Rolling in Fava Beans…

Growing Fava Beans is GREAT for your Soil!

So, if you haven't grown Fava Beans before...You need too! This vetch, (Vicia faba) is in the legume family (Fabaceae), and is even more effective at fixing nitrogen in the soil than typical beans, is frost hardy, breaks up the soil, makes a great green manure AND produces super flavorful fruit. If you have a heavy clay compacted soil, consider using fava beans as a cover crop over the winter to help break up and aerate your soil.

In Texas and similar warm climates, you can seed this in fall - September is the best time (along with peas) -and let them grow through the winter. Plants will bloom even through the cold weather then start producing fruit in spring.

The flowers are incredibly fragrant, as well as edible, and when you break the pods open they have the same fragrance. Harvest the "peas" before you see them swelling too much in the pod, or harvest the entire pod early and eat whole. Make sure to save and dry some seed for your next fall planting. The foliage is also edible and tastes great mixed in with salads. Here are a couple of photos from my garden yesterday...