March bouquet of freesias, fava bean tops and nettles

Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt. Anonymous

I've got freesias, fava bean tops and stinging nettles bouquet to take home from my garden. These are the first of the freesias. I sauté the fava bean tops in extra virgin olive oil and garlic. I make tea from the stinging nettles.

Fava flowers

Light rain this February morning. The fava beans have shot up in size and are flowering.

Rumi: You are not a drop in the ocean. You are an entire ocean in a drop.

Fava beans, December 2015

I grow fava beans for my winter garden. I soak seeds overnight in water and plant where I had the summer tomatoes. I suppose my hope is that this will help replenish the soil as fava beans are known to contribute to nitrogen fixation.

Family: Fabaceae; Vicia faba

And a fava new year to you as well!

After a cold start, the fava beans appear to be thriving. The plan is to plant more in the next week in the spots where the tomatoes grew, my version of crop rotation when space is limited. I alternate Solanaceae family (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes) with Fabaceae members (snow peas, fava, green beans).

Today in the gardens, I was excited to hear the extremely high pitched whistle of a Costa's hummingbird, normally a desert resident, in our beachside gardens. Then he flew by and flashed me, the thing that hummers do with their plumage. Male, of course. He was too speedy for me, alas, so no photo. Calypte costae

Fava sprouts emerging

I wasn't expecting the fava beans would actually sprout, given that they looked like this and were harvested in 2013. Nonetheless, it appears favas are quite resilient. It's been cold for southern California (overnight of 38F) but I think they will do fine.

Fava beans for the winter garden

I also planted a few fava beans (sorry, no photo of the planting but there isn't much to see). The fava beans were collected 2013; last night I soaked them. I plan to plant more in the next few months. I generally plant fava beans where I have had the summer tomato plants as part of my crop rotation system. I have planted them earlier in previous years.

First toadflax bloom

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878~

It has been unnaturally colder than normal the last week, with the lows in the mid 30s, F, a lovely visit from the jet stream which normally doesn't traverse our way. I am not used to cold like this. Amazingly, I still have green plants in my garden, and these include fava beans, peas, chard, parsley, potato plants and cilantro.

Not surprisingly, weeds continue to do well despite our cold spell, and right now, the toadflax is just coming up. I keep toadflax around for the dainty Easter egg colored flowers. Family Plantaginaceace, species Linaria. They were originally in the Scrophulariaceae family, which was my first guess. I don't think they do well as a cut flower because they only seem to last a day in the vase, after which the tiny flowers fall off and form a mess both on the table and in the water. Still, I occassionally bring them home for the table, if only for a day.

Fava beans for the winter garden

I have been told fava beans are good for the soil. So I grow fava beans every winter. These are planted where the Sungold stood as I like to rotate crops with different families (Sungold is Solanaceae; Fava is Fabaceae).

The seeds came from last year's fava beans. And last year's fava beans were from the previous years. Somewhere along the way, someone gave me a pod of beans which were planted. I soak the beans overnight before planting. As they grow somewhat tall, I always provided some support for them.

The roots of the fava bean apparently fix nitrogen, thus, benefitting the soil.

Fava beans are commonly planted to improve soil. Like all legumes, they have nodules on the roots, containing rhizobium bacteria, which “fix” airborne nitrogen, allowing it to replenish usable nitrogen in the soil. In addition, the sturdy plant deters erosion, and protects topsoil from wind and impaction by rain. After harvesting the beans (or without harvesting if you are using the plant simply as a cover crop), the bushy foliage chops up well as green biomass for the compost pile. The large, fragrant blossoms attract pollinators. Fava beans are an integral part of my rotation and fertilization plan throughout my kitchen garden beds and half-barrel containers. I dedicate a portion of my crop for kitchen use, another portion for compost biomass, and yet another to grow out as seed for next year’s planting.