Vicia faba 'The Sutton' Tweet

Genus: Vicia

Common Name: Broad bean 'The Sutton', Winter field bean

Latin Name: Vicia faba 'The Sutton'

Variety: 'The Sutton'

Family Name: Leguminosae

Plant Description:

Broad beans are an easy annual vegetable to grow. It is not only the beans that are edible but the pods can be picked when very young and tender and eaten whole.
Successional sowing in the spring can give a constant crop from late spring to midsummer.
Autumn and winter sowings can be made undercover for early crops.
Dwarf cultivars such as 'The Sutton' grow only to around 60cm and are particularly good for small gardens and containers or under cloches. These are the best types to sow for late harvesting. Spring sown crops mature in 3-4 months and yields average 3 kg for a 3 metre row - if the beans are eaten at their best before skins are leathery, and the scar or eye on the bean is still green or white rather than black.
Broad beans do well on any fertile well-drained soil. The best crops are delivered on heavier soils and those that are neutral or slightly acid. These are attractive plants to grow in the kitchen garden with their glaucous foliage and black and white lipped flowers that have a sweet scent.
A particularly strikingly decorative variety is 'Red Epicure' which has red flowers followed by bronze coloured beans in the green pods.

Latin Name Explanation:

Preferred Aspect: Full Sun

Height: 60cm

Spread: 30cm

Form: Herbaceous

Hardiness: Half hardy - withstand temperature down to 0C

Grown Height: 60cm

Grown Spread: 30cm

Leaf Type: Herbaceous

Likes Soil Type:

Any reasonably fertile soil
Clay Loam
Container Compost
Loam
Sandy Loam
Silty

Does not thrive in Soil Type:

Hardiness: Half hardy - withstand temperature down to 0C

Preferred Aspect: Full Sun

Primary Flower Colour: White

Primary Foliage Colour: Grey Green

Jan

Feb

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Apr

May

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Dec

Period of Interest

Planting Period

Pruning Period

Element of Interest:

Plants for Culinary Use


Likes PH: Acid - neutral

Does not thrive in PH:

Moisture Level: Well drained soil

Growth Rate: Grows and dies back in the same year (herbaceous)

After Care Required: Slightly Tender Plant - Protect from Frost


Work Involved: Easy to Grow

Fragrance: Slightly Scented

Suitable for Small Garden:

Does it need staking?:

Plant for RHS Identification Course:

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Specific Planting:

Soils need to be deeply dug and well drained as broad beans have a long tap root. Prepare the seed bed by raking to produce a fine tilth - the soil should be crumbly and friable. Sow at a depth of 8cm with 23cm between seeds.
Double rows should be 23cm apart with 60cm between each set of double rows. Successional sowing in spring gives a constant crop to midsummer.
When seedlings reach 8cm, sow the next batch of seed. Autumn and winter sowings can be made under cloches or sow in a greenhouse in winter and grow on, transplanting the bean plants to the garden in early to mid spring.

Specific Care:

Keep down weeds between plants by hoeing. A little soil around the base of each plant helps to support them but extra support is necessary for taller varieties. This can be as simple as canes at the end of each row with strings stretched between them. Hazel twigs can be used to prop up the more dwarf varieties. Pinching out the tops of the plant once the lowest flowers have set helps encourage earlier cropping as well as getting rid of aphids and blackfly which congregate on these tips. In the photographs you will see a simple and effective method to keep slugs, snails and other climbing pests from walking up and eating your plants.
Discs have been placed around the stems and supports and coated with Vaseline.
When the beans are in flower, they will benefit from watering during dry periods. Harvest beans regularly before they get old and tough.
Chocolate brown spots on leaves and brown streaks on the stems and pods are caused by the fungus Botrytis fabae.
This will reduce yield and in very extreme cases kill the plant.
It is most prevalent when air is damp and humid and particularly affects overwintered crops during wet seasons.
Spacing plants more widely than usual and keeping rows free of weeds helps with air circulation and reduces the chance of the fungus becoming a problem.
Also avoid using high nitrogen feed which promotes soft, weak growth.

Specific Feeding:

As a member of the legume family, broad beans have nitrogen fixing root nodules and so need much less feed than other vegetables.
Their foliage is good material for the compost heap once the crop has finished. Mulching with well rotted organic matter helps retain moisture and suppresses weeds but be careful not to cover the plant stems with the mulch.

Propagation

From Seed

Vicia cracca Vicia faba Vicia faba 'Bunyards Exhibition' Vicia faba 'Luz De Otono'

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