
These are field beans (Vicia faba) growing just behind our house. I’d always heard that they were used as cattle fodder, but apparently we export a fair proportion to North Africa for human consumption. Yielding twice the weight of broad beans, they would seem to be a good thing, except for considerations of small bean size and a little more bitterness in their flavour.

You can smell a bean field a mile away as they scent the air with a delicious perfume, reminiscent of apples and vanilla custard with a twist of pepper.

This year the flowers seem to be much pinker and prettier than usual, with marked venation … almost garden-worthy.

It may be a bit like cloud spotting, but to me the flower clusters look just like floaty-tailed Bettas (aka fighting fish). Can you see it?
Yes! You’re right
Yes, little bettas!