How to grow broad beans
Zipped up inside their fleecy pods, broad beans are the only bean tough enough to grow all through the winter. Add them to pasta, salads and stir-fries or make smashed broad beans on toast. They’re also great for shelling and freezing, and you can even eat the young shoots and immature pods.
HOW AND GROW
When to sow: April to July in warm areas; March to April and August to September in cooler areas When to transplant: April to August in warm areas; May to September in cooler areas Position: Full sun Harvest: 11-15 weeks. Good for beginners.
SOW AND GROW
When to sow: April to July in warm areas; March to April and August to September in cooler areas When to transplant: April to August in warm areas; May to September in cooler areas Position: Full sun Harvest: 11-15 weeks Good for beginners
GET STARTED
Sow broad beans between midautumn and midwinter in warm areas and early to mid-autumn and then again in late winter and early spring in cooler frost-prone regions. Seedlings can go in between mid-autumn and late winter in warm areas, and late autumn and early spring in cooler places.
STEP BY STEP
Sow seeds 4cm deep and 15cm apart. Seed should germinate in 10-14 days. Allow 60cm between rows or plant double rows 30cm apart, with a 60cm space between each succeeding double row. If your soil is particularly wet and soggy sow seed in punnets first, then transplant them into the garden when they’re around 10cm tall.
GROWING TIPS
Broad beans will germinate well in temperatures ranging from 7 to 10C. Enrich the soil with compost, aged manure and a little lime before sowing.
Most broad bean varieties grow to at least 1m high so put a row of sturdy stakes every metre or so along both sides of the row. Wind sturdy garden twine backwards and forwards across the row from stake to stake enclosing the stalks.
Water seeds deeply after planting, then make sure you give them adequate water throughout the growing season, particularly when they flower and set seed pods. Plants will also benefit from a fortnightly liquid feed of worm tea or seaweed fertiliser.
Broad beans need to be picked regularly to keep them producing. For podded beans, pick the pods when they reach about 30cm long and as thick as your thumb. When the plants stop producing, cut the foliage and side stems off but leave the main stem and roots in the soil so that rhizobia bacteria can release all that stored-up nitrogen back into the soil.
Like all legumes, broad beans have nitrogen-fixing bacteria inside their root nodules.
STANDOUT VARIETIES
Hardy and prolific ‘‘Superaguadulce’’ has 25cm-long pods with seven to eight seeds and matures 75 days after planting. If you’re not keen on staking, don’t have much space or want to grow broad beans in pots, go for ‘‘Cole’s Early Dwarf’’ or ‘‘Robin Hood’’, an award-winning dwarf variety to 45cm with attractive green pods and beans that is particularly cold hardy.
There is no denying that there is something quite chic about black-and-white broad bean flowers but crimson-flowering ‘‘Hughey’’ is particularly striking in the vege garden. Although it has pink flowers, it produces bright green beans (unlike heritage red-seeded broad beans, which stay red when cooked but contrarily produce white flowers).
TROUBLESHOOTING
Humid spring weather can lead to the fungal disease Botrytis fabae, commonly known as chocolate spot because it looks like the leaves, pods and stems
have been dusted with chocolate. Remove infected plant material as soon as you see signs and dispose of it in the rubbish or burn it to avoid spreading spores. The fungus will remain in the soil, so don’t plant your next crop in the same place for at least two years. Growing in neutral to alkaline soil with plant spacing that allows good airflow around the plants will help.
Black aphids can be a nuisance in early summer, blast off with your hose or squash with your fingers.