Fava Beans

I've seen pictures of them standing up on their own, but mine seem to be tipping over. Do I need to give them a pole?

They are cool growing. What is your plan for them? I make short fences, about 18" tall to support short beans but you may not need to do that if you're dry. My goal is to keep bush bean and pea pods off the ground to deter snails and rot. You may not have these problems.

My plan for them?? I don't know - I thought I'd eat them if they didn't die. " If I'm dry"? What do you mean?

I've never grown a vegetable and mine don't look like the pictures. I had a spot in the rose bed that was bare because the mailman stomped on one of the bushes so I thought I'd try filling the area in with beans and see what would happen. I went ahead and bought some Christmas-tree looking spiral bean holder things that clip to a pole, but I still am wondering if that's right. I got cheap, short poles - I think about 5' - much shorter than the others that were being sold. If nothing else, I'll put lights on them for Christmas!

Thanks for replying.
Hetep

My Fava Beans are curving down too ... not to worry.
I grew them last year ... they will grow really bushy later, and actually they can get really large.
I didn't stake mine last year.
Fava Beans are my favorite beans. Yummy
This picture was from one of my harvest in April ... yummy

If ya'll sow your seed in rows about two feet apart you'll have a tad bit of soil to use to hill the plants as they gain in height. Rather than stake each plant you can also put corner stakes around your rows (two at each end) and run string around them to help support the plants when they get taller. If they get exceptionally tall have stakes high enough that you can run another level of string.

Hetep, if you are planting in a small area in your rose bed you can sow your seeds as close as 4" apart, then circle them with a couple stakes and string for support. By the way, your five foot posts you bought should work just fine.

And remember, the tips of the plants are delicious, too, tasting kind of like pea trimmings.

Shoe

Yes, good advice, Shoe. I meant "dry" because if you are as wet as we are your beans might rot on the ground. I try to keep any bush beans off the ground.
Laurel

I'm in Phoenix. No trouble with too wet. I have to remember to keep water on them or they will droop. Thank you all for your replies. Glad to know that I'm not in trouble with them. I thought I'd try Fava, because they are supposed to be another name for English Broad Beans that my Nana grew when I was little. I must be getting old, wanting to relive childhood experiences.. {sigh}

It's nice watching them grow. I was excited when they actually popped from the ground! With my purple thumb, I wasn't sure they would..

Hetep

Do you shell the beans, like peas, when you eat them or just chop and steam as is? I have some seeds but have not planted them as I have no experience with fava beans.

Nana and Mother did them all ways, as I remember, depending somewhat on where they were in growth. Young ones could be eaten in the pod (they tried many ways, including raw in salads, sauteed into a Chinese fry) and older ones shelled and boiled, served with butter. Mind you, I'm just trying to remember from childhood and Mother and Nana were great experimenters in the kitchen.

Nor sure where Nana had gotten the seeds from, but we had a harvest that year that was really good. Father was upset when Mother didn't save any seeds for the next year. We ate them all. Mother defended herself for harvesting the last ones by noting that they just seemed to keep on producing no matter what, but the bushes reached a point where they did finally stop and we had eaten every last one.

In the midst of all that harvesting, mother wrote a letter to a fledgling gardening show on the "new" public station KAET. The show was "Gardening for Fun" and amounted to just an ASU Prof. standing behind a table talking about plants and taking letters from viewers. Mother was so proud that he read her letter on the air, that she had grown the Broad Beans in AZ.

I guess I'm rambling. Sorry.

I became addicted to fabada, an Asturian fava bean stew with a variety of meats, while spending summers in Spain. There are lots of recipes on the net. It's one of those dishes that you dream about eating if it's been a while.