[Swing Swang]

I walked amongst my broad beans this evening.

They were in full flower, buzzing with bees and covered in ladybirds.

Wonderful sight. Beautiful sound. Powerful scent.

A veritable treat for the senses.

SS

[Aunt Sally]

I'm picking mine now and they taste as good as they smell 

[celjaci]

SS I think it's so important that we take time to appreciate these things and resist the temptation to rush on to the next job.

Was it Geoffrey Smith who said the best gardening was done with a glass of wine in one hand?

[shaun]

if you have plenty then you can pick the pods when they are small and use them whole like french beans 

[Swing Swang]

Aunt Sally - you're far more advanced than I - Mine were late Feb sowings under cloches. Did you overwinter yours in the ground or bring them along in pots?

Shaun - I've always got so many mange tout peas at this time of the year that I've never really bothered with small broad bean pods. Still as I've got two sowings (three weeks apart) I might take you up on your suggestion. Does the 'fur' on the inside of the pods go 'slimey' when you cook them, or is their texture quite acceptable?

Off to visit Mum and Dad in Portugal next week and she'll stew up hers with pork belly, garlic sausage, black pudding and plenty of fresh leaf coriander thrown in at the last minute. Yum yum

SS

[Aunt Sally]

That sounds delicious Swing Swang

The beans I'm picking now were overwintered.  My spring sown ones will take another week to ten days before I start havesting them.  The costa del kent is always a bit ahead of the rest of the south east

[Swing Swang]

This isn't the way that I'd do them Aunt Sally, but the recipe below is still pretty authentic (and tasty) and probably easier to source the ingredients as genuine Portuguese black pudding is difficult to find (its sort of a black chourico rather than a UK blood/bran/rusk/fat sausage).

http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/portuguese/fava_cilantro.html

[scabs]

I was looking at mine this morning, they're not very big but are covered in flowers. The earliest ones have some pods on them - the largest are about an inch and a half - is that too small to pick?

Also, could I plant lettuce between the rows?

Sorry to hijack the thread, seemed daft to start a new one. 

[HLS]

I never realised broad bean flowers had a smell!  I'm definitely growing some next year, then.  Does anyone recommend a particular variety?  (I'm on heavy clay, so I'm told Autumn-sowing won't have particularly good results)