I am not all that fond of eating broad beans. I think I have eaten them
maybe 2 or 3 times in my life and have never particularly liked them. I
have, however, grown broad beans and saved
their seeds many times.
Why grow Broad Beans (Vicia faba)
I
used to grow broad beans as green manure or mulch. As a green manure
they are
fantastic, they protect the soil, they prevent winter weeds from
getting a start, the roots incorporate nitrogen into the soil, the tops
add a lot of carbon rich organic matter, and
they grow over the cooler months when little else needs the space, they
are easy to chop/kill and you can plant seedlings directly into the
dead patch. As a
mulch they do ok, being high in nitrogen it tends to break down a bit
too fast unless you use a very thick layer, but it certainly has its
uses in the vegetable garden. The variety I am growing now, I first
purchased seeds before my first child was born, he "helped" me to plant
and save broad bean seeds a few times.
Then for some years I
didn't plant broad beans. I didn't really think about them at all
because I don't eat them. No great loss.
This year I decided to
find the old seeds and plant them, just to see if anything would
happen. I wanted to grow a good winter green manure and remembered how
good the broad beans are for this purpose. I planted seeds which I
saved about 5 years ago that had not been stored properly and am happy
to say that I had an 80% germination rate. The plants grew well, they
flowered well, the bees
loved them over winter when they had little else to eat, and they
produced a decent crop. I fed most of the crop to the animals as we
have had no real pasture in a while, then decided to let some pods
mature properly so I could save fresh seeds for next year.
I
now have a small jar of fresh seeds waiting to be planted in autumn.
This is the beauty of heirloom vegetables, you buy seeds once, then you
have them forever if you like them and can be bothered saving seeds from
time to time. You can also add selective pressure for desirable
traits, unlike store bought seeds which have mostly been selected for
mechanical harvest. I only save seeds from pods with the most seeds and
the largest seeds, in this way I am adding selective pressure for
longer pods and larger seeds. If anyone eats broad beans these are
useful traits, for someone like me who only wants green manure longer
pods with more seeds make saving seed
faster and easier. Larger seeds tend to grow faster and stronger than
small seeds. Unfortunately I can not select for taste as I do not eat
them, considering that no commercial seeds are selected for taste my
plants certainly wont be any worse than theirs.
The variety I grow
The
variety I am growing is called "Aquadulce". It is an heirloom variety
that is very old, no one knows the date for sure but certainly pre
1850. Aquadulce originated in Spain from a selection of Haba de Sevilla
Broad Bean. It was illustrated in the 'Album Vilmorin' in 1871. I
don't know why but I find the history of vegetables, and where each
variety came from, to be interesting. Broad beans are one of the very
few vegetables that people in Australia eat which did not originate from
the Americas.
To the best of my knowledge aquadulce is a
reasonably common type of broad bean, it is hardy and productive so it
is
grown
commercially in some places. I mostly grow rare varieties of things,
but sometimes the common varieties such as this one are great so I grow
them. My first aim is to grow things that are useful, everything else
comes in second.
Aquadulce is a tall plant that grows to about 1
meter, sometimes a bit taller, sometimes a bit shorter. It has never
been inbred too much nor has it had much selective pressure put on it
in the past hundred years so it has maintained a bit of genetic
variability. Some people trim the tops as they believe this enhances
yield, honestly I do not know if that helps or is simply a commonly held
vegetable myth which actually reduces crops. Aquadulce broad beans
grow multiple stems and are very bushy which helps to exclude light from
the soil and helps reduce water loss from the soil and suppress weeds.
Some people stake them to prevent them falling over, I have never done
that and after the first year or so I never had any plants fall over. I
think this is due to me saving seeds only from plants that did not fall
over.
This variety grows 15cm long green pods with about 5 or 6
large yellowish/green/light brown (I am not real good at naming colours,
they are nothing remarkable colour wise) flat seeds in each. The
flowers are black and white
and have a nice fragrance which is difficult to describe. They are
often described as "heavy cropping" but as I have only ever grown this
one variety I can not compare them to other varieties. All I do know is
that each plant does give what I consider to be an acceptable yield for
a small amount of space.
This variety is known for having some
tolerance to waterlogging. While this trait is of no use to me here I
am sure it is useful in other gardens. In particularly wet years this
trait should be useful. It is also grown commercially in some places as
it has tolerance to iron and manganese deficiencies. Being tolerant to
deficiencies of iron and manganese means that they grow ok if your soil
lacks these, but if your soil is not lacking the plants are more robust
and healthy.
|
Some of my Broadbean seeds |
Saving Seed
Broad beans
are notorious cross
pollinators so if you plan on saving seeds please be careful. They are
simple to save seed from. You let them flower and set pods, you let the
pods mature and dry on the plants, then you select the best pods and
remove their seeds and put them somewhere safe. It is important to have
a decent number of plants to save seed from so as to prevent problems
arising from inbreeding depression.
|
Broadbean seeds, some dark, some light, the dark ones are higher in iron |
I do plan
on
getting another variety to plant next autumn, I have not
decided on which one as I have two in mind that each sound nice and
both need more people to maintain them. I would have to work hard to
ensure the two strains do not cross and remain
pure. Having two vegetable gardens which are separate makes this a bit
easier. It also would not be out of the question to grow 2 or 3
varieties on alternate years as the seed remains viable for some time.
For someone like me who is growing broad beans as a green manure it does
not matter so much which variety I grow as long as it works here. I
figure if I am going to bother growing anything, even if it is only for
green manure, I may as well grow some pure strain and select for
desirable traits.
Like everything else I do sell broad bean seeds on my
For Sale page.