Our fava beans flirted with fantastic this year. Simply put, they were our best ever.
It’s been a real struggle to grow good favas (or broad beans) in our climate. They prefer life in the UK, free from the dizzying temperature swings of our relatively short New England springs. Yet this year, we definitely got lucky with the weather. There were no late frosts or super early heat waves, though we did have our first of those last week.
We started the fava beans indoors again, but 2 weeks earlier than our initial experiment doing that last year. They were seeded with our alliums and spring brassicas on March 2, which was our first week of seedling work. And they came to harvest on June 22, a full 3 weeks earlier than last year. (Coincidentally, they closely tracked the spring broccoli and cauliflower on days to harvest.)
We seeded in standard 6-packs, transplanted into 3-4” pots at 2 weeks, hardened off at 3 weeks, and planted on March 30 (Opening Day at the garden), 4 weeks after seeding. We also protected the seedlings with a cloche for their first week in the garden. Unfortunately, 2 of the 18 seedlings mysteriously disappeared, leaving us only 16 plants to grow to maturity. (The empty spaces were filled with clusters of leftover onion sets on May 4, which we’re harvesting now as green onions.)
By mid-May, the bean plants were a foot tall and positively packed with flowers. Many plants also produced a second stem. The bean pods became apparent in early June. Despite dozens of flowers, each plant averaged 5 bean pods. Yet no apologizing was necessary! The plants grew large (some measure 32”) and healthy by harvest time. And for some unknown reason, there were no aphids this spring. Our biggest worry has been figuring out the best time to harvest.
The other thing to note is the variety. Encouraged by our relative success with Ianto’s from Baker Creek last year, we planned to get more seed. Unfortunately, it was unavailable, necessitating a return to Vroma from Johnny’s. We’ve grown Vroma – with lackluster results – for many years. (Hence, the switch to Ianto’s.)
So, it would appear that our indoor seeding, earlier schedule, and good luck with weather and aphids was this year’s recipe for success. The final count was 79 pods from 16 plants, with the pods producing an average of 4 beans. And we’re hoping to save seed for next year, so stay tuned.
Seed Saving Addendum
We left enough seed pods on the plants after harvesting for planting next year. The pods were allowed to turn black and become brittle on the plants, then we let them dry indoors in the pods for another week before removing them.
The seed looked good and was put away for planting next spring. Wish us luck!
