growing broad beans

[stubedo]

Hi ,
I hav`nt posted on here for a long time, just got back into gardening, I`m growing some broad beans on the window sill, they flowered, but seem to be withering now, will they not create beans this way?

regards,
Stuart

[ameno]

Not on a windowsill, sadly, no.
Broad beans need more root space than you are likely to be able to provide with whatever pot you can fit on a windowsill, and they need more light, too (even a south-facing windowsill gets a fraction of the light the plant would get outdoors). Also, the flowers need pollinating in order to produce beans, and bean flowers are an awkward shape so hand-pollination isn't really possible, so you need them to be outside so that insects can do it.

You can potentially grow broad beans in a container (although they'll do better in the ground), but it needs to be a fairly large one and it needs to be outside.

[stubedo]

thanks for the info ameno! I did`nt realise most of that