Legume
How to grow broad beans
Vicia faba
Broad beans are the hardiest bean and the first to crop. Sow them 5 cm deep in a sunny, well-drained bed in late October or November for beans in late May, or from February to April for a June and July harvest. Support the taller varieties with string and canes, water only when they are in flower and setting pods, and pinch out the soft tips once the lowest pods have formed to keep blackfly off.
- Hardiness
- Hardy, autumn sowings overwinter
- Position
- Full sun
- Soil
- Fertile, well-drained, firm
- Ideal pH
- 6.5 to 7.5
- Water
- Low, water only at flowering and pod set in dry weather
- Feeding
- Light feeder
Sowing and planting broad beans
WhenSow Oct to Nov (hardy types) or Feb to Apr; harvest May to Jul
Starting off
Direct sow 'Aquadulce Claudia' in October to November for a May crop on well-drained ground, or any variety in February to April as the soil becomes workable, germinating in 10 to 14 days at 5 to 15 °C. On heavy, wet soil sow in root-trainers in a cold frame and plant out at 8 cm tall.
Spacing and planting
Sow 5 cm deep, 20 to 23 cm apart in double rows 20 cm apart, with 60 cm between each double row; dwarf 'The Sutton' at 15 cm. Support taller types with string run between canes at 30 and 60 cm high. Dwarf types crop in a 30 cm pot with 4 to 5 plants.
Varieties worth growing
- Aquadulce Claudia
- The standard for autumn sowing: it stands the winter as a small plant and gives long pods in late May.
- Witkiem Manita
- Very fast from a February or March sowing, catching up with autumn-sown crops. The choice for heavy soil where winter sowings rot.
- Masterpiece Green Longpod
- Long pods of green beans with fine flavour that keep their colour when frozen.
- The Sutton
- Dwarf at 30 to 45 cm, needs no staking and suits windy plots, small beds and pots.
- Crimson Flowered
- Heritage variety with deep red, scented flowers and short pods of small, tender green beans. Handsome enough for a border.
Broad beans month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Nothing to do. Cloche overwintering plants in severe cold.
- February
Sow in pots under cover, or direct under cloches late in the month where the soil is workable.
- March
Sow direct. Plant out pot-raised plants.
- April
Last sowings. Run string between canes round taller varieties.
- May
Pinch out tips once the first pods set. Water at flowering if dry. First pods from autumn sowings late in the month.
- June
Pick from the bottom of the plant up. Add a second string at 60 cm.
- July
Pick spring sowings. Cut finished plants at ground level and leave the roots in.
- August
Clear the last plants. Follow with leeks, kale or spring cabbage.
- September
Nothing to do.
- October
Sow Aquadulce Claudia in the last week on well-drained soil.
- November
Finish autumn sowing by mid month.
- December
Nothing to do.
Feeding broad beans
A light feeder that fixes its own nitrogen. On soil in reasonable heart it needs nothing. Feed only poor or sandy ground, once, with phosphorus and potassium.
Fixes its own nitrogen and needs very little feeding.
Feeding plan
Before sowing, poor soil only
Garden compost
A 3 to 5 cm layer forked in. On ground composted for the previous crop, nothing.
Sowing, poor or sandy soil only
100 g/m², the label maintenance rate, raked into the strip to be sown: about 40 g per metre of double row, taking the strip as 40 cm wide (100 x 0.4).
First flowers, only if nothing was given at sowing
The same 100 g/m² as a top-dress along both sides of the row, watered in. One application a season is enough.
Flowering, where beans have shown brown hollow centres before
1 g per litre of water as a foliar spray, two or three times at intervals of 2 to 3 weeks.
At any time
Nothing with nitrogen
It gives soft, leafy growth that draws blackfly and chocolate spot.
Signs to watch
Brown spots and hollows in the centre of the cooked bean
Manganese short (marsh spot) on over-limed, sandy soil
Do not lime, and give a manganese sulphate or seaweed feed
Lower leaves with brown chocolate spotting
Fungal, worsened by excess nitrogen and crowding
Thin and stop feeding
Pale, stunted plants with few nodules
Waterlogging
Improve drainage
Pests, diseases and problems
Shoot tips and young pods smothered in black aphids from May
Black bean aphid (blackfly), which settles on soft new growth
Pinch out the top 8 cm of each stem as soon as the lowest pods have set, and eat the tips as greens. Autumn and February sowings are usually past the soft stage before blackfly arrive. Squash small colonies by hand.
Chocolate-brown spots on leaves, stems and pods, merging in wet weather
Chocolate spot, a fungus favoured by damp, still air and crowded plants
Keep to the full spacing, avoid sheltered damp corners, do not feed nitrogen, and choose a well-drained site for overwintering crops. Light spotting does not reduce the crop.
Neat U-shaped notches round the leaf margins
Pea and bean weevil
No action needed on established plants. Fleece small seedlings in a slow spring so they grow away.
Rusty brown, powdery pustules on leaves and stems in June and July
Broad bean rust
It normally arrives late enough not to affect the harvest. Clear and compost the tops after cropping and give plants more space next year.
Seeds missing or seedlings pulled up
Mice, pigeons and jays
Sow in root-trainers or pots in a cold frame and plant out at 8 cm tall, or net the row until the plants are 15 cm high.
Harvest and rotation
Harvest and storage
Pick when the pods are plump and the beans show as bumps, 14 to 16 weeks from a spring sowing or 28 from an autumn one, before the bean's scar turns black; pull downward with a twist. A 3 m double row gives 4 to 6 kg of shelled beans. Use within 2 days, blanch and freeze, or pick small pods whole.
Rotation and companions
Rotation: legume group with peas and beans, 3-year gap, followed by brassicas that use the fixed nitrogen; cut the stems off at the end and leave the roots. Keep away from onions, garlic and shallots, which check growth.
Good to knowSow in autumn or early spring.
Growing broad beans in pots
Only dwarf varieties are worth growing in pots. Sow four or five seeds of The Sutton in a 30 cm pot of peat-free multipurpose compost in March, 5 cm deep, and stand it in full sun out of the wind. Fresh compost needs no added fertiliser. Water sparingly until the flowers open, then keep the compost moist until the pods fill. Expect a few good pickings rather than a glut; tall varieties blow over in pots and are better in the ground.
Broad beans: common questions
When should I pinch out broad beans?
Pinch out the growing tips when the lowest flowers have set their first small pods, usually in May. Take the top 8 cm of each stem. It removes the soft growth that blackfly colonise, sends the plant's energy into the pods, and the tips can be cooked like spinach.
Is it better to sow broad beans in autumn or spring?
Autumn sowing gives beans three to four weeks earlier and largely avoids blackfly, but only suits sheltered gardens with well-drained soil. On heavy, wet or exposed ground, sow in February or March instead: the plants catch up quickly and losses are far lower.
Do broad beans need support?
Tall varieties do, dwarf ones do not. Push a cane in at each corner of the double row and every 1.2 m along it, and run string round at 30 cm and again at 60 cm. Without it the stems, heavy with pods, go over in the first June gale.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.