How to Plant, Grow and Care for Fava Beans

Whether you call them fava beans, faba beans or broad beans, by any name Vicia faba is a delicious and beautiful crop that is a welcome addition to the vegetable garden. Favas are extremely nutritious and rich in protein. They can be enjoyed as immature pods, fresh beans or dried, and the tender greens are a yummy spinach substitute.

When Do Fava Beans Grow Best?

Fava beans grow best in cool weather. Northern gardeners who enjoy summers below 85 degrees F should plant in the spring as a warm-season crop. Southern gardeners who live in areas where winter temperatures don’t typically drop below 15 degrees F can sow fava beans in the fall as a cool-season crop. Check with your state or county extension service to learn the best time to grow fava beans in your area.

Choosing Which Fava Beans to Grow

The first step in ensuring a good crop of fava beans is to decide which variety you’d like to plant. Gardeners with limited space or windy conditions should choose more compact varieties that can be grown closer together without the need for tall supports. If you plan to save seeds to replant next season, limit yourself to just one variety to prevent cross-pollination.

Practice Crop Rotation

Fava beans and their leguminous relatives — including peas, pole beans and snap beans — should be grown after heavy feeders like tomatoes, corn and pumpkins. Why? Beans partner with nitrogen-fixing bacteria to improve soil fertility. That means they don’t mind being grown after nitrogen-hungry crops and they don’t usually need much if any supplemental nutrition. Also, their nitrogen-fixing ability makes them a good winter cover crop.

Try to avoid growing fava beans where other legumes have recently been grown. Closely related crops are often vulnerable to the same pest and disease pressures that can build up in the soil over time if susceptible crops are continuously grown in the same area. Do your best to choose a spot where fava beans and their relatives have not been grown in the past few years. Changing where you plant beans each season will set your fava beans up for a good start because they won’t have to fend off pests or diseases from the previous crop.

Companion Planting

Companion planting is the practice of growing two or more different plants together to maximize plant health and crop yields. In her book Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden, Jessica Walliser recommends sowing a crop of corn in alternating rows among established fava beans after the danger of frost has passed in the spring. The developing corn plants will tap into the nitrogen being fixed by symbiotic bacteria in the fava bean roots. When the fava plants decline and die in the heat of summer, leave the roots behind in the soil as a way to increase soil fertility and organic matter content.

Starting Fava Bean Seeds Indoors

While it’s usually easier and more effective to plant fava bean seeds directly in the garden, there may be times when gardeners choose to start fava beans indoors for transplanting, including:

• Cold winter weather: Gardeners preparing for a spring-planted crop can get a head start on the growing season by planting fava beans in pots and growing in an area that is protected from winter weather.
• Wet conditions: Like all plants, fava beans need water to grow. However, they won’t tolerate poorly drained, water-logged soils. If the season when you would normally plant fava beans in the garden is exceptionally rainy, plant fava beans in containers and transplant them into the garden when the environment is more suitable.
• Mice: If you’ve tried to grow fava beans outdoors in the past but only a few (or none) of your seeds sprouted, there’s a chance that mice or other critters ate the seeds after you planted them. Start fava beans in pots in an area protected from herbivores before transplanting into the garden.

Simply plant fava beans in small containers (4-to-6-inch pots are good sizes) and grow in a cool, protected area, such as a cold frame, an unheated greenhouse or under a grow light in a garage or basement. Fava beans should sprout within three weeks and can be planted outdoors when conditions are favorable.

Direct Sowing Fava Beans

The easiest way to grow fava beans is to plant the seeds directly in the garden. Spring-planted fava beans can be planted before the average last frost date, although plants may need to be protected with a frost blanket or row covers. Sow seeds in holes or drills 2 1/2 to 3 inches deep, allowing roughly 6 inches between each seed. If you’re planting multiple rows of fava beans, space rows about 24 inches apart. Water well.

Growing and Caring for Fava Bean Plants

Stake Plants

Do fava beans need to be staked? It depends on the variety. Compact varieties with sturdy stems should grow fine without additional support, while other fava beans will need to be trellised or staked like a tomato plant. Research the variety listed on the seed packet and, if supports are needed, put those in while the plants are still relatively small.

Pinch Back Shoots

If blackfly is a pest problem in your garden, pinch or cut back the growing tip of fava bean plants as soon as the first flowers appear. Pinching back shoot tips later in the season can also boost the productivity of tired plants toward the end of the season. The tender shoots of fava bean are delicious and can be eaten fresh or sauteed.

Water Needs

Fava beans grow best in cool conditions when plants are generally less stressed for water. However, you will still need to keep an eye on watering to ensure plants are healthy and productive. Use a rain gauge to monitor natural rainfall in the garden and water as needed. Fava beans must get regular water while they are in flower and setting pods.

How to Harvest Fava Beans

Fava beans can be eaten in the pod, as fresh beans or after being stored dry.

• To enjoy favas in the pod, harvest when the pod is young before the beans begin to swell — the larger the pod, the more stringy and bitter it will be.
• Green pods with large, visibly bulging beans within can be harvested and the beans can be shelled from the pods. Depending on the level of maturity of the beans and the diners’ preferences, the beans may need to be boiled, blanched or frozen and each bean removed from its outer covering.
• To store dry beans, allow the pods to completely dry out on the plant. Harvest and shell the dried beans, then continue drying in brown paper bags until the beans are completely firm.

It’s important to note that some people are highly sensitive and even allergic to fava beans. Consult a physician if you have a reaction to fava beans or if you suspect that you may have favism.