Tonight we harvested the first of our broad beans. Ten pods in total, with three or four little beanlets inside each one. We cooked them up into a risotto with some peas and broccoli. Delicious.

We’ve actually done really well with broad beans this year, and that picking all came from just one of our 20 plants, with some to spare, so I think we’re going to end up blanching and freezing a lot of the crop as we probably won’t be able to eat it all quickly enough.

Only one of the plants has been lost to the dreaded blackfly, which seems to thrive on this particular vegetable, so it’s been a lot more successful than the carrots.

There’s something quite satisfying about de-podding broad beans, snapping open the end with a sharp knife and them running your thumb up the inside to dislodge the seeds from their silky interiors. It’s almost worth growing them for that experience alone.

As an added bonus, though, with them being ready so early in the season, once they have all been picked we can use that stretch of the plot to get a head start on the winter crops for year-round self-sufficiency.

Related posts:

1. How to blanche broad beans
2. Lazy broad beans and cat grass
3. Planting beans, lettuce and sunflowers