Anyone grow Fava Beans?

[Tormato]

Third time I've attempted favas, with about 15 total plants in those 3 trials. Finally got a harvest this year...


...of one seed.

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by ilex

You can plant some varieties in summer and get a crop in December

Some of us don't have the space just lying fallow in the middle of summer.

[Spike2]

I planted fava beans this past spring. NOT a single one sprouted. I was so disappointed and heart broken. I went out and tilled the row up and planted sunflowers. BAM every last fava bean sprouted along with the sun flowers!!

[bower]

Thinking to cycle the past year's garlic bed into favas and carrots this year. Any thoughts about companion planting, also any info about the heights and or productivity of different varieties would be appreciated. Thinking couple rows of favas on the west side of the N-S bed and carrots in the front. The carrots I have seed for are 70 dtm.

Really enjoyed reading all the info in this thread, I think I will try transplants as did best for Joseph, but I will have to use row cover putting them out early - not for the frost, but for critters that are very hungry that time of year! Don't want them to get an early taste for my crops....

[ilex]

Don't do it, allium and legumes don't grow well together or one after the other. That's the only combination that I really avoid based on experience. You can really see were previous crop was.

I like carrots after well fed garlic.

[bower]

Thanks Ilex for the timely advice!
I'll put the favas somewhere else and do carrots in that bed.
Anything else you recommend in cycle with garlic? Not that I could have too many carrots.

[joseph]

Originally Posted by bower

I think I will try transplants as did best for Joseph, but I will have to use row cover putting them out early - not for the frost, but for critters that are very hungry that time of year! Don't want them to get an early taste for my crops....

Ah!!! Maybe that's why some of my plants ended up out of the ground... I'm definitely intending to plant them deeper next spring.

[ilex]

Originally Posted by bower

Thanks Ilex for the timely advice!
I'll put the favas somewhere else and do carrots in that bed.
Anything else you recommend in cycle with garlic? Not that I could have too many carrots.

I plant in any place with available space, trying not to repeat same family. Not a very complex plan.

[habitat_gardener]

Most of the favas I picked in April/May had black spots on them, so although I'd put them in the freezer to kill off any bugs, I wondered if they were viable. I soaked 200 beans overnight, then potted up the ones that sprouted. I ended up with 85% germination, over 5 days. The ones that took longer to sprout easily caught up to the rest.

After 3 weeks in pots, I finally got around to planting them out. During that time, I found out the garden where I'd planned to put most of them was going to close down, so I planted them wherever I could find a space in the remaining 2 gardens. When I ran out of space, I planted the rest in mulch, at the side of the path! There was predation everywhere -- I'm guessing it was squirrels and rats who dug up the beans and left the chopped-off tops -- but it wasn't too bad, probably not more than 10 in each garden. After about a week, I didn't see any more predation.

Today they are about a foot high, even the ones in mulch, though many of them have fallen over. I will prop them up if they start falling into the paths, but otherwise, I'll let them be.

[greenthumbomaha]

Would it be too late to start a spring planting indoors now? I am running out to the garden center to buy Lake Valley brand Windsor Fava. Should I just go inground at this time?

- Lisa

[Shrinkrap]

The beans are pretty big, and I would go inground, but it's practically spring here. I believe they can sprout in very cool soil, and may even prefer it.

[greenthumbomaha]

I'm back from the store and the seeds are indeed very large. There were 15 seeds in the package. They're soaking now and I'll sow five outside and the rest in a peat pot. The package said to plant when you plant peas. We have been know to have snow in March so I"m probably being overly cautious.

- Lisa

[Shrinkrap]

I have grown every year for quite awhile, I usually sow around thanksgiving, I always end up leaving some beans on the bed which dry out over the summer, then sprout, even sitting on top of, or in the general area of the soil, when it starts to rain around November. It's as if the roots reach for the soil.

[zeroma]

So if fava beans are what the English call broad beans, what is or is there an American equivalent?

From reading about only 20 of the posts here is this accurate to say about fava beans?

Are they grown and eaten the way any green bean - fresh in the pod when young, cooked in the pod when a bit older, and then as a dried bean when older?

Zeroma

[Shrinkrap]

I would say "we" mostly pick the beans fresh and green, remove the seedsxfom what would be the green bean, peel those, and THEN eat them. A lot of work, and many eat at other stages..

http://blog.cookingchanneltv.com/201...se-fava-beans/