Fava beans (broad beans) are a new crop for me this year. I’m looking forward to grilling some tender fresh beans. I have one 3.5 foot row of about 10 plants back behind my pole beans. This week they’ve started to bloom. Big black and white flowers on plants that are about 2 or 2.5 feet tall.
There are still a lot of black aphids on the plants. The aphids are on the top couple inches of the plants. Once I get another set of flowers, I’ll cut off the tops of the plants to reduce the aphids and let the plants put all of their energy into making beans.
Vicia faba
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Wow! Just the blossoms are delicious!
In the words of someone far wittier than I, “Aphids Suck.”
Gorgeous blooms – ah, a reason to grow Fava beans alone…
You are lucky that Skippy has chosen you to garden with! Lovely dog and oh yes the garden as well :).
The fava blooms are beautiful, the black and white bloom is interesting.
I garden in a coastal valley in central California and we are already enjoying the favas I planted in March. We always have an aphid problem with favas although it doesn’t seem to affect the beans. I have them in a 4×8 raised bed and picked enough for three meals last weekend; that was probably about 10-15 percent of the total crop.
Wow, you really have a lot of aphids!
Those fava bean flowers look quite spectacular. Interesting looking plant too. You could almost use it as an ornamental.
So, you’re surely going to have some “Chianti” and a good friend with those fava beans? Sorry couldn’t help myself.
Great suggestion Ki! I’ll have to do that.
Thanks for interesting article, i looking for this information very long!
What a pictures!
I have a lot of blossoms but none of them are setting into pods. How do I get pods growing? Ralph
Just wait a bit. They’ll produce little pods as the blossoms fade. Here’s more info about fava pollination. The bottom line is they set pods without any help.
Love your Blog. And love all the Beautiful pics of Fava Flowers. thanks for the technique. You are a winner of award in my blog. Congratulations.
Thanks for the award! Thats great.