Thanks for this awesome video!! Beginner here growing my first broad beans. I have a question, I am afraid I let some go over-ripe (because unsure when to harvest eep), can I then let them be on the stem to get dried beans? First you said they go bad /or less nice/, but then you added one can leave them on the stem to become dried. So now Im confused, if they go bad or can safely dry on the motherplant 🌱🙈🌱
I've been successfully growing runner beans and peas for a few years now, but this is the first year I've tried growing broad beans. It looks like I'm going to get a good harvest, but till now I had no idea when they would be ready for picking. Thanks for clarifying that, and for a very informative video.
Yaaaaay, I am so happy to hear you are going to get a bumper crop this year and I really hope it plays out. I am so glad this video helped you gain a better understanding of ripeness of the pods 🌻
Thank you so much for this video. I planted broad beans for the first time last October (that's autumn for us in the NW corner of the US) and they survived even though we had lots of freeze-outs. They sprouted back from the little stubs after I took off the black slimy foliage. Amazingly hardy and beautiful plants, now about 4 feet tall and getting ready to harvest. Have to confess I ate some of the greens right off the plant, and a couple of small pods, just to see if I could 🙂. Now I can wait until the rest of the pods are really ready. I'm so happy you made this clear and helpful video. Subscribed!
Yay, what an awesome comment, thank you 💚 I am super happy to hear you didn't give up with the freeze-outs and that they bounced back. Nature is a thing of beauty! I do exactly the same as you did 😄 It's super hard to resist tasting those first few pods as they appear and now that you know when they are at the perfect picking stage you can get the most out of your crop. I hope you manage to enjoy them and have a feast 🌻
Ah, yay, that's awesome! This is exactly why I started this channel because I couldn't find any first hand info on what actually works here in Cape Town, or South Africa actually. I hope you continue to learn and if you have any specific questions you might have or videos you might want done then please do let me know 🌱
If they are starting to go to seed then you need to harvest them ASAP if you want to eat them either as baby onions or spring onion. Otherwise leave them for the bees and beautiful flower they produce. Our weather has been all over the place and the hot, cold, hot, cold, confuses the onion and tricks it into thinking winter is coming and it needs to quickly make seed before it goes dormant. They are also bi-annual plants, so if you plant a baby onion from last year, then there is a good chance they will go so seed with them being in their 2nd year of existence. Great video idea, thank you :)
Ah, thanks so much for leaving me a comment. I have Scottish ancestry and it's on my bucket list to get to the Scottish Highlands 💚 so glad you found value in watching this video 🌻
Thank you for this, I do still have a ripeness question. Some of my beans are short but fat at one end and look like they only have one ripe bean inside. And others just don't seem to be swelling at all from the younger pods of the plant.
Hmmmm...thanks for taking the time to leave me a question. To me, this sounds like more of a pollination issue than a ripening issue. Broad Beans still need good and even pollination so if you had poor weather, not a lot of bees, or many other things, your pollination could have been impacted. Does this sound like it could be a realistic cause for you? 🌻
Thank you for such an in depth video. As someone who is self taught when it comes to gardening, it's really helpful find videos like this one! Now I can harvest my broad beans confidently. The short broad beans might be Broad Windsor. They look very similar to the Broad Windsor I am growing.
Oh wow, thank you for such a positive comment and I love hearing how self-taught gardeners are finding the information they need and making it work for them. Great stuff 💚 You might actually be right because I do recall planting some Windsor broad beans as a trial and I didn't find them to be very productive in our climate, but I know they are in other parts of the world. I hope you get to enjoy many a delicious broad bean dish in the years ahead 🌻🌻🌻
Hi from the western cape in South Africa ! Thank you very much for the clear explanation of growing and harvesting these wonderful broad or fava beans! This year I started with about 12 plants in a vegetable box, and to my excitement had quite a nice harvest, even enough to freeze a few. They are delicious as a vegetable dish; as one of the ingredients in a mixed salad and puréed in a soup….. next season I’m definitely going to grow them again , but won’t make the mistake of planting them too close together. I fed them a huge portion of home made compost as I think they are rather heavy feeders? A few plants are left with fat pods on it to dry, and I hope they will produce and provide seeds for next year to share with a few friends. I can encourage every gardener to try these wonderful and rewarding plants 🤩🥰
Great video! I have a question, if most of the leaves of a broad bean plant turn yellow because of over watering (since i re-used a container which didn't have drainage holes) is there a way on which I can get them to be green again? And also if some of the leaves then start turning black after yellowing can I still turn them back to a green colour? I just bought a new pot for it and I don't want to have to cut any more leaves because I've already cut a bit more than I would've hoped... I would really appreciate any help I could get on this :)
That's for leaving a comment and that good question 💚 Unfortunately, what you have described sounds more like fungal/bacterial issue that over watering. First things first, I would make sure your plants roots aren't drowning. If you are growing in pots then that does provide a challenge with root rot. Even though these are winter crops and like rain, they don't like continuously wet feet and will rot. After that look at the amount of like it is receiving. Too little light will cause the yellowing of leaves. Then, a very common disease is rust and you will see little black/copper colored spots on the leaves with yellow around them. Finally, and worst option is that it could be blight. Black spotty blight, to be exact, which is known to attack broad beans. I think there are a few things to consider which will hopefully help you out 🌻🌻🌻
Thank you for another helpful video. I planted my 9 broad bean plants(ages ago) along the trellis where I want to plant my tomatoes, thinking they would be done by now but they're only starting to produce beans now. Do you know long do the plants usually last once they start producing? I don't want to pull them out for the tomatoes but I just might.
