Broad Beans 'Hughey'
Tasty & prolific broad bean selected by Denis Hughes in Otago. 'Hughey' produces attractive scarlet flowers that add winter colour to the garden.
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If you're looking for an easy vegie to grow, broad beans are an ideal choice; they're great for beginners and beloved by experienced gardeners, too.
Young broad bean pods can be sliced, cooked and eaten as a green vegetable, or the pods shelled and the beans used in some delightful, hearty dishes. Try avocado and broad bean dip, sautéed garlic broad beans & bacon or chicken and broad bean casserole!
How to grow broad beans in a garden
- Dig Yates Thrive Natural Blood Bone with Seaweed into the soil, sow your broad beans and water in well. Beans should be planted around 7 to 10 cm apart and sown 25mm deep. When sowing rows side by side, stagger or offset the sowing position to maximise space.
- Don’t water again until the seedlings emerge in around 2 weeks. Limiting watering helps to reduce the chance of seeds rotting in the soil before they germinate.
- Broad beans hold themselves up quite well, but often need extra support to withstand wind. When they're about 10cm tall, stake around the edges and through the middle of your sowed area, and run twine around and between the stakes to hold the plants in and prevent them from falling over.
- Apply a soluble plant food, such as Yates Thrive Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food when flowering starts. It's a fast acting fertiliser that’s boosted with extra potassium to encourage lots of flowers (and lots of beans).
- Harvest when the pods are about 10-15cm long and tender and succulent - or let them develop until you can see or feel bumps from the beans inside. Make sure to keep picking to prolong the harvest.
- To extract the beans, boil the full pods for a few minutes, allow to cool and then slice the pod lengthways and pop out the beans.
- When the beans have finished, cut down and dig the spent plant material into the soil, as it's a great source of nitrogen.
How to grow broad beans in a pot
- Choose a pot or trough that’s at least 50cm and choose a dwarf variety to plant (don’t choose climbing or broad beans). Try ‘Hawkesbury Wonder’ or ‘Gourmet’s Delight’.
- Fill pot with a quality mix, like Yates Premium Potting Mix. Sow beans and water in well.
- Apply a soluble plant food, such as Yates Thrive Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food when flowering starts. This is a fast acting fertiliser that’s boosted with extra potassium to encourage lots of flowers and beans.
Growing tips
- If temperatures are low in early spring broad beans can drop their flower buds. This is quite natural and new flowers will quickly follow.
- Broad beans can be sown during early winter in sub-tropical areas and throughout winter in temperate and cool winter climate zones.
Broad Beans 'Evergreen'
A compact, sturdy variety that produces a heavy crop of delicate nutty-flavoured beans. Broad beans make an amazing hearty addition to hot dishes.
Broad Beans 'Exhibition Long Pod'
Reliably produces a heavy crop of long, well-filled pods (up to 25cm), on tall vigorous plants, in a wide range of conditions.
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Recommended products
Yates Thrive Natural Blood & Bone with Seaweed
A certified organic garden input boosted with NZ Seaweed to gently nourish plants, enrich the soil and encourage a strong healthy root system.
Yates Thrive Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food
Yates Thrive Vegie and Herb Concentrate is a complete liquid plant food that provides balanced nutrition.
Yates Premium Potting Mix
A premium potting mix, ideal for all potted plants and shrubs, including ornamentals, fruit trees, vegies and herbs.
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