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     P P      

(Best months for growing Broad Beans in New Zealand - cool/mountain 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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18 Oct 16, Mark (Australia - temperate climate)
Help! Rookie Gardner,some of my broad beans are developing black mould. What is it,and how do I treat it?
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24 Oct 16, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
It could be black sooty mould. Does it look like this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG4GIkK7P4w If so, a spray with a mild natural dishwater mix is the best treatment. The spray will also kill any aphids which are a common cause for the mould, with the honeydew sugars they leave behind. Even a spray with the hose will kill aphids and wash the plants. Good luck with the Fava beans! I have just harvested some planted from dried beans i bought at the local middle eastern supplies.
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15 Oct 16, Roland Close (USA - Zone 9b climate)
I am growing Fava beans for the first time I'm my home garden. My friends in England are assisting me with emails and YouTube videos on the proper way to sow, grow, and harvest them.
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29 Jul 16, Gerrie (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
I am a rookie gardener in Canberra. My winter garden is going well. Silverbeet, kale and cabbages are thriving. Root vegs (radishes and beets) producing too much foliage but not enough root so I'll switch from fertilising with my worm juice and seasol mix and add some potash to reduce the nitrogen part of the NPK ratio. Had good green manure crops (trying to improve the Canberra compacted clay soil). Planted three broadbean (faba) varieties which are still small (20cm) but growing fast. I remembered to add a bit of lime to the soil. Tried a "three sisters" (corn, beans, pumpkins) planting. Planted the corn too late (should have at least a four-week head start on the climbing beans) and got a zero pumpkin crop so I preparing plenty of bee-attracting flowers for my next attempt this spring. BTW I've invested in a cheap large (3.6x1.9m) greenhouse which is now full of small seedlings so that I can get a head start this spring. We have a short growing season here. The greenhouse will change to a shade-house in summer - last summer almost none of our seeds germinated in the harsh Canberra sun. Will keep trying and hopefully learn from my mistakes.
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14 Apr 17, Steve (Australia - temperate climate)
If you want pumpkins to set ,just hand pollinate by picking male flower ,cutting back petals and place in female flower for a few seconds and shake gently .This is the only way I have had success in my garden with pumpkins.
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17 Jul 16, Elio Sonsini (USA - Zone 5a climate)
I buy lots of fava beans in a store of Southbridge MA I was wondering where they come from I make excellent dishes with fava beans, pasta with fava beans, fava beans with cicoria or just boil them
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12 May 16, laurence (Australia - temperate climate)
Re the leaf curl. I planted broad bean from seed, only 12 in a raised bed. All of them came up beautifully but slowly one by one succumbed to lead curl. I read this is actually a disease spread by whitefly.A dose of copper spray should resolve. Will give it a go tomorrow and will post results
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05 May 16, De Wet Burger (South Africa - Dry summer sub-tropical climate)
I want to start growing red beans ( Adzuki beans ) Do you have any info regarding this?
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03 May 16, Janice Allbutt (Australia - temperate climate)
My two early broadbean plants are growing well, look healthy, but the flowers turn black and die, hence no broadbeans to harvest. What could be the problem, please?
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17 Jun 18, bianca (Australia - temperate climate)
hi there, did you check leaves for any sign of aphid infestation?
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Showing 91 - 100 of 344 comments
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Update June 01, 2021 - I have lots and lots of fava beans - and am continuing to get more and more. It looks like it will take until the end of the month to bring them all in. So these beans will take about 320 days from planting to full harvest. The haul was great and I am pleased with the overwintering process - very pleased. The beans that I planted in spring are still a ways off from producing beans -- the plants are also much smaller, and I doubt they will put forth as many beans as the favas that were overwintered. The overwintered favas are a mess, with the tarp damage and some favas rocketing up to what looks to be 9 feet, reaching for the sun (they are in a shady location) - but I am pleased. If I had only grown the spring planted favas, I might have given up on favas all together...... but overwintering seems to be the key here in Victoria, British Columbia for a really good crop of beans...... and I would even grow these in the winter for the greens -- they take a bit of getting use to (as did spinach for me when I was a child) -- but once you get use to the greens they are great. The greens taste like fava beans, and not like any other green. I have a few corrections from my first few posts: 1. when I said I lost 1/3 of the plants that were not covered during the really cold week --- it should have said I lost a third of each plant that was not tarped: so if the plant was 9 feet, I had to cut it back to 6feet. The number of plants actually lost was zero. While I only lost a portion of SOME of the tarped plants and when there was a loss it was about 10% of the plant. Also the plants not covered where in a much windier location (think one step and your off a 12 foot drop and in the Pacific Ocean--so lots of wind) -- the plants that were covered where a couple of meters away from the drop off, and there is noticeably less wind there. So whether or not the tarp really makes a difference here is still debatable; the difference may have been wind chill. 2. when I said I used the fava bean leaves as a garnish in my soups over the winter; it was really more akin to a side salad on top of my soup -- big handful of leaves -- sometime harvested based on a branch breaking due to wind. Stems were ground into pesto. Again, I'm very pleased with overwintering my favas; and expect that in the future I will only overwinter rather than spring plant. Winters here are RAINY with lows at about -2 (and extreme lows as cold as -6 last winter), it is also overcast here during the winter with very few sun breaks.... luckily I get a lot of reflection off the water when the sun does peak through. I grew 4 varieties of fava; including the extra early violets; all performed well; the violets are the prettiest if you take them to the dried pod stage; they all taste about the same.

- FaithCeleste Archer

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