How to grow Broad Beans

General

Broad beans, like all beans are members of the legume family. The main difference is that if planted at the right time, they are frost tolerant and can withstand quite cold temperatures once established, where the other bean varieties would die. They can be transplanted, but perform much better if direct sown where they are intended to grow. They like a good, free draining soil and as they fix nitrogen in the soil, don’t usually require any supplemental feeding. Once they become well established, at around 5ft tall, they will likely need some support to stop them blowing over in the wind. This year we experimented, growing them in pots. Although the overall plant height was less, the crop was still great.

Planting Guide

Sow the broad bean seed direct where you want the plants to grow, in rows or blocks. Blocks will help the plants protect each other from wind, spacing the seeds at around 20 to 30cm apart. Water them in and leave. Like a lot of larger seeds, beans, corn and the like, they do not need to be watered again until the shoots emerge, unless the soil has obviously begun to dry out. Overwatering during germination can result in rotting of the seeds.