKES LIME, ACID SOIL, LOTS OF WATER, WATER SPARINGLY, HOT SUNNY POSITION, etc.You get my drift !Bernie
Reply or Post a new comment
11 May 10, Chris@Gardenate (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Bernie, thanks for your suggestions. Some of that information will be available very soon when I get the crop rotation information into the web site.
Reply or Post a new comment
02 May 10, (Australia - temperate climate): My friend said that the best time to sow broad beans is when the moon is between a quarter to almost full. Is he right. Does the moon play a part when sowing crops? Any hints.
Reply or Post a new comment
05 Apr 10, Robbie (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Try growing Egyptian Broad Beans. The beans are smaller then regular BB, But they don't go woody as the pods mature. And they are not affected by frost much at all. The plants are shorter and mature quicker too. I love them
Reply or Post a new comment
27 Apr 10, Graham (Australia - temperate climate): Robbie, where do you get the Egyptian broad beans - I haven't seen them anywhere
Reply or Post a new comment
01 Nov 09, gary (Australia - cool/mountain climate): Lindsay, it's both. Broad beans are legumes meaning they convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into nitrogen in the soil. The nitrogen is attached to their roots and becomes available in the soil once the beans die down. The best approach is to cut the plants off at soil level once they've finished for the season. You can then lay the tops on the soil or use it as mulch elsewhere in the garden. It, too adds nitrogen to the soil as it beaks down.
Reply or Post a new comment
25 Oct 09, Leslie W. (Australia - cool/mountain climate): I have planted Broad beans and they are flowering, but some of the leaves are reluctant to unfold. The next planting is worse. No insects are visible. Anyone got any clues leslie
Reply or Post a new comment

Showing 211 - 220 of 268 comments

See comments for all plants

Replying to:

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

Your name

Where are you?

Email address

Please provide your email address if you are hoping for a reply

Your reply

All comments are reviewed before displaying on the site, so your posting will not appear immediately

Gardenate

Keep your garden growing - see what to plant right now

Growing Broad Beans, also Fava bean

Vicia faba : Fabaceae / the pea or legume family

Your comments and tips

Become A Supporter!

Planting Reminders