How to grow broad beans

Broad beans are an easy and productive crop, producing valuable early harvests, before most other vegetables are ready. They can be sown at various times from autumn to late spring, depending on your growing conditions and the variety, and if you sow several batches you can enjoy fresh, delicious beans from early to late summer.

There are many broad bean varieties to choose from, with different sowing and harvesting periods, plant heights and pod sizes. Some hardy varieties can be sown in autumn, others are for late winter or spring sowing. 

Dwarf varieties, which only reach about 50cm (20in) tall, are ideal where space is limited and for growing in containers or in windy sites.

Varieties with an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) performed well in trials, so are particularly good choices – see our list of AGM fruit and veg.

Choose a warm, sunny, sheltered growing site for your broad beans, with well-drained soil.

Before sowing or planting out, weed the area thoroughly, then add plenty of well-rotted manure or garden compost – at least a bucketful per square metre/yard – to improve moisture retention in the soil.

You can also add a high potassium general fertiliser, such as Vitax Q4, at a rate of two handfuls per square metre/yard.

Broad beans are straightforward to grow from seed, usually sown in late winter (indoors, or outdoors with protection) or spring (outdoors), for summer harvests. In mild regions or very warm, sheltered sites, they can also be sown in late autumn, for a crop as early as May. Choose a sunny growing site, and prepare it ahead of sowing or planting, to ensure your beans get off to a strong start.

• Young immature pods when only about 7cm (3in) long and cook them whole.

• When the pods are full but still small – for shelling, harvest pods when they’re still young. Small beans are sweeter and more tender than large ones. The scar on the bean should still be white or green, not black, as the beans will become tough at this stage.

Regular picking encourages further pods to form. Use secateurs or scissors, to avoid damaging the plants. Pods lower down the plants mature first – check them every few days, as pods can ripen fast. 

You can also harvest the young shoot tips, to use like spinach. 

Once harvesting has finished, cut plants down to the base and compost them, but leave roots in the ground to boost nitrogen levels. Alternatively, simply dig the whole plants into the soil.

Several pests and diseases can affect broad beans, but these robust plants are rarely severely damaged and usually still produce a good crop. Earlier sowings are less likely to attract pests or diseases.