Broad beans are a great crop to grow in the vegetable garden, they are easy to grow and are a great source of protein. They are also a good source of vitamins A, C and K, as well as being high in fibre.
While many parts of the garden are starting to wind down for the cooler autumn weather, there’s one job you can do now to get a head start on next year. Take advantage of the bare soil in your vegetable patch by sowing broad beans now for a bumper early crop come spring.
If you sow them at this time, these hardy plants will germinate before going into their winter dormancy. Then, as the weather warms up next spring, they’ll burst back into life and provide you with a harvest weeks earlier than if you’d planted them that same year.
Tough varieties like ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ can be sown in October or November for an early crop in May. Sow them directly into the soil or put them in multi-cell trays and then plant them out in a couple of weeks.
Any beans sown in September can be planted out now. Sow them 20cm apart, in rows 60cm apart.
If you have problems with mice or the weather is particularly cold where you are, sow them under cover first and plant them out when they’ve had six weeks growing time.
To prevent blackfly, pinch off the tips of the plants, and to stop the taller varieties from collapsing when they start growing beans, use stakes to support them.
For those with heavy clay soil, be warned that sowing in autumn could lead to the seeds rotting before they even have a chance to germinate. To plant outdoors, mix compost or manure into the soil and rake it until it’s fine and crumbly.
The seeds should be sown 5cm deep, with about 20cm of space between each plant. Make sure to firm down the soil and water them thoroughly.
If the weather is on the colder side, you might want to consider covering them with a fleece to protect them as they start to sprout.
If you’re planning to plant indoors, simply place the seeds into small pots or modules filled with compost, about 5 cm deep, as suggested by Gardeners’ World. Then, keep them in a cool spot safe from frost, and they should begin to germinate after three weeks.
They should be ready to be planted outside after six weeks, once their roots have filled the pots.