Tradition
No chart mentions this pair.
Fava bean
Vicia faba
Fabaceae
Pea
Pisum sativum
FabaceaeCan you plant fava beans and peas together?
It depends. The sources disagree about fava beans and peas. A shared bed gave about 38% more harvest than separate beds in one field trial, but both are in the Fabaceae family, so they share pests and diseases.
Why it depends
No clear effect on soil and nutrients. In a field trial, growing them together made no clear difference to soil and nutrients.
Soil microbial community are more sensitive to ecological regions than cropping systems in alpine annual grassland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. (Luo F · 2024 · Frontiers in microbiology)No clear effect on disease. In a field trial, growing them together made no clear difference to disease.
Crop Diversification to Control Rust in Faba Bean Caused by Uromyces viciae-fabae. (Villegas-Fernández ÁM · 2023 · Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland))No clear effect on plant chemistry. In a field trial, growing them together made no clear difference to plant chemistry.
Intercropping as a Strategy for Weed Management in Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) (Villegas-Fernández ÁM · 2024 · Preprints.org)More harvest from the same bed. In one field trial, a bed with both crops gave about 38% more harvest than the same space split into a fava bean bed and a pea bed.
Same family, shared pests. Fava beans and peas are both in the Fabaceae family, so the same pests and diseases can move from one to the other.
Crop Rotation in the Vegetable Garden (Steil · 2025 · Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Yard and Garden)
What to plant with fava beans and peas
Good neighbours of both, best tested first.
What to keep away from fava beans and peas
The evidence in detail
For readers who want to dig in: every chart entry, study and yield trial behind the answer above, with the numbers.
Tradition, research and yield trials
Same family, shared pests and diseases. Both in Fabaceae: often susceptible to the same diseases and insects. Source: Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Yard and Garden
Research
Bad
avoidgood
5 papers found: 0 positive, 1 negative, 4 no effect.
yield / land use x2nutrients / soildisease suppressionallelopathy
auto-classified not reviewed by a person
Yield trial
Good
No per-crop split reported in these trials.
1 field trial. Published LERs lean high.
It's complicated
What happens above and below ground
Each animation illustrates a mechanism a study reported for this pair. Pick a card to focus on it.
Everything at once.
Companion plants for both fava beans and peas
Plants that are good neighbours of each. Biggest harvest gain first; each cell links to the evidence for that pair.
| Plant | With fava beans | With peas |
|---|---|---|
 Cabbage | 117% more harvest from the same spaceField trial, 5 studies. Charts: not listed.Evidence for fava beans and cabbage | 11% more harvest from the same spaceField trial, 3 studies. Charts: not listed.Evidence for peas and cabbage |
 Lettuce | 28% more harvest from the same spaceField trial, 1 study. Charts: not listed.Evidence for fava beans and lettuce | 19% more harvest from the same spaceField trial, 1 study. Charts: not listed.Evidence for peas and lettuce |
Harvest from the same space compares a bed with both crops against the same area split into single-crop beds, counting the harvest of both crops (the land equivalent ratio in yield trials).
The evidence, with sources
- No effectyield / land usefield trialauto-classifiedCompetition for light drives yield components in strip intercropping in the NetherlandsCompetition for light drives yield components in strip intercropping in the Netherlands (Wang Z · 2025 · Field Crops Research.)Relevance 95% · effect confidence 21%
- No effectnutrients / soilfield trialauto-classifiedSoil microbial community are more sensitive to ecological regions than cropping systems in alpine annual grassland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Soil microbial community are more sensitive to ecological regions than cropping systems in alpine annual grassland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. (Luo F · 2024 · Frontiers in microbiology)Relevance 86% · effect confidence 36%
- Badyield / land usefield trialauto-classifiedTemporal complementarity drives species combinability in strip intercropping in the NetherlandsTemporal complementarity drives species combinability in strip intercropping in the Netherlands (Wang Z · 2023 · Field Crops Research.)Relevance 93% · effect confidence 74%
Show 2 more
- No effectdisease suppressionfield trialauto-classifiedCrop Diversification to Control Rust in Faba Bean Caused by Uromyces viciae-fabae.Crop Diversification to Control Rust in Faba Bean Caused by Uromyces viciae-fabae. (Villegas-Fernández ÁM · 2023 · Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland))Relevance 89% · effect confidence 93%
- No effectallelopathyfield trialauto-classifiedIntercropping as a Strategy for Weed Management in Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.)Intercropping as a Strategy for Weed Management in Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) (Villegas-Fernández ÁM · 2024 · Preprints.org)Relevance 94% · effect confidence 96%
- GoodLER 1.38field trialUSA, 1990; Replacement design; median LER 1.38 over 8 treatment(s)
- Both in Fabaceae: often susceptible to the same diseases and insectsCrop Rotation in the Vegetable Garden (Steil · 2025 · Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Yard and Garden)
All neighbours of fava bean and of pea, or every pair at once in the companion planting chart.
Have you grown fava beans and peas together?
Tell other gardeners what happened: spacing, pests, harvest, or ask a question. Reader notes are not checked by us and do not change the verdicts on this page.