Growing Broad Beans in Victoria

These easy-to-grow beans are a real treat in the winter and spring garden. They produce an abundance of tasty beans after a beautiful show of flowers. Plant them in a sunny spot and make sure they get enough water. Remember to give them support as they can easily fall over in windy conditions. These winter beans are great at fixing nitrogen into the soil.

As with other beans, don’t over feed your broad beans with nitrogen. They can absorb nitrogen from the air, so they don’t need heavy feeding.

These beans prefer cool weather, so if you plant them too late, they’re really going to struggle as the weather warms up.

Dig through some compost and well-rotted manure to improve the soil. Try to avoid manures that are high in nitrogen like chicken manure. Cow or sheep manure are good options because they have lower nitrogen levels. If your soil is acidic, then add some lime before planting as well. You can easily check the pH of your soil yourself. Soil testing kits are readily available at garden centers and are easy to use. Potassium can help prevent chocolate spot fungus and should be added when you plant. Add sulphate of potash to the soil (carefully following the manufacturer’s instructions) and water in well.

Sow your broad beans once the weather cools in autumn. These beans thrive in cool weather, so don’t plant them too late or they won’t have time to produce well before the weather gets too warm in late spring and early summer.

Soak seeds overnight. (for around 8-10 hours)

Seeds can be sown directly into the soil or started in pots or trays for planting later in the season. If you sow them into pots, be sure to use pots that are deep enough for them to form their large root systems. If you’re sowing directly into the garden, follow the spacing instructions and make sure you plant the seeds deep enough. Broad beans grow into big plants and can easily be uprooted in windy weather if they aren’t well anchored.

Water them well and then preferably not again until they are up. If its particularly hot and dry then you can give them some extra water, but keep in mind that too much water in the early stages can cause the seeds to rot before they germinate. Once the plants are up, compress the soil around them well to keep them sturdy.

They will probably need to be staked at some point. You can stake the individual plants, but most people just plant a double row and then put stakes in at the corners of the bed and tie string or wire around the bed to stop the plants from falling over. You can put the stakes in at any stage, but they’re only really necessary once the plants are heavy with pods.

Broad beans prefer cool weather, so you can start planting them in autumn. They’ll grow right through winter, but probably only start flowering once the frosts are over. Plant every 4 weeks over the season to extend your harvest.

Plant your broad beans in double rows and water well. Broad bean plants can be heavy once they’re grown. Plant them nice and deep so that they aren’t easily uprooted in windy weather and stake them so that they don’t blow over.

Beans are a great nitrogen fixers. Their roots are able to take nitrogen from the air and soil and feed it to the plant. Either dig the plants into the soil once the harvest is over or remove the plants and add them to your compost. You can also cut the plants off at soil level and add them to your compost, but leave the roots in the soil to break down. If you’re growing them specifically to improve your soil, then cut the plants into the soil before the pods start to form.

Pinch our growing tips once the first pods start to form. This encourages the plant to put all of its energy into the pods and makes it harder for aphids to attack your plants.

Broad beans need quite a lot of water, make sure to keep the soil damp. The winter rains should do most of the work for you, but remember to give them some extra water during dry spells and especially once the weather starts to warm up in spring.

These lovely little beans don’t need much feeding. Be careful not to overfeed them with nitrogen. They can fix nitrogen from the air, so they don’t usually need any extra nitrogen. Keep an eye on them during especially wet weather though. Very heavy rains can wash nutrients from the soil. If they start looking yellow, they might need a little extra feed. If they’re looking hungry, give them a feed with a good, balanced organic fertilizer.

A thick layer of organic mulch will help to keep your soil damp and cool. Sugar cane and lucerne are both good options.

The beans can be harvested at various stages. The pods can be harvested while they’re still young and tender and used like snow peas. If you leave the pods a little longer, the seeds will start to swell and can also be eaten at all the stages and sizes. The beans become harder as they mature, but are still delicious. Harvesting does not encourage production, but the beans become tougher if they are left on the plant. They ripen from the bottom of the plant up. Leave a few pods to dry on the bush and keep them for planting next year.