[Snoop]

Hi guys, I've just received an email from a seed supplier offering Luz de Otoņo (Autumn Light) broad bean plants ready for dispatch in July. And as I often get a lot of "yes, but you live in Spain" type replies, I thought I'd pass on some info about these plants.

I was quite excited to learn that autumn-cropping broad beans were available, and seeing as the name is Spanish I was sure I'd find out more here.

The upshot is: if you buy these plants, make sure you get them in very early because they are not frost-hardy. Minimum temperatures they will tolerate is 5 ēC, ideally they like 17 to 18 ēC. They're popular in the south of Spain and up the Mediterranean coast as far as Valencia.

[mumofstig]

DT Brown have them, I don't know if that's who mailed you.

http://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/Vegetable-Plants-1/Broad-Bean-Luz-de-Otono-Plants.html#.U6b_6FJwbVI

They reckon they should harvest in September which seems a bit quick 

[Snoop]

DT Brown have them, I don't know if that's who mailed you.

Yes, MoS. They're the ones, but I didn't like to mention them by name.

Companies selling the seeds here recommend sowing them in mid-August. DTB must be sowing them much earlier than that to deliver in July.

In tests done here with beans sown mid-August, pods began to form late October and were ready for first picking in mid-November. So three months from sowing to harvest in ideal conditions. They're a dwarf variety and apparently, the beans are flavoursome. They are not recommended for inland or northern Spain.

I have no idea how many beans you could expect from a dwarf plant, not as many, I presume, as from a full-height plant. My impression was that they aren't cheap.

Anyway, I just wanted to pass on some info so that people could make their own minds up if they're interested if they can offer the right climate. They are not very hardy at all.