Update: May 11: My fava flowers are turning into beans; already a couple of dozen beans with many of the other flowers on route to becoming beans. I overwintered this crop; starting in August and expect to have full bean production in June. Here is what I found when I overwintered; the plants had more time to grow; and therefore are larger and have a more profuse flowering. I am expecting more beans. The overwinter process did take 10 months from planting seeds to getting beans, however I didn't consider this a real estate hog because I'm hard pressed to think of any crop I would have planted over winter in that space that would have done better. Additionally, I planted favas in spring of this year (April'ish) and am expecting beans in July/August. That is to say the overwinter took longer (10 months), but clearly I am getting more beans earlier in the year (about 6 weeks earlier- it probably would have been sooner if the location was better). I did also enjoy some of the overwinter fava bean leaves as soup garnish so that was also a big plus. Additionally, there were small amounts of beans here and there through out the winter. I suspect there would have been more had the location been in sun, or part shade (the over wintering location gets several hours of sun but a lot of light is reflected on them). I am pleased with the overwintered favas and will over winter again. Our nighttime temperatures in winter hit about -6c but this was only for several nights. Mainly nighttime temperatures here are closer to -2c. After a nighttime temp of -6c (it was a little colder but not much) I covered one patch of favas for several nights (cold spell), and I did not cover the other smaller patch (which is in a windier location). Both patches survived, both are producing - I did have to remove about a third of the plants that where not covered due to wind/cold damage but they rebounded back just fine. My research tells me that favas have a kill temperature of anywhere from -5c to -10c depending on variety.... also if the temperatures dips that low for 1 hour, your probably fine; it has to sustain the temperature (5 or 6 hours) to actually kill the plant (soil temp also comes into play). Again, both patches where fully exposed during the first cold night, but then I managed to cover one of the two patches and the covered patch did fair much better (excluding tarp damage due to poor construction). Both patches survived and are now thriving and producing beans. So getting around to my answer for the original question: how long until you get beans; it's really a matter of how long until all the "setting pods" criteria are met: 1. ample water while flowering - favas need a lot of water to set pods; so once you see flowers; up the watering 2. temperatures (somewhere between 5c and 23c with 17c being about perfect for pod formation) 3. light: about 6 hours of good sunlight and REFLECTION counts in this case - some plants absolutely need direct sunlight, some plants are fine with reflected light or very bright shade. Your shortest number of days for bean production will be about 80days. To get beans in 80 days figure out what months you expect the conditions to meet the above three criteria and count back to figure out your planting date (allow about 10 days for germination) - that is 80 days to beans DOES not include germination time the 80 days is from seedling to beans. Your longest number of days for bean production (provided your area can meet the pod setting criteria) will not exceed a year (under normal conditions) with 10 months being the most reasonable longest number of days. You should remember, that the fava leaves are a very nice green and I certainly reached for them over the winter more than once. All above ground parts (so not the roots - but the stem, branches, leaves, flowers and beans) are edible. Of course G6PD can be an issue and people with G6PD should clear up their problem (increased iron intake via natural sources - cast iron cookware, cocoa etc. - and it could take 6 months) before considering consuming fava (leaves, flowers, beans). Also, G6PD'ers need to really really avoid eating any green part of a tomato plant (small leaf by accident, or part of the stem attached to a tomato). Best of luck.

- Celeste Archer