Planting Fava Beans

Like most gardeners from the UK, I love Broad Beans aka Fava Beans. They are easy to grow, heavy cropping and have a wonderful flavor -- once you get used to the stronger taste. They are great raw straight out of the pod, boiled quickly with a sprig of tarragon and a dab of butter, or cooked and added to salad. For a smoother sophisticated taste, you can strip the skins off once they are cooked -- but I think this is time-consuming and a waste of great nutrition.

Many people believe that favas cause an allergic reaction. This may be true for a tiny percentage of people but it is unheard of in England. Actually they are one of the most ancient foods grown in all countries around the Mediterranean, particularly North Africa. Favas are legumes but not actually beans; they are closer to peas and vetches so they need to do most of their growing in cool weather. When it gets hot, they will often drop their flowers and not set the pods. I always plant lots of favas in late Winter: they are Givers and add Nitrogen to the soil so tomatoes or other Takers can be the next crop.

I planted my favas inside in late January -- the old standby Windsor, a couple of Italian varieties Supersimonia (my favorite) and Violetta and a Japanese variety. The Japanese favas never sprouted but the other varieties grew tall and strong (some of them 2 feet). Even though we are still having snow and hard frosts, I had to get them out into the greenhouses.

I plant them in a double rows 8" apart and 8" spacing. Because it is still so cold and I had not hardened the plants off, I set them quite deeply in my sandy soil, then mulched the plants with 9" of leaves and covered everything with a floating row cover. I have not brewed Bountea yet, so I added a sprinkling of M3 and Root Web when I prepared the soil (I am out of SuperStart or I would have used that!)

Next weekend, I will do another big fava sowing in the cooler greenhouse. I want to see how that Japanese variety do when planted direct in the soil.