Sweet Lorane Fava Bean (Vicia faba) Organic Seeds – Small-Seeded Cover Crop, Cold-Hardy to 10°F, Excellent Nitrogen Fixer, Sweet Flavor

Minimum: 20+ Seeds

Sweet Lorane Fava Bean — The Cover Crop You Can Eat

Most cover crops exist to be tilled under, never eaten. Sweet Lorane breaks that rule. This small-seeded fava was selected in Oregon's Willamette Valley for winter cover cropping, yet produces genuinely sweet, tender beans worth harvesting if you let it. It shrugs off cold to 10°F, fixes nitrogen all winter, and still gives a spring crop most cover crops never offer. Pacific Northwest organic growers have relied on it for decades as soil builder and food source.

Who Grows Sweet Lorane Fava Bean?
The no-till gardener wanting a winter cover crop that also feeds the table.
The organic farmer building soil nitrogen ahead of spring rotation.
The cold-climate gardener needing a legume that survives winter lows.
The small-space grower who wants one planting to do double duty.
The bean lover after a sweet fava, not a starchy one.

What This Cold-Hardy Cover Crop Actually Is
Vicia faba, also called broad bean or field bean, is a cool-season legume native to the Mediterranean and Near East, cultivated for thousands of years as food and soil-building crop. Sweet Lorane is a small-seeded strain developed in Oregon for fall planting and overwintering, more cold-hardy than large-seeded favas, reliably surviving down to 10°F once established. Plants grow upright to 3 or 4 feet, with gray-green leaves and clusters of white flowers marked with black, favored by early bees. Its roots host nitrogen-fixing bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen to soil-available form, a standard green manure ahead of heavy feeders like corn or brassicas. The small beans are sweeter and less starchy than large-seeded favas, good fresh, dried, or roasted. Grown as a cool-season annual in USDA zones 3 through 10.

In the Garden & Kitchen

• Winter cover crop: Broadcast or drill seed in fall for a nitrogen-fixing mulch that suppresses weeds all winter.
• Green manure: Cut and turn plants under in early spring before flowering fully sets, releasing nitrogen.
• Fresh shelled beans: Harvest young pods and shell for a sweet, tender bean, cooked simply with oil and salt.
• Dried storage beans: Let pods mature and dry on the plant for a stored bean like a small fava.
• Edible flowers and shoots: Use young shoot tips and flowers in salads for a mild, pea-like flavor.
• Pollinator support: Let a section flower fully in late winter when few other blooms exist.

Growing Sweet Lorane Fava Bean Seeds

• Start method: Direct sow outdoors; favas dislike transplanting.
• Timing: Sow in fall, 6-8 weeks before first hard frost, for overwintering use.
• Germination: Sprouts in 7-14 days in cool soil.
• Soil temperature: Germinates in a wide range, even down to 40°F.
• Spacing: Sow 4-6 inches apart in rows 12-18 inches apart, or broadcast for density.
• Sunlight: Full sun for best growth and bloom.
• Soil: Adaptable to most soils; avoid waterlogged ground.
• Watering: Moderate through establishment; drought-tolerant once rooted.
• Cold tolerance: Established plants survive to 10°F; seedlings more vulnerable.
• Harvest for cover crop: Cut and turn under in early spring, before pods form, for maximum nitrogen.
• Harvest for eating: Pick pods young for fresh shelling, or let mature and dry for storage.
• Support: Taller stands benefit from stakes or netting in windy sites.

Before You Close This Page
This is a cover crop that earns its keep twice. Sweet Lorane fixes nitrogen all winter, suppresses weeds, and survives cold that kills most legumes. Then it gives sweet, tender beans if you choose to harvest instead of till. Bred in Oregon for this dual purpose, it is hardy to 10°F and thrives in cool, wet winters. Sow in fall, let it work through winter, then turn it under or eat the harvest. Zones 3 through 10 as a cool-season annual. Grow the fava that feeds soil and table in one season.