Hey Jolene, thanks for the comment and it is only a pleasure! Yip, now is the time for broad beans to do their thing. Mine only recently started producing an abundance of flowers and I am starting to see little pods forming. They should be ready to harvest mid spring, which is the usual time and I think roughly the time I did this video last year. As broad beans are a nitrogen fixer and soil improve, if you were to cut them at their bases and leave the roots in the ground you would get benefit from having planted them, but yes, they do take up some space for some time. Would you could consider is up-potting your tomotoe seedlings to 30cm pots so they get nice and tall (at least 30cm) then inter plant them with the broad beans while they are maturing. By the time you cut down the broad beans your Tom's will be established and probably producing their first flowers 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney thank you for the advice. That's a good idea to plant them in between. Not sure how long I can keep my tomatoes in pots because the mortality rate of anything around here in pots is very low but I'll definitely try. Your broad beans all seem to have about 4 beans per pod. My first one that has come up has 7(but smaller) and my plants look exactly the same as yours. Could it just be a different variety?
@@jolenee1914 100% yes! I am growing the Peruvian Emrald variety which has fewer pods and is generally a smaller plant. I have always grown Aquadulce but have found that they get really big and end up flopping over, which really messes up my succeaaion planting. This variety is only about knee hight and sturdy which is really nice 🌻
Hey Vera, absolutely! I always let some of the broad bean pods dry on the plant and then save that seed for the next planting. Free broad bean seed that has acclimatized to your local growing conditions 🌱
So sorry about that and I have since removed background music from my videos and only included them in specific sections. Glad you found value in this video even though the music was disruptive 🌻
Good point! Yes you can eat them as young pods like you do normal summer beans, but this tends to not be what people grow broad beans for, but rather those lovely plump seeds inside. For a lot of people picking at the right time to get the best size and flavour of the bean is tricky, but yes, as I mentioned you can 100% eat then as a young pod 🌻
You are correct in that they are self fertile, however, like most self fertile plants the crop will be significantly bigger with pollinators so it's definitely better to have bees and other pollinators around. I have personally experienced this too with lots of little pods turning black and falling off. Yes, some made it, but most fell off. After making plans to get bees nearby by far the majority of flowers turned into pods 🌻
Do you have any questions about broad beans, harvesting broad beans or when the broad bean pods are ready for harvest? 🌱
Thanks for this awesome video!! Beginner here growing my first broad beans. I have a question, I am afraid I let some go over-ripe (because unsure when to harvest eep), can I then let them be on the stem to get dried beans? First you said they go bad /or less nice/, but then you added one can leave them on the stem to become dried. So now Im confused, if they go bad or can safely dry on the motherplant 🌱🙈🌱
I've been successfully growing runner beans and peas for a few years now, but this is the first year I've tried growing broad beans. It looks like I'm going to get a good harvest, but till now I had no idea when they would be ready for picking. Thanks for clarifying that, and for a very informative video.
Yaaaaay, I am so happy to hear you are going to get a bumper crop this year and I really hope it plays out. I am so glad this video helped you gain a better understanding of ripeness of the pods 🌻
Really good vídeo!! Thank you.
Thank you so much for this video. I planted broad beans for the first time last October (that's autumn for us in the NW corner of the US) and they survived even though we had lots of freeze-outs. They sprouted back from the little stubs after I took off the black slimy foliage. Amazingly hardy and beautiful plants, now about 4 feet tall and getting ready to harvest. Have to confess I ate some of the greens right off the plant, and a couple of small pods, just to see if I could 🙂. Now I can wait until the rest of the pods are really ready. I'm so happy you made this clear and helpful video. Subscribed!
