This is the place to report back on your GTS Fava beans/ to share all experiences growing favas this season!
We encourage any and all discussion around growing Favas, but especially appreciate reports on growing out the GTS 2026 Favas (both the peoples mix and landrace discovery mix). Please consider saving seeds from your best plants and returning them to the seed share program, your participation is creating diversity for future generations!
Favas are cold loving and can be fall sown and overwintered in mild climates, or planted as soon as soil can be worked in spring. Seeds are ready to harvest when the pods become black and crispy.
This year I am growing the GTS favas ‘peoples Mix’ mixed with ‘Aprevecho select’ from adaptive seeds and with my purple favas I have been growing for 5 years, these purple favas were first found in a patch of “long podded favas” that had been grown by my friends for many years, one plant had purple beans, and so I saved all 9 beans and have been growing them out since selecting for large beans and long pods, I am so excited for my first fava breeding project and cant wait to see what happens! Thanks for everyone who contributed to the peoples mix, I can’t wait to share back!
Planting in a garden that was horse pasture for many many years before fallowing for 5+ years, this is the 3rd year growing in the garden, the soil becomes water logged for much of winter and there is a compacted clay layer down below, this bed was grass a year ago, when we put cardboard down to kill down the grass, we broadforked and weeded before planting.
We’re growing very similar mixes. I started with a purple seeded fava I got from Salt Spring Seeds over a decade ago and have grown every year as a winter cover crop and just occasionally let a few plants grow out to collect seed.
Last spring I cut back my winter cover crop but left the best plants to resprout and interplanted with the 2025 GTS fava mix and some ‘Aprovecho select’ and let them all cross, which resulted in this mix which I planted out in October. Because it was my first year crossing, I selected for diversity by taking an approximately equal amount of seed from each plant unless it showed some exceptional characteristic, in which case I either saved more or saved it separately to plant at a higher rate.
With our unusually mild winter, my favas have been very robust and I got my earliest flowers in December. The plants are only just now starting to set baby pods, though. I suspect that nighttime temperatures remained too cool for viable pollination despite the plants growing like crazy.
I ordered the landrace discovery mix seeds this year but don’t have space in the garden for them this spring, so I look forward to adding them into the mix when I plant again this fall.
One thing that I would appreciate is if people could share favorite fava recipes! I have a huge appreciation for them as a cover crop, but don’t have much experience cooking and eating them yet.
Lovely to see the finger print favas in your mix @avery.bowron, I got some from cicada seeds this year i plan to grow separate to really try and get the 4 seeds multiplied!
How long are the pods on your purple favas? I’ve been getting 5 or 6 beans per pod, whereas when I’ve grown out the iantos return purple favas they were 3/4 per pod?
I love eating favas, i shuck them from the big pods, and then I put them In boiling water for 3/4 minutes (until there all floating, play around with how well done you like them) then I put them in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and eat them the way you would eat edamame !! They’re so tasty and such a fun snack, I think recipes that have you double shucking them and such to make hummus are just not worth the effort when they are so good on there own/as a side dish!
On February 18th was the first time I tried out sowing fava beans from seed, as i purchased a couple plants from someone last year and saved seed from em. I also have the Canadian gts fava bean mix, Cicada seeds fava beans, and one other variety i ordered from a seed share website… i think i shouldve written down some names so i know what to add to my collection without repeats haha. Perhaps i planted em too deep (up to 2inch deep or more?) because not nearly as many have popped up as i was hoping but they are just emerging so im thinking i will see more soon enough. Maybe I shouldve been more intentional with the seed placement and made sure they were horizontal instead of vertical straight down. Half way through sowing i had to broad cast the rest and just rake on a bit of soil and mulch, which definitely shows an earlier/better germination rate. They are interplanted with the GTS soup peas and im hoping they will all intertwine together nicely (thanks @UnicornEmily for the brilliant idea!)
The purple favas I started with originally are hardy plants and very productive but generally have 3-4 seeds per pod, occasionally 2-5. I haven’t really exerted much intentional selection pressure yet, though, so we’ll see. I’d love a longer podded version that still had purple seeds.
The fingerprint pattern seeds came in my 2025 GTS seed mix packet! I was so excited and included all the seeds from those plants in my grow out this year.
My Going to Seed fava beans are doing well right now, too! They’re interplanted with a bunch of my saved pea seeds from 2025. (My pea population is getting quite diverse! )
I also sowed 30 Red Acre cabbage seeds and a whole packet of 100 Best Flesh Color Diploid potato seeds from Cultivariable at the same time in that area. Neither of them have sprouted yet, so I hope they will eventually.
I was thinking maybe potatoes might be a good companion for peas and fava beans, since they’ll take over the bed once the cold season legumes are done in late May / early June? And Brassica oleracea is a good companion for everything — at least, in the opinion of someone who’s always trying to find somewhere to add in a few more because the species is so tasty.
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