Growing Broad Beans

Latest Update 2nd May 2020.

Broad Beans.

• I direct sow broad beans in a drip line irrigated bed once a year in autumn, and use stakes to support them.
• Home grown organic broad beans are a nutrient dense addition to our diet.
• We pick them when young and steam them whole in their pods.
• Surplus beans are left to mature, removed from their pods and blanched for 2 minutes in boiling water; they are then dried and stored in resealable plastic bags in the freezer.
• They make a hearty addition to soups in winter.

Description.

• Binomial Name:                                        Vicia faba.
• Family:                                                    Fabaceae.  
• Variety:                                                    Aquadulce.
• Crop rotation group:                                   Legumes.
• Garden bed type:                                      Garden Ecobed.
• Minimum sun per day:                               8 hours.
• Plant spacings: (in row: between rows)       214mm: 214mm.
• Planting depth:                                          50 mm.
• Weeks to harvest:                                     12 - 22 weeks.
• Good companions:                                    Potato.
• Climate:                                                   Warm temperate.
• Geography:                                              Southern hemisphere.

Nutrients.

• This food is very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. 
• It is a good source of protein, thiamin, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, and a very good source of dietary fibre, folate and manganese.
•  More from nutrition data.self.com.

Maintain Healthy Plants

• This blogpage explains how I maintain healthy plants.  It describes how soil is prepared prior to planting, how to regulate the sun's intensity and how to help protect and feed plants through their leaves.

Propagate Plants Efficiently

•  This blogpage explains how I propagate seeds in a purpose built propagator.

Propagation Plan 2020.

• This blogpage tells you when to sow seeds.

Services Plan 2020.

• This blogpage tells you when to make compost and plan other garden/household related activities.

Growing Instructions. 

• Prepare the soil by removing spent mulch and crop residues.  Without digging, top dress the soil with a 60mm layer of homemade compost.
• Drive 1800mm stakes into the soil at 250mm centres. (3 rows of 4) and sow the seeds near their base.
• Water them in with filtered mains water or rainwater and cover the soil with lightweight exclusion netting to deter digging birds.  
• Tie their stems to the stakes loosely with soft fabric ties as they grow .
• It's worth nipping off the growth points when the beans have established most of their flowers to deter pests like blackfly (who are attracted to the bean's succulent new growth in early spring).  It also helps reduce wind damage.
• Reducing the plants height like this boosts the size of the remaining beans, and provide you with delicious fresh tips which can be steamed or stir fried with a little seasoning and some herbs. 

Harvesting and storage

• Harvest the beans in October.
• Pick them earlier if you like to cook them in their pods.  
• Leave some to fully mature and remove the pods before you cook them.  
• I freeze a few bags of mature beans every year - blanched with pods removed.  
• I defrost and cook them in the steamer,  I simply steam them for 15 minutes with a little salt, pepper and mixed herbs.
• Mostly I use them in mixed garden vegetable soups.  They are cooked podded but not pealed.  The soup may need straining, even after processing with a stick blender.  They add taste, nutrients and texture to a creamy vegetable soup.

Organic Pest Control.

• Broad beans, like most vegetables, are vulnerable to attack from certain pests in my garden.  My blog on "Controlling Garden Pests" explains a little about these pests and what to do to protect your plants from them.  For details click on the appropriate link below.
• Broad bean rust.
• Powdery Mildew.
• Aphids (Blackfly).