Yay, what an awesome comment, thank you 💚
I am super happy to hear you didn't give up with the freeze-outs and that they bounced back. Nature is a thing of beauty!
I do exactly the same as you did 😄 It's super hard to resist tasting those first few pods as they appear and now that you know when they are at the perfect picking stage you can get the most out of your crop.
I hope you manage to enjoy them and have a feast 🌻
Thank for these great tips
It's a great pleasure 🌻
Cheers mate. Good vid. 🍻
Ah, I'm so glad to hear this an thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment with your thoughts 🌻
I am so pleased I found ur channel as we are both in Cape Town it helps to go through the same veg at the saelme time
Ah, yay, that's awesome! This is exactly why I started this channel because I couldn't find any first hand info on what actually works here in Cape Town, or South Africa actually. I hope you continue to learn and if you have any specific questions you might have or videos you might want done then please do let me know 🌱
@@MySustainabilityJourney need help with onions. Ours seem to just not be bulbing but are getting flowers
If they are starting to go to seed then you need to harvest them ASAP if you want to eat them either as baby onions or spring onion. Otherwise leave them for the bees and beautiful flower they produce. Our weather has been all over the place and the hot, cold, hot, cold, confuses the onion and tricks it into thinking winter is coming and it needs to quickly make seed before it goes dormant. They are also bi-annual plants, so if you plant a baby onion from last year, then there is a good chance they will go so seed with them being in their 2nd year of existence. Great video idea, thank you :)
@@MySustainabilityJourney great thank you for the advice. Really enjoying ur vidoes
Thank you so much for this video.. Kindness your way...Lochness Scottish Highlands..
Ah, thanks so much for leaving me a comment. I have Scottish ancestry and it's on my bucket list to get to the Scottish Highlands 💚 so glad you found value in watching this video 🌻
Thank you for this, I do still have a ripeness question. Some of my beans are short but fat at one end and look like they only have one ripe bean inside. And others just don't seem to be swelling at all from the younger pods of the plant.
Hmmmm...thanks for taking the time to leave me a question. To me, this sounds like more of a pollination issue than a ripening issue. Broad Beans still need good and even pollination so if you had poor weather, not a lot of bees, or many other things, your pollination could have been impacted. Does this sound like it could be a realistic cause for you? 🌻
Thank you for such an in depth video. As someone who is self taught when it comes to gardening, it's really helpful find videos like this one! Now I can harvest my broad beans confidently. The short broad beans might be Broad Windsor. They look very similar to the Broad Windsor I am growing.
Oh wow, thank you for such a positive comment and I love hearing how self-taught gardeners are finding the information they need and making it work for them. Great stuff 💚
You might actually be right because I do recall planting some Windsor broad beans as a trial and I didn't find them to be very productive in our climate, but I know they are in other parts of the world.
I hope you get to enjoy many a delicious broad bean dish in the years ahead 🌻🌻🌻
Hi from the western cape in South Africa ! Thank you very much for the clear explanation of growing and harvesting these wonderful broad or fava beans! This year I started with about 12 plants in a vegetable box, and to my excitement had quite a nice harvest, even enough to freeze a few. They are delicious as a vegetable dish; as one of the ingredients in a mixed salad and puréed in a soup….. next season I’m definitely going to grow them again , but won’t make the mistake of planting them too close together. I fed them a huge portion of home made compost as I think they are rather heavy feeders? A few plants are left with fat pods on it to dry, and I hope they will produce and provide seeds for next year to share with a few friends. I can encourage every gardener to try these wonderful and rewarding plants 🤩🥰
Thank you! Was so useful.
I'm so happy to her you got value from watching this video and thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment 🌻
Great video! I have a question, if most of the leaves of a broad bean plant turn yellow because of over watering (since i re-used a container which didn't have drainage holes) is there a way on which I can get them to be green again? And also if some of the leaves then start turning black after yellowing can I still turn them back to a green colour? I just bought a new pot for it and I don't want to have to cut any more leaves because I've already cut a bit more than I would've hoped... I would really appreciate any help I could get on this :)
That's for leaving a comment and that good question 💚
Unfortunately, what you have described sounds more like fungal/bacterial issue that over watering.
First things first, I would make sure your plants roots aren't drowning. If you are growing in pots then that does provide a challenge with root rot. Even though these are winter crops and like rain, they don't like continuously wet feet and will rot.
