BROAD IN THE BEAN
When chatting to people on my allotment site, or gardeners in general, it seems that broad beans are a Marmite vegetable – you either love them or you hate them! I’ve never known why, as I really like them, especially when combined with other legumes such as peas and beans and dressed with sweet chilli, to make a summer salad. They are delicious.
I suppose we all have memories of little, grey, overcooked broad beans from school dinners. That memory doesn’t always inspire you to grow or cook with broad beans and I guess dinner ladies up and down the country have a lot to answer for!
If, like me, you are a broad bean fan, you’ll probably already have sown a few rows in the autumn, resulting in stocky little plants that have withstood the winter with ease, especially if you planted the winter hardy ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ variety. This long-podded variety is probably the best known for sowing in the autumn and winter. If you want to go for something different, there is
