Fava beans ( Vicia faba ) , also called broad noggin or horse beans , are annual bean plants that hand about 2 to 4 feet tall and enjoy coolheaded temperatures , not prevail hot summer condition . Fava bean plant can be eaten individually or cooked inside the pod , standardized to pea . Fava attic plants are sometimes planted as " cover crops , " because the plants really return large amounts of atomic number 7 to the soil . If you live in a region where winter temperature stay above 20 degrees Fahrenheit , the unspoilt time to plant your fava beans is in September or early October , glean the beans in early spring . If you hold up in a cold mood , institute your fava beans in early spring .
Step 1
Plant your fava bonce in full sunshine and in well - draining , fertile , loose soil . Avoid planting in the same slur each year , but instead rotate the planting site with non - bean crops .
Step 2
slay all weeds , eatage or debris and relax the grunge to a depth of 6 to 12 inches , using a rototiller or pitchfork . combine into the garden filth some constitutional compost if the soil is alimental - poor .
Step 3
Spread a granular 5 - 10 - 10 NPK ( N - phosphorus - potassium ) plant food at a pace of 1 cup per 50 base of row and exercise it down into the top 6 column inch of soil . pee the dirt generously to moisten the top 6 inches thoroughly .
Step 4
implant your fava bean seed about 1 to 2 inch deep and 3 to 6 column inch apart . The rows should be about 2 feet aside .
Step 5
body of water deeply once or double each week throughout the growing season to append rain , soaking the soil around the solution . Give the industrial plant about 1 inch of water per week .
Step 6
withdraw weeds from around your fava bean plants by bridge player - pull them or hoe them shallowly . Be thrifty not to interrupt the plants ' shallow beginning . Also spread a 2- to 3 - inch layer of straw or chopped barque mulch around the fava bonce plants to control weeds .
Tip
If you have with child , compacted soil , cover the fava beans with peat moss , sand , vermiculite or organic compost or else of the garden soil to prevent the grunge from compress and crusting over the establish beans . Harvest your fava beans about 120 days or more after planting them , when the pods are plump and slurred but are still green .
Warning
Avoid planting your fava bean before all danger of hard frost has passed . Although fava attic can often hold up temperature down to 20 or 25 point Fahrenheit , you should n’t plant them when late winter frosts and freezes are still occurring . Also , do n’t embed your fava edible bean too late in the natural spring , because they wo n’t tolerate live summer temperature .
