When are broad beans sown?
Broad beans tolerate light frost and can therefore be sown outdoors as early as the end of February. (Detailed information on sowing do you think??? Find here.) If you are not afraid of a little extra work, you can even get the delicious broad beans at home in mid-January prefer. However, the broad beans can also be sown later. Sowing until mid-April is quite possible.
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- Grow broad beans
- Prefer broad beans
- Plant, care and harvest broad beans
From sowing to fruit
The growing season for broad beans is three and a half to four months, depending on the variety. That means if you sow your broad beans in mid-February, you can start harvesting in mid-June. The harvest usually extends over several weeks. If you do not sow your broad beans until mid-April, the start of harvest will be postponed to mid-August.
Know when the broad bean is ready to harvest
The broad beans can be harvested when the pods are fully grown, i.e. have reached a length of 15 to 20 cm (depending on the variety). The beans should be soft but thick and the pods should be juicy green and plump. The individual beans should be about the size of a thumbnail.
The downside of a late harvest season
The sooner you sow your broad beans, the better. Broad beans that are sown late and therefore harvested late are often infested by black lice. If this happens during the flowering period, the aphids can cause great damage and, in the worst case, the harvest may even fail completely. Those who sow early can usually avoid this problem. If the pests only appear when the plants are already bearing beans, they usually have no effect on the crop yield.
Harvest broad beans
What you need:
- a pair of scissors or a sharp knife
- a bucket
- Gloves for sensitive hands
Cut the ripe beans directly on the plant. Let even thinner pods hang and harvest them later.
Tips
You can blanch or fry broad beans fresh. They taste particularly delicious and only need a very short cooking time.