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(Best months for planting Broad beans in Australia - sub-tropical regions)

• Easy to grow.
• Harvest in 90-160 days
• Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed.
• Best planted at soil temperatures between 6°C and 24°C.
• Space plants: 15-25cm

It is a rigid, erect plant 0.5-1.7 m tall, with stout stems with a square cross-section. The leaves are 10-25 cm long, pinnate with 2-7 leaflets, and of a distinct glaucous grey-green color. Harvest 90 - 160 days depending on how cold the weather is.

In windy areas it is best to provide some support with posts and string, otherwise the plants will fall across each other. Pick the tops out once beans start setting to prevent blackfly.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Broad beans

The fresh beans are eaten steamed or boiled. As the beans mature it is better to remove their tough outer skins after cooking.
The leafy top shoots of the adult plants can be picked and steamed after flowering.
Small beans can be eaten whole in the pods.
Broad beans will freeze well. Remove from pods and blanch.

Your comments and tips

27 Aug 09 Zoidberg (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Yes Nat you are right, the broad beans won't be killed by frost but they won't set pods in cool weather. You just have to wait until it's warm enough in your area for the pods to form - for us about mid-Spring.

29 Aug 09 Cherry (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

This is the first time I have grown BB. How long after the plant flowers do you start to get the bean pods please.

07 Sep 09 Trent (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

I'm growing BB for the first time and have noticed on a few of the plants the leaves are curling up lengthwise, starting from the tips of the plants. It doesn't look like a pest but I suspect it's a deficiency.Can anyone shed some light on this?

10 Sep 09 Brian (Australia - temperate climate)

Our beans are growing well, with lots of flowers that the bees are enjoying. But on the whole patch, there is only one pod forming. Should we be patient and expect the others to follow the lone example? Is there anything we can do to encourage podding?

12 Sep 09 pigflyin (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

our beans are podding furiously for the last few weeks. about 6 inches long.... hardest part is to decide when to pick them. Got in 2 today, one is good size, one too small. FUN! pick off the growing tip does seems to encourage the pod to fatten faster... or it must be my wishful thinking.

14 Sep 09 Emily (Australia - temperate climate)

My beans are growing very well!! Well not the actual fruit itself but the bush is plenty and many more flowers are budding daily. I guess i need to wait till the temperature heats up a bit, for the beans to form. However, do i need a terrace or something for the beans to climb up on.

19 Oct 09 LIndsay (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

I know broad beans are good for the soil. Is it the growing that puts the goodness in the soil or burying the empty pods and plants that puts the goodness in the soil or is it both?

25 Oct 09 Leslie W. (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

I have planted Broad beans and they are flowering, but some of the leaves are reluctant to unfold. The next planting is worse. No insects are visible. Anyone got any clues leslie

01 Nov 09 gary (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Lindsay, it's both. Broad beans are legumes meaning they convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into nitrogen in the soil. The nitrogen is attached to their roots and becomes available in the soil once the beans die down. The best approach is to cut the plants off at soil level once they've finished for the season. You can then lay the tops on the soil or use it as mulch elsewhere in the garden. It, too adds nitrogen to the soil as it beaks down.

09 Mar 10 Rob (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

@Lindsay, It's the roots that you plough back into the soil and that provides nitrogen(essential for foliage growth)