How to grow them
Sow 5cm deep in double rows. A hardy variety sown in October or November will stand the winter and crop a month early. Support the plants with string run between canes, and pinch out the soft tips once the first pods form.
Peas and beans
Broad beans
The first beans of the year, and one of the few crops you can sow in autumn.
- Buy as
- Seed
- Space
- 20cm between plants, 45cm between rows
- Position
- Full sun
- Rotation
- Peas and beans
- Difficulty
- Easy
The year
Sow indoors
Sow outdoors
Harvest
When to pick
Pick when the pods are plump but before the scar on each bean turns black. Young pods can be eaten whole.
What goes wrong
Problems, and what to do
Blackfly
They cluster on the soft tips in May. Pinching out the tips removes most of them.
Chocolate spot
Brown spots on the leaves in damp weather. Give the plants more space and air.
Mice
They dig up the seeds. Start them in pots if you lose a sowing.
Good neighbours: Potatoes, Spinach.