Last edited by shiny on November 10, 2026. View history
Scottish Broad Bean
A variety of fava bean
How to sow Scottish broad bean: Direct seed outdoors
Sun requirement for Scottish broad bean: Plant in Full Sun
A very good cropping broad bean that stays green when cooked. Valuable in cold areas. Sow in autumn or early spring and transplant at 25 cm in two rows per bed. The growing tips and leaves are good to eat, and picking the tips directs energy into filling the beans. Came to New Zealand with Scottish settlers in 1863 and was kept at Waimate.
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Scottish broad bean facts
Lifespan
Row Spacing
25cm median of members' seed packetsCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For Scottish broad bean, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 100 days at its best temperature, about 1800 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your Scottish broad bean will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing Scottish broad beans
- Dig compost into the bed 2 weeks before sowing
- Set or refill beer traps for slugs and snails 1 week after sowing every week
- Put in stakes and string 4 weeks after sowing
- Weed between the rows 4 weeks after sowing
- Check for aphids on the tips 8 weeks after sowing every week
- Pinch out the tips once pods set 3 weeks before first harvest
- Pick pods while the beans are small at first harvest every week
- Cut plants down and leave the roots in 6 weeks after first harvest
How members grow Scottish broad beans
Sunniness
Video
Where Scottish broad beans grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about Scottish broad beans
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Who's planted Scottish broad beans
- shiny Raised Bed Two · Wellington, NZ
shiny
Scottish broad bean harvests
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 100 to 150 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Vicia faba L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Fabales Leguminosae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about Scottish broad beans
Resources outside Growstuff.
