GardenAnnual Legume · 11 varieties
Fava bean
Vicia faba
Fabaceae — the same plant family as bush bean, pea, pole bean, cowpea and 9 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.
Fava bean (Vicia faba) is an annual legume. It wants full sun and pH 6–7.5 soil, with about 1 in of water weekly. It matures in about 120–150 days from sowing. Watch for aphids and chocolate spot. Below: its full sourced profile from 6 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. This calendar assumes the crop is direct sown. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.
What we will not put a number on
We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.
We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.
Site & soil
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 6–7.5est
- Soil texture
- Clay, Loam, Sandy, Well drained
- Frost tolerance
- Hardy
- Suffers in days above
- 80 °F
No published figure for the temperature that would kill it and a warm-night limit. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.
The plant
- Mature height
- 2–7 ft
- Mature spread
- 12–18 inest
- Growth rate
- Fastest
- Spacing in row
- 6–10 in
- Between rows
- 18–36 in
- Planting depth
- 1–2 in
- Container size
- 5–7 gal — low end is the minimum, high end is betterest
- Support
- Self-supporting
- Grown from
- Direct sow
Water & feeding
- Water needs
- Moderate
- Water per week
- 1 in/wkest
- Critical water
- Flowering, Pod fillest
- Feeding
- Low
Timing & fruiting
- Days to maturity
- 120–150 days from seed
- Harvest cues
- Pods filling
- Takes cold in the ground down to
- 21 °F
Planted again for autumn
- Sow by
- late Jun typical · zone 6b
120 days to maturity from sowing, counted back from the first frost above. Not published for anywhere in particular: it is your own frost date and this crop's own figure, which is why it works wherever you are. A days-to-maturity figure is a catalog number for a good season rather than a promise, and a cold month moves it.
Edible parts per source: seed, fruit.
Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.
Different parts differ — the edible part is the seed and fruit; the notes below flag other parts or preparations.
PeopleToxic raw seeds
Recorded exactly as the source states it — not medical or veterinary advice. If a person or animal may have eaten a toxic part, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) or your vet / the ASPCA line (888-426-4435).
| Variety | Type | Habit | Days | Color | What it is known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aquadulce Claudia Heirloom | 85 | White | Garden Betty describes this astakes the cold | ||
| Bell Bean | Cover Crop | 75 | Brown | Fedco Seeds describes this asgives a heavy crop · takes the cold | |
| Broad Windsor Heirloom | Shelling | 75 | Brown | ||
| Crimson Flowered Heirloom | Shelling | 90 | Red | Siskiyou Seeds describes this asgrown to look at | |
| Extra Precoce a Grano Violetto Heirloom | Shelling | 68 | Purple | ||
| Ianto's Return Purple Podded | Shelling | 130 | Bicolor | Carrick Seeds describes this astakes the cold | |
| Robin Hood | Shelling | Dwarf | 83 | Green | Royal Horticultural Society describes this ashappy in a pot |
| Statissa | Shelling | Compact | 120–150 | Mr Fothergill's Seeds describes this ashappy in a pot | |
| Sweet Lorane | Cover Crop | 230 | Bicolor | Adaptive Seeds describes this astakes the cold | |
| The Sutton Heirloom | Shelling | Dwarf | 85 | White | Growseed (UK) describes this ashappy in a pot |
| Windsor Heirloom | Shelling | Bush | 75 | Brown |
- Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
- NC State Extension
- UC Master Gardener Program (UC ANR)
- UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County (UC ANR)
- UC Small Farms Program (UC ANR)
- University of Minnesota Extension
We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 15 of the 21 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.
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