Henderson Bush Lima Bean is a beautiful, easy to grow variety. Very early, hardy, productive, and disease resistant. Each pod will contain 3 to 4 bean seeds, which are great for canning or freezing. Considered a hardy lima bean that can grows best during the heat of the summer. Desirable and dependable in adverse conditions. Bush habit, 60-75 days.
Fava Bean 'Vicia faba'.
This classic variety produces 5- to 6-inch long pods with 3 to 5 beans inside. Bean pods are picked green once the 1-inch diameter beans have sized up inside the pod, but before they mature. They also can be used as a dried bean once mature. The beans are great in soups, stews, casseroles and roasted. Favas are a good source of protein, fiber, vitamins A and C and help produce a chemical called dopamine in the body which has been used to treat Parkinson's disease and help with low libido.
Fava beans are easy to grow in cool climates. In northern areas they're spring seeded for a late summer harvest. In mild winter areas like England, the Gulf and West coasts, sow fava beans in late summer or early fall for a winter and early spring harvest.
This cool weather loving legume produces a beautiful 2- to 4-foot tall plant (taller under very fertile soil conditions) that can withstand temperatures down to 20 degrees F. Although more closely related to vetch than the common bean, favas have a taproot and fix nitrogen, making them an excellent cover crop, especially on clay soils (see article on improving clay soils in this issue).