GROWING SUMMARY​

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• Broadbeans are easy to grow frost tender annuals harvested during the 'hungry gap' - a time of year when the winter vegetables are finished but the spring vegetables are not ready for picking.

• Sow the large seeds straight into the ground.  Plant the seeds 2 at a time, 30mm deep, and 300mm apart. Plant them in blocks of 3 or 4 rows 300mm apart and once they are up thin to the strongest or just let the two plants grow in the one spot. They are tall leggy plants susceptible to falling over and if they are planted in blocks you can run a rope around them to keep the upright.

• Traditionally in Australia they are planted on Anzac Day (25th April). In very cold areas the seeds will germinate then just sit in the ground for months. When they start to move in the spring you can squeeze in a second succession. In warmer areas it is possible to  plant 2 or 3 monthly successions without the seeds rotting in very cold soil.

• The pods can be harvested at any stage. Tiny little pods can be eaten whole, larger pods need to be shelled out, eat the beans and compost the pods, more mature beans can be doubled peeled. Fully mature dried broad bean seed can be saved for planting or stored for cooking.

• Fun Fact
  Broad bean flowers emit a really lovely fragrance in the late afternoon.