Back to basics: Broad beans

You either love them or hate them; my family and I love them and after potatoes they have to be my favourite vegetable. New potatoes, broad beans and a piece of ham – delicious! Broad beans are wonderful in salads – I even love them cold after they have been cooked. Broad beans can be sown over a long period from autumn through to May.

Sowing

Autumn sowing (October/November) gives the earliest crops next year. This can be followed with more sowings from February through until May to give you a succession of picking.

Ground preparation

For autumn sowing, choose an area of the garden which has grown a previous crop – for example potatoes or onions. All you then have to do is to fork the area over deeply, breaking down the lumps, and a fortnight before sowing apply 85g per sq m (3oz sq yd) of bonemeal. Tread the area (broad beans grow best in slightly firm soil) then and sow the seeds 23cm (9in) apart and about 5cm (2in) deep, allowing about 20cm (8in) between each seed. Always sow a few extra beans at the end of the row In case any fail or are attacked by pests or taken by rodents. If a double row is required, make two drills 30cm (12in) apart.

When the seed germinates, fill in any gaps with your spare plants. At this stage, place some stout canes every 21⁄2m (approximately 3yd) down the row at either side and as the plants grow, supporting strings can be tied to the canes to keep the plants upright and straight.

Growing in trays

You can also sow broad beans in modules (cell trays) using a fresh multi-purpose or John Innes Seed compost.

There are several advantages to growing your beans in modules, such as greater protection from pests and the weather (heavy losses can occur outside in a harsh winter or in waterlogged soil). But the great advantage in my opinion is that you can choose the ideal day to plant out and at a time when the soil is in perfect condition. Try to plant the beans before they get too tall, approximately 7.5cm (3in) is the ideal size. The modules I use have only six cells each and each cell is about 7.5cm (3in), but any large-celled trays or small pots will do. Place two seeds to each segment to a depth of about 2.5cm (1in). Water well and place your trays in a cold frame or cold greenhouse to germinate.

Spring sowing and planting outside

If you intend to sow outside in the spring, prepare the ground in the autumn time. Start by digging in one barrowload of well-rotted farmyard manure or garden compost to the square yard. The land should be reasonably sheltered and well drained. After digging, allow the soil to settle through the winter. Broad beans like some lime in the soil and an ideal pH would be between 6.5 and 7. Prior to sowing and planting, tread and rake the ground to form a fine tilth.

Harvesting

Harvest pods when still young so that the beans are tender and the skins still soft. If left for too long, the outer skin of the bean becomes tough and unpleasant to eat and each individual bean may have to be peeled (a soul-destroying job). Very young pods can be eaten whole like mangetout but of course this reduces the overall weight of the crop.

Due to the tough nature of the stalks, pods are best cut from the plants with a knife or scissors or you may damage the stem and allow diseases to enter.

Pests and diseases

Broad beans are tough, hardy plants and do not suffer from many pests and diseases, but there are a few that occasionally cause problems.

Chocolate spot

This gives rise to brown spots on the leaves, small at first but often coalescing to form larger black patches. May also appear on the stems and pods. Although crops may be reduced and plants can be killed by severe attacks, this is rare and there is no chemical control available.

Apply sulphate of potash or wood ashes to the bed prior to sowing/planting and just before cropping to encourage tougher, more disease-resistant growth. Allow more space between plants to increase air flow and remove badly infected plants.

Blackfly

Often congregate in the soft-growing tips from midsummer. The plants are usually at an advanced stage of growth by then and the tips can be removed beyond the pods, so greatly reducing attacks. Alternatively, spray with a suitable insecticide.

Root and foot rot

Stems rot at the base and this is usually worse in wet seasons or on badly drained soils or where the plants are exposed to strong winds – the roots becoming damaged by wind rock allow the disease a way in. Improve drainage and either choose a more sheltered site or offer some support; growing the crop through some bean netting stretched horizontally over the crop often does the trick.

Pea and bean weevil

Small neat notches are eaten from the edges of the leaves during the spring and early summer. Established plants are able to withstand attacks, but it can be serious on seedlings and young plants. Give the plants the best possible start by preparing the ground well as described; or where the pest is a real nuisance, start the plants off in cell trays as described to give them a head start.

Joe's top tips

Saving your own seeds

Many allotment growers often save their own seeds of broad beans, but be sure only to save from crops that have done well. Leave the pods on the plants until they go black, then thoroughly dry before shelling. Keep the seeds in a cool dry place but out of the frost until ready for use.

Broad beans as a green manure

Broad beans are a very bulky source of green manure. Being a legume like peas and lupins, they can be grown on your land and then dug in including the roots. The roots have nodules attached which fix nitrogen from the air. This is a wonderful way of putting nitrogen back into the soil; the nodules are caused by a special bacteria which lives in the soil and has the power to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. The bacteria provides the plant with nitrogen, so other crops following legumes have the benefit of the extra nitrogen. It is a great advantage to dig in the roots of legumes because plants like lettuces and all the cabbage family which make large green leaves benefit greatly from following beans and peas.

Joe’s pick of the varieties

The Sutton

Excellent variety for those gardening on an exposed site. It is a short-growing plant suitable for sowing in the autumn or spring in succession for an extended harvest. It will produce around six beans to the pod. Height 45cm (18in).

Giant Exhibition

A top variety for the show bench sometimes with nine to 10 beans to the pod. The trick with this variety is to remove the misshapen pods and leave the well-matched specimens to mature into show beans. Up to 1.2m (4ft) in height.

Stereo

Small-podded type containing five or six beans of very good quality and exceptional flavour. This variety can also be used for cooking whole as we do with the mangetout pea. Height to 140cm (4ft).

Aquadulce Claudia

The best variety for autumn sowing is ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ which will crop during May and June. This variety is doubly useful as a second crop can be produced from the sideshoots. Up to nine beans per pod. Height 100cm (40in).

Masterpiece Green Longpod

Very good quality, fine flavour, seven to eight beans per pod. Good for freezing. Height 75-90cm (30-36in)

Bunyard’s Exhibition

Possibly one of the heaviest cropping of them all with up to eight seeds per pod. A very old variety (it was introduced some 100 years ago). The beans have a wonderful flavour and are ideal for freezing. Ideal for autumn or spring sowing. Grows to approximately 100cm (40in).

Scorpio

A good late type producing five to eight white beans per pod; very heavy cropper, good flavour. Height to approximately 100cm (40in).