Amy Chapman, more widely recognised on social media as ‘IntheCottageGarden’, boasts a combined total of over 600,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok who eagerly embrace her practical advice on how to optimally grow plants and food in your garden.
In one clip, Amy encouraged avocado enthusiasts to experiment with an alternative for their avocado toasts by cultivating another food that’s more appropriate for cooler climates.
“You can grow your own avocado alternative, here’s how,” she stated at the beginning of the Instagram clip.
She added: “If you love avo on toast, but, like me, you live in a cooler climate where avocados just wouldn’t grow, try growing broad beans instead.”
While it might seem like an unusual alternative, Amy proceeded to justify herself by stating: “I know they might now sound that exciting, but hear me out because they taste amazing blitzed up with a little oil and garlic and spread onto toast. And they’re also super easy to grow.”
How to grow broad beans
If you’re keen on growing your own broad beans, Amy proceeded to clarify: “You can start the seeds off in spring or autumn, either by poking the seeds straight into the ground where you want them to grow, or for a little bit of extra protection from things like mice, you can start them off indoors in pots or a nice deep root trainer like this one.
“They’re pretty low maintenance, just make sure you plant them in a nice sunny spot and remember to water them now and then so they don’t completely dry out.”
Growing broad beans won’t merely be an enjoyable way to get your hands on the avocado alternative, it can also prove beneficial in improving the quality of your soil.
“Broad beans help to fix nitrogen into the soil from the air, so growing them could actually make your soil better.” Amy explained. “And other than that, you can pretty much just leave them to do their thing and you’ll be harvesting an abundance of these vibrant beans from early summer.”
Viewers swiftly flocked to the comment section to express their thoughts on the peculiar suggestion of swapping avocados for broad beans.
One person said: “So you’re proposing… Beans on toast. love it.”
“If we all just grew broad beans maybe we’d be able to afford houses,” a second viewer wrote.
A third person enquired about which broad bean variety she would recommend, to which Amy replied: “I’ve never had a bad broad bean variety! I’ve had good luck with the Sutton, aquadulce Claudia and red epicure.”
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