Growing broad beans | 4Food

Growing Guides How to grow broad beans

Email this page

Date Published:: 21/02/2008

Grow your own broad beans

Broad beans are one of the easiest and most nutritious vegetables to grow and can be utilised to produce crops from late May to September.

The pods and green or white coloured beans (seeds) are eaten fresh (or they can be frozen for later use) and the young shoot tips (which are 'pinched out' in the spring) are also useful as an alternative to spinach.

The sweetly-scented black and white flowers have the advantage of attracting pollinating bees and other insects into the garden.

What you will need

A packet of broad bean seeds and plant labels
Garden fork and a rake for preparing the seed sowing site
Some well-rotted garden compost
General organic fertiliser
A length of string with pegs at each end for marking out individual rows
Short stick for creating the seed drills
Ruler/measure for sowing the seeds at the correct spacing
Watering can for watering the seedlings and young plants
Some small canes for supporting taller broad bean plants
Some cloches (for protecting autumn and late winter sowings only)
Some 7.5cm (3in) diameter pots and seed compost (for sowing the seeds under cover only)
A hand trowel (for planting out seedlings raised under cover only)