Not enough yet to be a meal all on their own – Broad Beans with Preserved Lemon, Feta and Herbs, or broad bean felafels, or Broad Bean Ful Medames – so these are going into soup. They’ll be in the slow cooker all this sunny, solar powered day, with leeks, carrots, celery, some mature tromboncino that I’ve just harvested for seed (which will dissolve into the stock), some lentils and a bit of parmesan rind, so far. I’ll add greens and herbs a bit later. I like broad beans with lemony Mediterranean flavours, so probably some lemon thyme, sorrel and oregano, and then silver beet, amaranth, maybe some snow peas. And chopped chives and parsley and a swirl of good olive oil for serving.
There was a time when I didn’t get the attraction of broad beans. Now I’m looking forward to a couple of months of deliciousness.
I love broad beans. I tried to grow them here in Brisbane once and they grew beautifully, flowered well but didn’t set a single bean. So disappointing I haven’t tried again. Could it be that it’s just a little warmer here than Coffs (we never get frosts anymore)?
Broad beans need short days and cool temperatures to set beans. In Kyogle, I’d only get one round of planting in, in May, and unless I got the timing just right or it was an unusually cool year, I’d get wonderfully healthy, vigorous plants that set very few beans. Here, a bit further south, there’s a little bit more leeway, but in Brisbane probably a little less, unfortunately.
Hi, its my first time growing broad beans and I’m doubtful how tasty they are. I have some flowering now in Coffs but it seems I’m too late. Good information for the future, thanks
Hi Cathy, you’re not too late. I think we will have another month or so of broadbeans before it gets too hot, and the aphids arrive in bulk. I’m getting some aphids now, on the tips, but not enough to cause me grief, and I have only the first ones bearing and lots still flowering – it’s fairly fast from flowers to beans. I used to think broad beans were not brilliant eating but I’ve changed my mind. Fresh broad beans with lemon and garlic are very tasty.
I’m in Toowoomba, have plenty of broadbean flowers: I blamed lack of beans on lack of bees. I’ve seen a few native bees, not many. A guest presenter on ABC gardening TV said to get rid of kale now due to aphids arriving.
I have aphids on my broad beans, but none on the kale, and they’re side by side. When I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever had an aphid problem with kale – it’s the cabbage moth caterpillars that end the season for me. There’s a pee wee that hops from broccolini to broccolini in my garden at the moment, picking them off. I figure i’m likely to get another month or so before the caterpillar numbers get ahead of him. The varroa mite has played havoc with bee populations – DPI id exterminating all the wild hives and many domestic hives around here. :{ We have a couple of hives of native bees though, and they are loving the broadbean flowers.