After that look at the amount of like it is receiving. Too little light will cause the yellowing of leaves.
Then, a very common disease is rust and you will see little black/copper colored spots on the leaves with yellow around them.
Finally, and worst option is that it could be blight. Black spotty blight, to be exact, which is known to attack broad beans.
I think there are a few things to consider which will hopefully help you out 🌻🌻🌻
next to carrots and Potatoes BB are the Easiest to grow !! nice video
Hey James, thanks so much for the comment and info. I'm glad you enjoyed the video 🌻
Very helpful, thank you.
Thank you Sue, I'm so glad you found value in watching this video 🌻
very informative thank you
Ah, that's great to hear and I'm glad you found value in watching this video 🌻
I use the leave in stirfry aswell and i dry some as a powder. It taste alot like peas
Thanks so much for sharing that piece of insight with me! My broad beans are starting to fill out so I'll give this a go soon 🌻
Thankyou
It's a pleasure 🌻
Thank you for another helpful video. I planted my 9 broad bean plants(ages ago) along the trellis where I want to plant my tomatoes, thinking they would be done by now but they're only starting to produce beans now. Do you know long do the plants usually last once they start producing? I don't want to pull them out for the tomatoes but I just might.
Hey Jolene, thanks for the comment and it is only a pleasure!
Yip, now is the time for broad beans to do their thing. Mine only recently started producing an abundance of flowers and I am starting to see little pods forming. They should be ready to harvest mid spring, which is the usual time and I think roughly the time I did this video last year.
As broad beans are a nitrogen fixer and soil improve, if you were to cut them at their bases and leave the roots in the ground you would get benefit from having planted them, but yes, they do take up some space for some time.
Would you could consider is up-potting your tomotoe seedlings to 30cm pots so they get nice and tall (at least 30cm) then inter plant them with the broad beans while they are maturing. By the time you cut down the broad beans your Tom's will be established and probably producing their first flowers 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney thank you for the advice. That's a good idea to plant them in between. Not sure how long I can keep my tomatoes in pots because the mortality rate of anything around here in pots is very low but I'll definitely try.
Your broad beans all seem to have about 4 beans per pod. My first one that has come up has 7(but smaller) and my plants look exactly the same as yours. Could it just be a different variety?
@@jolenee1914 100% yes! I am growing the Peruvian Emrald variety which has fewer pods and is generally a smaller plant. I have always grown Aquadulce but have found that they get really big and end up flopping over, which really messes up my succeaaion planting. This variety is only about knee hight and sturdy which is really nice 🌻
@@MySustainabilityJourney ok interesting. Mine is Aquadulce and the plants are a bit floppy. Thankfully I can attach it to the trellis.
Damn I've left it too long to check when to harvest mine, another job on tomorrow's to-do list 🙄
Oh no, but at least you found this video in time to hopefully sti save some of your harvest and now you know a bit more for next season 🌻
Can you use the dry broad bean as a seed?
Hey Vera, absolutely! I always let some of the broad bean pods dry on the plant and then save that seed for the next planting. Free broad bean seed that has acclimatized to your local growing conditions 🌱
Amazing video. Thanks a million! The only problem was the background music, which was incredibly distracting.
So sorry about that and I have since removed background music from my videos and only included them in specific sections. Glad you found value in this video even though the music was disruptive 🌻
I'm suddenly very interested in broad beans
And I'm so glad to hear you have a new found interest in broad beans 😁🌻
You say ones that aren't ripe and 'ready' but i read other places that you can eat the younger ones?
Good point! Yes you can eat them as young pods like you do normal summer beans, but this tends to not be what people grow broad beans for, but rather those lovely plump seeds inside. For a lot of people picking at the right time to get the best size and flavour of the bean is tricky, but yes, as I mentioned you can 100% eat then as a young pod 🌻
Background music really disruptive.
So sorry about that 😢
"normal" beans being what??
Sorry I'm not sure I follow. Can you please provide some more detail for me?
I like them raw. Am I disturbed? 😂
Haha, no not at all, they taste delicious but it's just such a mission peeling the when they are raw, so you must be someone with a lot of patience 😁🌻
Broad beans are self pollinating and so don’t need bees
You are correct in that they are self fertile, however, like most self fertile plants the crop will be significantly bigger with pollinators so it's definitely better to have bees and other pollinators around.
I have personally experienced this too with lots of little pods turning black and falling off. Yes, some made it, but most fell off. After making plans to get bees nearby by far the majority of flowers turned into pods 🌻