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These wonderful large beans mature in 75-85 days when sown in the spring, or 6 months if fall sown. The plants grow 90-120cm (3-4') tall. The light green pods, which contain 6-7 large pale green seeds each, shell easily. Windsor broad bean seeds are superb for family gardens and easy for small children to handle. Broad Windsor is intended for growing as a food crop. The seeds it produces are large and succulent, unlike the small-seeded fava we offer as a cover crop. This large variety will fix nitrogen in your soil, so it’s perfect for planting in the fall, harvesting in the spring, and following with nitrogen loving crops like Brassicas, lettuce, or spinach. Fresh or dried, broad beans must be cooked before eating in order to rid them of potentially toxic alkaloids. The young, tender leaves can be eaten raw, or cooked like spinach. Broad beans are one of the world’s most ancient and widespread food crops.
Matures in 75-85 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)
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Latin
Latin
Vicia faba
Family: Fabaceae
Difficulty
Difficulty
Easy
We Recommend
We Recommend: Broad Windsor (BN150). There’s a reason we carry just the one variety! Broad Windsor has been a customer favourite for decades. It’s very reliable and utterly cold hardy. Big tasty beans!
Season & Zone
Season & Zone
Season: Cool season
Exposure: Full sun
Zone: Hardy to Zone 3
Timing
Timing
Direct sow October/November in mild winter areas. Direct sow February to May in other areas. Tall, soft plants won’t withstand winter well. Optimal soil temperature for germination: 10-21°C (50-70°F).
Starting
Starting
Use a broad bean or combination inoculant to provide a source of nitrogen. Sow seed 5cm (2″) deep, 15cm (6″) apart in double rows 23cm (9″) apart. Germination takes 10-14 days, depending on conditions.
Growing
Growing
Ideal pH: 6.0-6.5. Enrich the soil with compost prior to planting. Keep overwintered plants weeded. Provide stakes or strings between rows to stop plants from falling over.
Harvest
Harvest
Pick when the pods appear plump and begin to droop from the weight of the seeds. Shell (like peas) and cook or use in soup. For dried beans, wait until the pods start to shrivel. Caution: some people are highly allergic to broad beans.
Seed Info
Seed Info
In optimum conditions at least 75% of seeds will germinate. Usual seed life: 2-3 years. Per 100′ row: 450 seeds, per acre: 98M seeds.
Diseases & Pests
Diseases & Pests
When black aphids appear in May/June pinch off the growing tips on which the aphids feed. Spray the plants with blasts of water to dislodge remaining aphids.
Companion Planting
Companion Planting
Excellent for fixing nitrogen in the soil. Avoid planting broad beans near onions.
More on Companion Planting.
West Coast Seeds is a family-owned company that embraces an organic lifestyle. A group of imagination catalysts and passionate educators, dedicated to producing products and services that better the environment. As part of our mission to repair the earth, we aim to inspire and empower people to take responsibility for the state of the planet. For us, organic is about much more than saying no to chemicals, it is about saying yes to building a healthy soil for the future.
For over 35 years, we have upheld our strong reputation as a leading seed supplier, seeking out the highest quality untreated seeds for organic growing and putting them through rigorous independent testing. We built our company on the exchange of generational wisdom in a masterclass community of newbies and masters alike. Our world may have changed, but our commitment to our people, our customers, and our planet has not.
We’re a values-based business that has blossomed into a lifestyle ethos, with products that support seeders, feeders, keepers, and the tiniest of creepers. Our mission? To mobilize the next generation of gardeners with products that nourish soil and grow vigorous, sustainable gardens. We believe all plants should be grown without the use of chemicals, and that the seeds we supply are an important component of regenerative gardening.
We don’t just offer seeds, we offer experience, insight, and understanding. From timeless garden wisdom to new tech know-how, this is learning on the job: knowledge gleaned not from the pages of a book but from burying our fingers in the soil. We test, experiment, observe and adapt, never happier than when we get to share what we’ve learned with others.
Gardens don’t just grow seeds. They grow minds and imaginations, people and communities. Our vision encompasses both the micro and the macro. We eat locally, protect pollinators, teach people to grow from seed, and support regional biodiversity. We think big but act small and deliver unexpected impact — always with community and purpose.
At West Coast Seeds we believe in the power of small and that little can be large. Like the tiniest seed germinates to evoke incremental change with massive potential, so to can our community of gardeners and growers together. Gardeners are the earth’s stewards, planting seeds of creative declaration. The soil provides the canvas, we provide the seeds.
Direct sow before the first frost date in mild winter areas. Direct sow late winter to mid-spring in other areas (tall, soft plants won’t withstand winter well). Optimal soil temperature: 10-21°C (50-70°F). Enrich the soil with compost prior to planting.
Use a broad bean or combination inoculant to provide a source of nitrogen. Sow seed 5cm (2″) deep, 15cm (6″) apart in double rows. Each set of double rows should be 1m (3’) apart. Germination takes 10-14 days, depending on conditions.
Ideal pH: 6.0-6.5.
Keep overwintered plants weeded. Provide stakes or strings between rows to stop plants from falling over.
Days to maturity: From direct sowing.
In optimum conditions at least 75% of seeds will germinate. Usual seed life: 2-3 years. Per 100′ row: 450 seeds, per acre: 98M seeds.
Pick when the pods appear plump and begin to droop from the weight of the seeds. Shell (like peas) and cook or use in soup. For dried beans, wait until the pods start to shrivel.
Caution: some people are highly allergic to broad beans.
